Coldfire re-read: When True Night Falls - chapter 39

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

It's a quick chapter tonight, but with a major impact - if this were a fic, I'd warn for character death.


Plot summary

There's not much plot to summarize for this one - it's action all the way. Our heroes realize that they're being hunted by some sort of animal pack, and attempt to escape to a more defensible position. They reach it just in time, and manage to create a tree trunk bridge across an abyss. As the rules of suspense dictate, battle ensues when they've all made it across and the animals start to come over too. They fend them off for a while, but when they attempt to destroy the makeshift bridge, disaster strikes and Hesseth is dragged down into the abyss with the last of the beasts and dies.



Quotes

• According to theologians, the Hell of the One God was a truly terrible place. It was so bad, they said, that if you tried to imagine all the terrible things that might exist in the universe, and then you put them all in one place, and then you multiplied them a thousand times over, the combination still wouldn't hold a candle to the horrors of Hell.



• In the distance similar creatures were moving silently, swiftly, their movements so perfectly coordinated that it seemed as if some single will might have organized them. As well it might have, Damien thought suddenly. How much sorcery would it take to reach out from the Black Lands and take control of these creatures? Very little, if they had been created for that purpose.



• When the women of my species are ready to have children . . . it's different than with humans. They can't think of anything else, they can't do anything else . . . and humans would notice that. So when the khrast women want to leave the plains, they have to give that up. Forever. That's what I did.



• Hesseth. She was gone. The Wasting had killed her. She had been by his side for so long now that it seemed impossible that he would never see her again. Tears ran down his face as the loss of it - the terrible, fearsome loss of it - hit home. For a moment he envied Jenseny the freedom of childhood, which permitted her to rant and rave with total abandon; all he could do was lower his head, his whole body shaking, and let the tears come.



• But then she whispered, with tears in her voice, "After we do it for Hesseth, then we . . . can we please . . . say one for my father?"
  "Oh, my God." He pulled her to him, oh so gently, wary lest she reject the contact. But she came to him and she put her arms around him and she sobbed into the fabric of his shirt, shedding tears that had been kept inside for so long that they must have burned like fire as they flowed. "Of course, Jen. Of course." He kissed the top of her head. "God forgive me for not having thought of it sooner. Of course we can."

Thoughts

• Sometime after Tarrant's creation of Church canon, someone's put a lot of thought into creating Hell. Small wonder that Tarrant, as the one person who knew exactly how real that sort of belief would make things, balked at the idea of potentially ending up there. It always fascinates me that he almost managed to create a religion without hell or an equivalent. Conversely, I'd be interested to know whether he initially thought of Heaven or whether that was introduced later too (and if it was introduced at all).



• I wonder how the khrasts' sacrifice of their fertility works. It's a big sacrifice, and in a way it explains their special status among the other rakh - it's a bit like an order of monks, isn't it? The exchange of reproduction for a higher purpose.



• What do you think of the creatures that hunt them? Do they normally prowl the Wasting, or were they sent? Damien seems convinced of the latter, but I can't quite find real proof for it.



• Did you see Hesseth's death coming when you read for the first time, or did you expect her to survive past the end of WTNF? I remember expecting her to die at some point, though it came a little earlier than I'd thought.



• Since it's Hesseth's final chapter - what do you think of her character? Interesting? Token alien/indigenous character? Are you happy with the way she's portrayed, or would you have liked to see more? Is there something you're wondering about, where she's concerned? For me it's always been a bit of a struggle to stay really interested in her; partly because the rakh as a whole never quite grabbed me, but also because she feels a little underused. With this detailed re-read, I'm appreciating her a lot more, but she never feels essential to the story. They could have done it all without her, couldn't they?

You'll hear from me again on Thursday, when it's chapters 40-42 - the big betrayal finally comes!

Comments

[ladyphoenix9]

Poor Hesseth. I really hated this chapter on my first reading.

A friend I encouraged to read the series thought Friedman was setting up Damien and Hesseth as love interests/family unit with Jenseny and was really gutted by this chapter. I believe she lost interest in the books at this point, though she did finish CoS. At the time, she wasn't really into slash, so I'm very curious if anyone else who's more into het picked up that vibe? I could almost see it at times in this book, but the evidence is so much more convincing for Damien and Tarrant for me... ;)

This was really quite a powerful death, in that it's so pointless and it happened to a rather likable character (for no other reason than to dispose of her since she is non-essential to the next book, frankly.) Unlike Senzei, who sort of brought it on himself, Hesseth was unlucky and died in an accident. Definitely not something you usually see in fantasy/SF very often.

