Coldfire re-read: Black Sun Rising - epilogue

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Time for the epilogue! Calesta annoys the Hunter, Narilka stops being scared, and Damien shows how prettily he can pine for Tarrant's company.

Plot summary
After a little nap - just a month - the Hunter receives a visitor. Calesta, the Master of Lema's main pet demon, is looking for a new position, and where better to apply than with the person who finished off your last employer? He also comes bearing gifts, and Tarrant shows a regretful lack of knowledge of Earth mythology. Otherwise he'd have spotted that little Trojan horse right away. But since he doesn't, he happily goes out to chase Calesta's present - a beautiful young woman - through the Forest for some pre-dinner exercise. Only to find out that his intended snack is Narilka from chapter 4, who is absolutely off limits to him because he promised her safety. Once again he rescues her, this time from himself, and promises that she will leave the Forest safely.
A few weeks or months later, in the final scene of the book, Damien sits in Faraday harbour and tries to ignore the captain of the ship he's hired, who is trying to get him to board so they can finally leave for their epic adventure. But since epic adventures are more fun with Tarrant along, Damien is still hopeful. And then, with absolutely impeccable timing, Tarrant appears so they can sail into the sunset together.


Quotes

• For if this castle was a duplicate of Merentha’s citadel in every other regard, so was its underground workroom a dark reflection of the Neocount’s original - and the straps which had bound Almea Tarrant in her dying adorned the polished worktable like some macabre ornament, now parted to receive the Hunter’s body.


• “You have a petitioner, my lord.”
  The pale eyes shot open. Their depths sparkled violet in the fae-light. “Indeed? What manner of petitioner?”


• “He was a symbiote of the one that I fought. And that kind can’t last long, without some kind of human partner.” He chuckled softly. “I’m surprised I still rate that designation.”
  “Partner?”
  “Human.”
  
• Darkness. Absolute. He let it fill his eyes and his heart for a moment, let it seep deep into his soul to where the sun-born wounds still throbbed. And then he let himself See, and Hear, and breathe in the power of the Forest. A symphony of power rising up out of the earth, all dark and cold and rich with his signature. So beautiful, he thought. So very beautiful. He felt the presence of the trees that dwelled there, remade to serve his special need; the predators that stirred above and below the earth, responsive to his will; the blood-filled life that hov¬ered at the edges of his domain, all restlessness and greed and human recklessness. Their nearness awakened a hun¬ger in him so intense that for a minute it seemed the whole Forest was filled with their blood, and all its air was ripe with the smell of their fear. And the music of their mortality, almost painful in its intensity.


• “The Hunter’s rules. The Forest’s tradition. That you’ll track her as a man would, in a man’s form, using no Working. That she has three days and nights in which to evade you . . . and if she succeeds, she’ll be free of you forever.”


• “I promised myself that,” she breathed. There were tears in her eyes now - of sadness, not fear, a tender mourning that had no place in his brutal realm. “For what you gave me . . . if you wanted . . . whatever.” She bit her lower lip, fighting for courage. “I won’t run,” she whispered. “Not from you.”


• “If you say one smug word about this,” Gerald Tarrant warned, “- at any time - anything like ‘I told you so,’ or, ‘What took you so long?’ - I will sink that miserable crate to the bottom of the ocean, and swim home if I have to. Am I making myself clear?”
  
• He carefully avoided all the obvious rejoinders, and said only, “Of course, your Excellency. Infinitely clear.” And bowed, with only a hint of mockery.
  The Hunter glared at him, as if about to speak - and then simply shook his head in exasperation, and began to walk toward the harbor. The night-black horse, laden with several travel bags, followed obediently behind.
  Damien watched as the figure faded into darkness, disappearing behind a turn of the switchback road. And then shook his own head, smiling slightly.

“Welcome aboard,” he whispered.

Thoughts

• Am I the only one who wonders whether Tarrant was expecting Damien when Amoril announces a petitioner?


• The Hunter in his underground resting place. It chills me every time to imagine that worktable. That he kept it through all these centuries (or at least kept the straps) is a rather disturbing thought.


• I've never been sure whether Calesta chooses Narilka deliberately or whether it is a coincidence. What do you think?


• Narilka has come a long way since we first met her. She's still scared - deliciously so, apparently - but I like her newfound determination and her decision that for what Tarrant has shared with her, she will give him whatever he decides to take. It's an odd little echo of Senzei and the Master of Lema that just a taste of Seeing makes her feel that it is worth it.


• The unavoidable wondering of why is Friedman surprised we think slashy thoughts ... feeding of all sorts seems to be quite erotically charged for Tarrant. And then he goes and feeds on Damien's mind exclusively for months.


