Coldfire re-read: When True Night Falls - chapter 28

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Welcome everyone to tonight's discussion - some Jenseny, some Iezu info but most importantly - Gerald doesn't see God. And doesn't take it well at all.


Plot Summary

Jenseny gets her first good look at her new companions and decides that a) Hesseth is cuddly, b) Damien is probably harmless and c) Tarrant is scary, which makes it clear that whatever happened to her, she's not lost her wits. The next evening, Tarrant proceeds to give a lecture on Iezu to his woefully uneducated followers, then seizes the chance to question Jenseny. Which turns out to be the last straw for Damien, who ends up defending her by throwing as much Working as he can at Tarrant, with the unexpected effect that he manages to manifest a divine presence (and not everyone can say that about themselves!). Tarrant, somewhat predictably, doesn't take that too well because it turns out to mean that something he's been waiting to see for nine centuries is beyond his reach. Concerned as usual, Damien goes after him and they have a good look at Tarrant's motivations and his lack of choice when it comes to redemption. Finally, Tarrant sends off his message to the Undying Prince and makes a decision, which might not be the wisest thing to do under such distraught circumstances.



Quotes

• 
  
• "The Iezu aren't common demons, Reverend Vryce. Many pride themselves on their interaction with man. And even when they feed, they don't take anything from man that can't be replenished. Their hunger is for emotional energy, and they seem to be able to feed off that without weakening their prey. In fact, the bond between Iezu and human can even intensify the emotional experience for both."

Damn you, Tarrant. Damn you for what you put us through. Damn you for what you force us to condone.


• The power was like a fire within him, scalding fury and compassion and raw indignation all mixed in together, fanned by months upon months of frustration into a conflagration almost too hot to contain. Months in the rakhlands. Months at sea. Months in this place, holding his peace while the Hunter tortured, the Hunter killed, the Hunter remade this land in his own malign image. Choking back on his conscience until it bled, until all his dreams ran red with guilt. No more.



• And something responded. A power. A Presence. It was sunlight to Tarrant's night, peace to his fury, water to Damien's flames. It soothed and commanded and smoothed and cleansed, washing away the debris of Tarrant's Working like a spring shower might cleanse the land of dust.



• "Nearly one thousand years ago," the Hunter muttered hoarsely, "I conceived of a plan to change this world. Wielding human faith like a sword, I meant to remake the very power base of Erna. For years I pored over holy text after holy text - those few which had survived the Sacrifice, as well as others which were written afterward - Grafting my weapons word by word, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence. It was my life's greatest work, compared to which all else was mere accompaniment. If there was a God of Earth, I reasoned, then we must mold the fae with our faith until our pleas could reach His ears. If there was a God who ruled the entire universe, then we would craft such a message with our prayers that He must surely respond to us. And if there was no One God in either place, nor any being who might adopt that role . . . then the faith of man would create one. A sovereign god of Erna, whose power would be so vast that all the currents of earth-fae would pale in significance before Him. That was my dream. No, more: that was my purpose in existing. And if in the end I chose to barter my soul for a few extra years, it wasn't so much out of fear of death as a fear of what death implied. Ignorance. Blindness. An inability to see the seeds of my work take root and grow, and to observe what manner of fruit might be harvested from it. Survival for me meant the chance to see the centuries unfold, to watch mankind take what I had given him and add to it, develop it, make it his own, until by his faith he could tame the fae itself. It was a plan so vast that no one human lifetime could contain it, and I burned to see it through to completion. Do you understand, priest? That was what I sacrificed my humanity for. That was why I smothered in blood the core of my mortal existence. Because I wanted to know. Because I wanted to see. Because the concept of dying in ignorance was terrifying to me, and I lacked the courage to face it. Do you understand?"



• "Shall I tell you what I learned tonight?" the Hunter whispered. "There is indeed a God of Erna. And because of what I am - because of the bargain that I struck so many years ago - I can't even look upon His Face. This is the fruit of my labors, Reverend Vryce. That I can never gaze upon the result of all my labor. I sold my soul for knowledge of the future, only to have that very pact render me forever ignorant."



• "Do you know what repentance means, for me? Do you really understand it?" There was anger in his voice now, but it had a desperate edge. "Repentance means standing before God and saying, I'm sorry. For everything. All the sins I ever committed, I wish they could be undone. I wish I could to go back to that time and do it all over again, so that Death could take me in my proper hour. I wish I could have died at twenty-nine, without ever seeing the future. I wish I could have died before my dream took hold, before mankind had time to interpret my works. I wish I could have died in ignorance of what this world would become, severed from the world of the living before I could begin to untangle the mysteries that surrounded me. I can't do it, Vryce. Not honestly. I could say the words, but I could never mean them. And my last dying thought would be of all that I had yet to see, which God's forgiveness had cost me." He laughed shortly, bitterly. "Do you really think that would work? Do you really think such an attitude would save me?"
  Now it was he who shut his eyes. He could hear the pain in his own voice as he spoke. "You're trapped by your own intelligence, you know. A simpler man would have found his way back to God long ago."
  "Don't you think I know that?" he whispered. "Don't you think that knowledge is part and parcel of my damnation?"



• God, show me how to help Gerald Tarrant. Teach me how to reclaim his soul without destroying his humanity in the process. Show me the path through his madness . . .