Pet peeve time! It made me pretty mad to see an almost carbon copy death in Wings of Wrath. I thought it rather cheapened both characters to repeat an almost identical death scene. The next time Friedman kills a character with a tree + ambush + fall situation, I think I may pitch the book out the window. ;)

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Hesseth and Damien as a pairing? Interesting - what made her think that, do you know? Because that thought really never crossed my mind. I'm having a bit of trouble thinking of them as real friends, rather than acquaintances with a mutual goal. There never really seems to be much personal talk between them. Damien and Gerald, on the other hand... ;-)

Senzei gets a much more dramatic death scene with a bigger overall impact, though. With Hesseth, it's a bit transparent that she's getting superfluous by now. Can't have her around because she'd ruin the ending, and she won't be needed for Jenseny afterwards either. And with those face manipulations she let Tarrant do, she couldn't have gone back to the other rakh. Must kill her. I agree that it's a bit like letting her slip on a banana peel and break her neck; it's not necessary in any way.

*g* I thought the same about that death in Wings of Wrath. Really, at least use a crumbling bridge the next time. There must be more ways to kill characters on the road.

[ladyphoenix9]

I think the pairing was mostly based from caring for Jen. And maybe that Damien was admiring the pretty face Tarrant made for her. That's all I've got.

*G* Well, reading backwards, I thought Damien had used/lost most of the Fire himself in BSR, not 90% of it wasted by Senzei. It seems like Senzei earned it through being gullible, not listening to Damien, and being power-hungry. Hard to feel any sympathy for him.

So for me, the unexpected quality of Hesseth is what hit me hardest. Kind of like...well, take Snape. You know he's a goner as soon as he kills Dumbledore, and it's probably not going to be pretty. But Hesseth really hadn't "earned" the horrible messy death, and she didn't even really get to die fighting. So that's pretty much why I was left reeling.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Admiration of something aesthetically pleasant and done in a very skilled way. ;-) I'm really not seeing the pairing, even if I try my best to suppress the slash view. Anyone else?

Oh, I'm not feeling sympathetic towards Senzei. But he wasn't even really designed to garner sympathy, and he got a death scene with so much more impact.

But Hesseth really hadn't "earned" the horrible messy death, and she didn't even really get to die fighting. So that's pretty much why I was left reeling.

That's what left me disappointed. It doesn't do anything except get her out of the way. Killing off Snape comes with plenty of purpose behind it, but here? It feels a bit badly done, especially with the amount of sudden character building we get for her in this chapter. She gets little attention otherwise, but here there's info. Then she's shoved off a cliff.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I adored Hesseth so much and I hated this scene accordingly. I mean, it was sort of necessary for the slash drama, but it doesn't mean I intend to like it.

I'll agree she doesn't feel quite essential, but without her there, would Damien had made his realisations about the matria? And who would have baby-sat Jen, when Gerald and Damien have their angst? ;)

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

I think I might have cared more if it hadn't felt so... rushed? It's a bit like she's cheated out of a proper death scene with some sort of memorable last line. It's just whap! and she's gone, and nobody really has time to think about it for more than a page or two.

True, the babysitter services are invaluable. Or we might really have gotten a "where's the baby" scene. ;-)

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

If Friedman used the Rowling excuse, it's because death is sudden and stupid and you don't see it coming like that. (In Rowling's case, I think it's because she changed her mind about who she was going to kill at the last minute)

Or in Gerald's case, "Where's the deity?" ;)

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Still, she could have made a lot more of it. At least have a burial kind of thing at some point - it's just so perfunctory and no-one spares her a thought after the next chapter. I miss the impact (since I can't really see this pushing Jenseny towards her suicide either).

True, much more fitting. Besides, religious founders have to be a bit strange in their actions anyway. It would fit right in!

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

It does make me wonder, randomly - humans are the only creatures on Erna that sacrifice to get what they want. Everything else works with the planet. Except the rakh, in the khrast-case. Does that make Hesseth kind of an equivalent of what Gerald was before he got sick? She left her people to learn and know.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Hm. Now that you mention it, it's a bit of an odd thing. The khrast are not really necessary, are they? The rakh could simply get their information about humans with workings (if it weren't for the Canopy, but I admittedly am not entirely sure why that is there at all since it doesn't stop anyone). There's no real need for them to move among humans, and their society is isolationist in the extreme where that contact is concerned.

Offhand, I'd assume it's either curiosity to find out more, or it's a considerable step up in the hierarchy. Although the latter doesn't make too much sense in a species with strong animal instincts, where status is a means for procreation.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I suppose it would be someone of strong nerve to actually go among the creatures that massacred your kind. Doesn't she dominate the alpha male sometimes as well?