• On a more serious note, I'm not certain what to think of the sensual interpretations of it. It feels a bit too much like an echo of vampire novels, somehow. Then again, this is about something very akin to vampirism. It's left me feeling somewhat ambiguous about it ever since the first time I read the books.


• What do you think prompted Tarrant's change of mind about taking Damien's invitation after all? Just the incident with Calesta, or something more?


• Damien, waiting for Tarrant. I had to quote the last few paragraphs of the book because they make me feel warm and fuzzy every time.

And this brings us to the end of Black Sun Rising! We'll take a last look back to what we've been reading on Monday, so if you've missed anything or want to chat about something you didn't get around to earlier, it's the perfect opportunity.

Comments

[winter]

Calesta's choice of Narilka is definitely deliberate - he's trying to make the Hunter betray his word, and thus destroy himself.

And Narilka's different than Senzei and the Master in that she doesn't want more than she gets, and she's willing to pay the price rather than cheat against it. There's an honour there.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

What makes me unsure about Calesta is that I can't quite figure out his motives for trying to make Tarrant betray himself. It would make a lot of sense for him to ally with the Hunter - that's an almost perfect match to his nature.

And Narilka's different than Senzei and the Master in that she doesn't want more than she gets, and she's willing to pay the price rather than cheat against it. There's an honour there.

*nod* She follows through and she knows it comes at a cost, which the other two didn't. I have to say that I like the repeat of the Sight motif and how much it affects people. Even that little glimpse has changed her.

[winter]

I think Calesta's smart enough to understand that he would never control Gerald to the degree he can control other sorcerers.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

But then, why piss him off enough to make him come after you? Even if he'd killed Narilka, he'd not have died, he'd just have turned further towards his demonic nature.

[winter]

And would that demonic nature be more inclined to be malleable to Calesta? :>

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Depends on how powerful and annoyed a demon he turns out to be. This is someone backed by the ultimate evil on the planet, after all. A lone Iezu may find himself to be just a convenient snack. ;-)

[trobadora]

Absolutely agreed on this. Calesta's obviously realised the Hunter is a formidable opponent and is trying to take him out before he can foil Calesta's next scheme. (I wonder just how annoyed Calesta was when the Master was taken out!) But of course he's underestimated Tarrant, and his attempt at a pre-emptive strike has triggered far more opposition than he'd otherwise have faced for a good long time.

(And I really like Narilka for this - she's a fantastic character.)

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who wonders whether Tarrant was expecting Damien when Amoril announces a petitioner?

I don't know about Tarrant, but I was expecting Damien.

The table is gruesome, yes. The fact that he still has it--and that he uses it for a bed like that--is freaking creepy. And I think Calesta choosing Narilka was very deliberate. Though why, exactly, he chose to make an enemy of the Hunter when he might've left him in peace in his Forest none the wiser till it was too late... Or was it under the Prince's instructions? Could he have known of the Hunter from all the way across the ocean?

Tarrant went, I expect, because as far as he was concerned, that was a declaration of war, and he wasn't about to laze around when someone was obviously out to get him.

Tarrant running for the Forest and then bailing out to join Damien after all is always odd to me. I can't help but think the most fitting reading is that he tried to run away to his hidey hole, and then came out when that failed. It seems so uncharacteristic of our usual fantasy character--and in some ways, of Tarrant himself--to prefer avoidance over confrontation...but he's spent centuries catering to the desire to survive, and he's a practical man. Why shouldn't he do his best to ditch the danger and go curl up in a nest?

That he comes out raging after it's proven that his safe place isn't safe doesn't surprise me at all; the only way to assure his own safety at that point is by taking the fight to the offender. That he joins Damien to do it isn't surprising, either. Aside from it being the only way across the ocean, Damien's proven he's good at this "battling evil-doers" thing, that he can be trusted to watch Tarrant's back, and that he's pretty much the most tolerable option for company.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Or was it under the Prince's instructions? Could he have known of the Hunter from all the way across the ocean?

I don't think he could have known. No fae travels through the ocean, so he couldn't have read it in the currents. And I can't see Calesta doing that kind of intelligence work for him. It's somewhat puzzling just what Calesta thought he'd gain. I'd have expected him to nurture anything that even remotely smells of sadism - Tarrant really is an almost perfect match for him.

That he comes out raging after it's proven that his safe place isn't safe doesn't surprise me at all; the only way to assure his own safety at that point is by taking the fight to the offender.

Safety, and possibly pride, I think. He doesn't know yet just what Calesta is up to; as far as Tarrant is concerned, this is a demon who's played a role in a few humiliating situations he's found himself in, and who has now taken things one step further.

That he joins Damien to do it isn't surprising, either. Aside from it being the only way across the ocean, Damien's proven he's good at this "battling evil-doers" thing, that he can be trusted to watch Tarrant's back, and that he's pretty much the most tolerable option for company.