Thoughts

• I love Tarrant's little lecture on the Iezu. He's such a scholar when he lets it shine through. An interesting little snippet is his observation that the Iezu feed on emotional energy - a lot like what he does. It makes me wonder whether there is a Iezu who feeds on fear.



• When you compare Damien's reaction to when Tarrant questioned that half-mad rakh in BSR to his initial interrogation of Jenseny here, it's amazing how far he's gone down the path of pragmatically accepting "evil" actions for the sake of the greater good. At least until things get a little out of hand.



• This is the one time Damien and Gerald really face off, and Damien comes out as the winner - it feels a lot like a million-to-one chance. Do you think that under other circumstances Damien could repeat this?



• And immediately he goes from fury to worry and chases after Gerald without even hesitating. *g* Slashy moment of the day.



• The big one (and I simply adore this chapter for the final third): faith, God, Gerald's motivations and the effects of his decisions... there is such a wealth of material here that just begs for interpretation. The fact that it wasn't so much fear of death that drove Gerald, but fear of dying too early adds quite a bit of complexity to things, as does his determination to either harness divine power or create it from scratch. Then there's the deeply black irony that it was for nothing (though he got plenty of other information out of the bargain) and that he'll never see his final victory. What are your thoughts on this whole bit, or parts of it? (I apologize for the slightly excessive quoting, but too much simply has to go into the chapter discussion post.)



• We've touched upon the redemption issue a few times already, but here it's finally spelled out in detail. It's really his curiosity that traps him so thoroughly, which is one of those twists in his character that make him so fascinating for me. I remember that on my first read, this was the moment when I really got the way he works - before, he was still fascinating, but more in the way immortal characters tend to be. Here the bones of it are laid bare, and there's a lot more potential tragedy in them than random vampires or immortal sword-wielders usually get.



• Do you think that the realizations of the night had an impact on Gerald's answer to the Prince? Or was it a decision he'd already made and didn't deviate from?

On Monday we'll have the summary discussion for book 2 - an excellent opportunity to bring up anything you wanted to in earlier chapters but didn't get around to.

Comments

[alice_montrose]

I shall take this moment to point out that Gerald, for all his might as the lovable psycho in this novel, can be SUCH A SORE LOSER when it turns out the Divine Presence will answer to Damien, of all people! A scene that always makes me giggle, because indignant Gerald is so much fun! <3

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

There was a bit of that, wasn't there? :D

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

That's just typical for Divine Presences, they never use the appropriate channels.

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is one of the best chapters in the whole series. :) There's so much here that there's no real way to get into the heart of it all.

Do you think that the realizations of the night had an impact on Gerald's answer to the Prince? Or was it a decision he'd already made and didn't deviate from?

I've often wondered about this. I think that Tarrant knew from the beginning he'd never truly side with the Prince...but it might've been what prompted him to take such a wild chance. At that moment, he knows that his Church worked, and for that it might be worth risking anything to preserve it.

I've also always wondered how well Damien actually stood up to the Hunter there, before the divine intervention. But I think, actually, that in the same situation, it would've worked out the same way no matter when or where it had happened. But I don't think he could ever have done it for his own sake. I think it's because he was protecting someone and couldn't afford to fail for her sake. Maybe it was even his need and willingness to die to protect her that called it to him.

But...something occurs to me, suddenly. That altruism stunt Tarrant pulls on Calesta? Did he really have to do it? I mean, he could have just explained it, and you know Damien would've been willing to do it himself without hesitation.

[trobadora]

That altruism stunt Tarrant pulls on Calesta? Did he really have to do it? I mean, he could have just explained it, and you know Damien would've been willing to do it himself without hesitation.

Yes, but the sacrifice would have been that much smaller for it, and that much less powerful, because Damien is more willing to sacrifice himself and has less to lose. They needed a lot of power to force a Iezu to absorb something counter to his aspect (and not just run away from it). As Tarrant puts it: "The sacrifice of eternity, made in the very face of Hell."

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

At that moment, he knows that his Church worked, and for that it might be worth risking anything to preserve it.

Interesting angle, and a good point. I was looking at it from another direction, more from the "he's just found out that his current approach isn't going to give him the result he wants" direction. Tricking the Prince into giving him a kind of immortality that no longer depends on the Unnamed... might have been tempting.

Maybe it was even his need and willingness to die to protect her that called it to him.

Sounds logical. Religions are so big on sacrifice, after all, and the whole planet operates along those criteria.

(Going with trobadora on the altruism bit. Damien enjoys being a martyr far too much for it to have enough of an effect.)

[rekishi]

Just a quick one this time...

I agree that I really understood how Gerald works here and I was all the more in awe. I also understood how thin the edge truly is he's walking on and what this whole excursion might cost him in the end. Tragedy indeed. (Methos has some tragedy going but ehehe, nm *g*)

I think his decision might have been made but as to the extent? *sigh* Looking at this he might have just as well accepted godhood, if not for his pride in his own creation (kinda) and his honour.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Methos and Gerald. Now that's a crossover I'd pay to see. (If only because Gerald's little brewery, which I'm sure Methos would appreciate.)

I wonder if the thought ever crossed his mind before to turn himself into a god. If he got enough people to believe in it...

[rekishi]

Methos would appreciate it muchly, indeed. But uh well, it's an interesting idea but unfortunately not very well doable, I fear. Too much distance. And mentioning crossovers, ugh I need to get to writing mine.

No, I don't think it ever did. He created the Church. It would defy the purpose of his creation if he turned himself into a god.