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

She even says somewhere that the smell of humans is disgusting. So why does she do it? And more to the point, why do the rakh even have an institutionalized position for it?

I think she did some alpha male domineering, which is more than other female rakh got to do. So being khrast either means she started otu with that sort of position, or gained it by taking the khrast route. Which makes me wonder whether she chose to be khrast, or became so because of her family background since the khrast come from certain families.

[fragorl.livejournal.com]

Hesseth was cool but I read the books in the wrong order and so new she was going to die so it was almost something of a relief when she finally did. I thought that actually it was quite well done because it seemed pointless and unnecesssary. They had been SO lucky in this ridiculously difficult/dangerous journey that it was getting too unrealistic, people would have accidents/ die for stupid reasons, even ones who didnt bring it on themselves (senzei) It annoyed me a bit that the emotional effect on the characters isnt really explored much. Its a bit like Jen you would expect to react more powerfully and Damien with a bit more despair? I guess it functions kind of like a final straw with Tarrants apparent betrayal as well...Havent read wings of wrath yet so it hasnt had a chance to annoy me with comparison... But... Hesseth/Damien? Im not really into slash that much (too much in love with Gerald lol) but I can see the potential for that way more than this one...

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Senzei was the superfluous one from the beginning, so I can't say his death came as a surprise. Hesseth... I kept waiting for her to have a real purpose beyond taking care of Jenseny. And like you say, it's not getting the emotional impact it should have had. Even in the next chapter Damien already has moved on and barely spares her a thought. Efficient in their current situation, but it makes him a lot colder than he is in other situations.

[shadowystar.livejournal.com]

But... Hesseth/Damien?
Sorry, no. Not that I don't like interspecies romance but not here. Too much D/G centered. And I simply love those two!
However I don't think this is about lack of potential. I can imagine a D/H romance, and, if well and plausible written, it could be convincing ... but I just don't want to read it. As in not interested in. Yes, the interspecies aspect makes the pairing interesting and I can imagine all the conflicts that could cause but the conflicts Damien experiences with Gerald are much more soul deep. With Hesseth it would be the difference of species, something one can accept easily if the feelings are strong. But with Gerald it's the difference in the very soul. How easy do you accept this?
Have to agree on the emotional effect part. Perhaps I would be more bothered by Hesseth's death if there were more of it. I thought it quite unrealistic, I mean, you travel for almost two years with someone and when that someone dies you what? Just go on with the normality? I have to admit that extreme circumstances sometimes demand extreme actions and there's so little time to sit down and grieve appropriately but still... Extreme circumstances affect extremer and it's difficult to keep the emotional stability they show here, even Jenseny. Again, unrealistic, for a child that lost its family and finally found someone to replace it...

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

I sort of thought Hesseth might take Jenseny and settle down somewhere when they got back. Clearly she couldn't go back to the Rakh, but I was a little surprised when they both died. I certainly wasn't expecting it to come like it did.

But I don't mind, entirely. I wish we'd gotten more of Hesseth--I saw little peeks of promise for a really interesting person and species--and I was very sad to see her go, but the death felt realistic to me. She died saving the rest of them, and they're on a dangerous journey; sometimes people just don't make it.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

I didn't expect them to die either - kids don't die! - but when you say they could have settled somewhere... where would they have gone? In a way, they had no way out anymore. Hesseth couldn't stay among humans or rakh, and Jenseny... who knows whether she could have adapted enough. Her senses seem crippling at times.

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

I've got no idea where they would've gone. I don't think I thought that far ahead. :) And yeah, I suspect Jenseny would always have been kind of...cracked. But you know, when I think about what she might've been like as she grew up, she seems like one of the more interesting female characters I've ever come across.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

I actually wouldn't have been surprised if Tarrant would have tried to keep her. The first human to adapt to the tidal fae - he'd kill to get his hands on someone like that and study her. But of course that would only have been possible over Damien's dead body. Not that it would necessarily have stopped him.

[trobadora]

I want to read the AU in which Jenseny survives and Tarrant adopts her. *g*

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Yuletide's just around the corner, you know. ;-)

But what would you do with Damien? You know he wouldn't leave her out of his sight for even a minute.

[trobadora]

Well, he'd just have to co-parent with Tarrant ... you know, only to keep an eye on things, no other reason at all, nono! :D

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

"Jenseny has two daddies..."

[trobadora]

Just so.

[trobadora]

I wish I could remember what I thought! But in the end - while I always wish we'd seen more of Hesseth in particular, someone had to die or the whole thing would have seemed far less dangerous. (Same as with Senzei in BSR, actually.)