Agreed. Damien may annoy him, but he's capable enough, plus he's already accustomed to being lunch on occasion. No need to bring his own food, even though that clearly would have been an option, like we see it on their way back. It's still an interesting step across one more line because he puts himself so completely at Damien's mercy.

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

Probably pride too, yes.

The Prince might have known if Calesta told him. Or...does he mention at some point that he felt the Master of Lema fall? Maybe he looked into that and learned about Tarrant. But still, why poke him? He can't have been so desperate for company that he'd have been willing to take that on.

But Calesta's been running his own scheme the entire time anyway, and Calesta got a first-hand view of Tarrant's personality and motivations in this book, as we're repeatedly informed by all the commentary on "how well their enemy knows them." He would've been more aware than anyone of what getting Tarrant involved would mean...and he would've told the Prince if he thought it suited his purposes--which are chaos, mayhem, and sadism. Or if he realized that eventually he was going to come up against the Hunter and his Church-loving OCD tendencies, and figured he'd rather deal with that where Tarrant was far, far away from home and easy access to resources.

To sum up, I don't know. It seems like it would've been better to just leave him in the Forest as long as possible. Unless Calesta's also an arrogant jerk who just can't resist screwing with people.

He is putting himself at Damien's mercy, isn't he? Then again, Damien is putting himself at Tarrant's. A ship is very small in the scheme of things, and other than Hesseth there's nobody on board who could hope to keep those two from killing each other if they decided to try...and I doubt there'd be much left after they did. It's definitely a case of them both having utter faith in one another's motivations. It's a bit spooky, actually, since at this point I think it takes an inhuman amount of resolve on both their parts (and Hesseth's, who has to put up with a whole ship full of humans on top of those two for months with no reprieve).

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Deliberately provoking Tarrant seems counter-productive, even if the Prince had known about the MoL. Someone who could take her out had to be a force to be reckoned with, and the Prince isn't someone who deliberately seeks confrontations like that. He's got his own little empire, and he'd never have been able to be at ease with another quasi-immortal around.

I'm not sure I agree on Calesta doing such intricate long-term plannning, but it's an interesting thought. I can't remember enough of the details in late CoS on how thorough he is in those matters - something to watch out for when we get there.

"Let's just spend an utterly unpredictable length of time in a small confined space." I bet that two days into the voyage, two, Damien started regretting he didn't take the time to outfit two ships.

During the journey, Damien has the upper hand. Tarrant is weakened and confined to his cabin for half the time, while Damien can move freely at any time and also holds Tarrant's only real source for nourishment. All Tarrant could do is large-scale destruction (which I assume he'd be reluctant, since adepts do drown, even the undead ones) while Damien has countless opportunities to harm or weaken him without really having to fear retaliation until they reach land again.

Hesseth, the unsung hero.

[trobadora]

What do you think prompted Tarrant's change of mind about taking Damien's invitation after all? Just the incident with Calesta, or something more?

I utterly believe the explanation he himself gives in WTNF - I don't doubt it at all. Quote:

"He came to me, you know. Our enemy's pet demon, the one she called Calesta. He came to me in the Forest, when I was done healing. I remembered him from her citadel (...) He came to make peace, as demons will do when their masters die. I felt myself safe, being in my own domain at last, and made the mistake of listening." He shook his head, remembering. "He nearly caused me to betray myself. There in my own land, where the very earth serves my will . . . he almost bested me." His expression was tight, but the emotion causing it was hard to read. Anger? Humiliation? The Hunter had never handled defeat well. "I spent five hundred years making the Forest into a haven which neither man nor godling might threaten. It survived wars and crusades and natural disasters and was as much a part of me as the flesh that I wore ... and he took me on there. There! Tricked me, and put my very soul in jeopardy ..."

He drew in a deep breath, slowly. Trying to calm himself. "If the Forest is no longer my refuge, then no place will ever be. I could hide myself away with my books and my conjurings for a month, a year, a century ... but the threat would always be there. Will always be there, until I deal with it." The pale eyes fixed on Damien. "You understand?"

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sneak preview! :-D

This makes me think Calesta could just have gotten away with it if he hadn't made it such an obvious trickery. Annoy Tarrant and wound his pride, and you make an enemy for life. Unlife. Whatever applies for demons.

[trobadora]

Whatever applies for demons.

Not a demon, remember? Just a hybrid.

(I'm all about the sneak previews today, huh? :D)

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Space alien. ;-)

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you mean about the vampire thing. There's so much I love about these books, but when I look at Tarrant from the vampire perspective...in some ways it seems interesting and innovative, while in others he suddenly turns into a stereotype.

Tarrant is essentially a psychic vampire, and when necessary he's the regular blood-eating kind. He personality and trappings fit our understanding of the vampire--suave, cultured, seductive, wise, and powerful...with a touch of the beast and an allergy to sunlight and fire.

I think that like the rakh and their humanization, this might be another case of the myth shaping the person. We know the vampire myth is still going strong on Erna, and that Tarrant was already a folklore-whore (seriously, how many religions did he pillage to put the Church together? How much folklore and myth must he have steeped himself in?). Now look at what Tarrant--the Neocount of Merentha--did, and then compare to Count Dracula. Granted the latter has about a million versions, but fundamentally they're very similar, aren't they? I suspect Tarrant turned out being something very close to a vampire because that's the mythic template he was following. And whether it was his expectation or that of the people around him, what he did tapped into the human brain as "becoming a creature of the night."

And why not run with that? It serves his purposes perfectly. It's much easier to ride the coat-tails of existing mythic monsters than to construct a new one of his own and educate everyone into being terrified of it. Perhaps what matters is that we spend an entire book learning him as a person before we're subjected to the Hunt and the...well, cliche of it. The fact that he's a vampire is firmly situated as a sideline to the truth of who he is, and that, we're made aware, is by far the most dangerous part about him.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

A redeeming factor is that the books came out in the mid-1990s, which was before the paranormal romance hype hit shelves. He's still a stereotype, but not quite as badly as he'd have been if this had been published in 2008.

I like the idea of Tarrant getting hold of vampire legends (or maybe even Bram Stoker) and taking inspiration from it. And being molded by human ideas of what evil creatures of the night are like... he does say that he used to be a lot more like a vampire. So it could be that it just took him a while to get away from such crude methods of feeding and work it into his own more intricate and elegant (and easier on the clothes! Blood washes out so hard) variation. With growing strength and abilities where fae usage is concerned, he could have gone from being tied to how others imagine he must be like, to how he himself thought it would be suitable. He never sounds too eager about turning into what any of his travel companions fear most - that could be resenting their influence over him.

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

No, he kind of takes that in stride, doesn't he? He seems moderately repulsed by the thought of becoming what Ciani fears, probably because he finds the Dark Ones contemptible. But he does kind of get off on the idea of being what Damien fears...maybe because what Damien fears is him.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Which really makes Damien a perfect food source because he's practically risk-free and just enhances what Tarrant has worked on for the last few centuries.

Small wonder he went along on the trip! It's like safeguarding the last of your favourite muffins!

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

okay, now I have this indelible image of Tarrant searching for Damien... "come here, my little muffin... where are you? come out, come out, wherever you are..." *giggle*

[eveningfire.livejournal.com]

Regarding Tarrant being a stereotype: I think there's nothing wrong with basing your character in a stereotype so long as you do it well. Some excellent movies and books out there are reinterpretations of old legends or use variations on archetype characters. (Disney's fairytale cartoons come to mind; it's said grownups cried at the Snow White cartoon when it first came out. And there's the new comedy Enchanted, which takes the princess stereotype and develops it so nicely.)

I actually like the vampire scenes and their sensuality. If that's all that the book were about, then it would be a bad romance novel. But Tarrant is such a complex character that I don't think a few vampire scenes make him less interesting; they fit in with who he is -- a very well-executed variation on the seductive vampire archetype.

[ladyraylen.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to post this before I read everybody else's comments... so forgive any duplicate's...

I've never been sure whether Calesta chooses Narilka deliberately or whether it is a coincidence.
Calesta's choice of Narilka was very deliberate, (I did read a few posts) he is after all, a sadist. How would you really hurt Tarrant? Make him break his word, thus losing his soul, thus ending up in hell. If Narilka hadn't said anything, he would have only found out he had broken his word after she was dead.

That being said, I really do like Narilka as she is one of the strong female characters in the book. And I am totally with her and her fantasies about the stranger she met. (Sorry, skipping books here)

The unavoidable wondering of why is Friedman surprised we think slashy thoughts ...
When I read these the first time, long time ago, I never caught any slashy-ness and really still don't. For one thing, both are Very into women, second: I was younger and didn't even think of this, and third: damnit I wanted Tarrent! In any day-dreams, why would I give him to Damien?

What do you think prompted Tarrant's change of mind about taking Damien's invitation after all? Just the incident with Calesta, or something more?
The Calesta incident. Also, at that point he would have somebody along with him that he understood. If he passed up this chance, when would he next have somebody he could 'trust' to go on that mission with? The variables where there, and the chance of success wouldn't have been that high later on.

Side note: I think I missed the chapter... but I have always wondered when they got a chance to undo what they did to Damien? That wall that the Mater had to work though? Wouldn't this mean that the Hunter still had Damien's soul?

[trobadora]

but I have always wondered when they got a chance to undo what they did to Damien?

... you know, that is an excellent question. *ponders*