Coldfire re-read: When True Night Falls - chapters 47 and 48

[trobadora]

Death! Destruction! Excitement! We finally get to the glorious victory over the villain of the piece ... but of course, far more exciting is the chapter after that. *g*

Plot summary

Chapter 47
Jenseny meets the Prince again, and he takes her up on her offer. She gets a glimpse of his real body and nearly balks, but does let him in, and manages to dazzle him with a light show while she binds him to her and kills them both (familiar plot element, anyone?) - although it takes divine intervention for her to finally succeed.

Chapter 48
Damien's been dumped in his cell to rot and die, but he's got a rescue to perform, so naturally first he himself is rescued - by Katassah, who pretends he's still host to the Prince. Then he goes off to save Tarrant, not without protesting to himself that no, of course Tarrant's not his friend, why would anyone think so? *g* - Just when Damien thinks it's all over, in comes Karril and issues a cryptic warning, telling them to go home as quickly as they can.

Quotes

• The Light was still there; at least that was something. It wasn't strong but it was enduring, and that was a good sign. Hesseth had told her about something called a soft tide, when the tidal fae might last for hours. It wasn't nearly as powerful as a hard tide, which was when several planetary rhythms came together at once and their joint friction made the whole world glow, but it was much more reliable. And reliability was what she needed right now.


• Floating in the tank was a man. No, not a man any more. It had four limbs and one head and it wore a man's shape, but there the resemblance ended. The fingers were thick and white, and in the place of fingernails grew a dense brown fungus. The body was so bloated and its surface was so mottled with various growths and discolorations that it would have been a stretch of the imagination to call it human. The face . . . the face was a thing of pure nightmare, its hair and eyebrows long since rotted away, its eyes coated with thick brown sludge, its lips distended to serve as a gateway for the tiny finned creatures that used its mouth as home. All about the body there was movement: snails and slugs and tiny leggy things, all scrounging for the waste matter exuded by their host. There were plants to eat the leggy things and fish to eat the plants, a cycle of life so perfectly balanced that a little light and an occasional infusion of oxygen was all that was required to keep the tiny ecosystem alive.
  My first body. The words were not spoken so much as placed in her mind; the taste of them was sour, the feel of them unclean. Keeping it alive makes me all but invulnerable. And no man will ever find where it is buried. She saw how the nutrients in the water were absorbed by that pliant flesh, so that the brain it housed might go on living year after year, century after century, sending out its spirit to claim more attractive bodies while it floated in the semi-darkness, slugs and snails for its nursemaids.


• The rakh understood. "Your friend?"
  Friend. What a bizarre word that was. What an alien, almost incomprehensible concept. Could one call the Hunter a friend? Would one ever want to?
  "Yeah," he muttered. "Tarrant. Is he alive?"


• He looked at the wards, at the Hunter's crystal bonds, at the Hunter himself. I should leave you here, he thought. The world would be a better place for your absence. But somehow it didn't seem the time or the place to be making that decision.


• "It's forbidden," he said at last. "But so is what he's done. To tamper with mankind's development . . . that's strictly forbidden. So which is the worse crime? Which is more likely to be punished?"


• "Twelve centuries ago your ancestors came to this planet. There were only a few hundred of them then, few enough that when Casca made his grand sacrifice it shook this planet to its very roots. Now, with millions of humans on Erna, with thousands of them Working the fae, no one man can have that kind of influence. No single act can impress the fae so that its basic nature alters again. But a thousand men - a hundred thousand - might. A plan of action carried down through the centuries could."


• "My family are symbiotes, not parasites," he told the priest. "And some of us are proud of that distinction. Be careful, Reverend Vryce. Be wary. Travel fast." He was little more than than a veil of color now, fading out around the edges. "And take care of Gerald Tarrant, will you? He seems to be getting himself into a lot of trouble these days."

Thoughts

• I admit it, I really don't get the tidal fae. It seems sketchy at best. And again I'm wondering ... do you think Friedman had the different kinds of fae all worked out from the start? Did she know what each could do, what rules its use followed? Or did she to some degree make it up as she went along? Is the tidal fae a kind of deus ex machina?


• Speaking of a more literal deus ex machina: Why do you think Jenseny gets a divine intervention here again? The second one on her behalf. Any theories what it is about her in particular?


• Why exactly is the Prince's method of survival supposed to be so horrible? I mean, yes, the stealing bodies thing, absolutely - but the condition of his real body? Why is that held up as an image of horror? I rather think the book falls down here a little because it tries to substitute mere ickiness for the suble psychological terror it usually relies on. Opinions?


• Oh Damien. Never stop being yourself. You're cute when you protest too much. You don't need to call him a friend, sweetie - actions speak louder than words. *g*


• Was anyone really surprised by the "surprise turn" at the end, when Karril revealed the Prince to be nothing more than Calesta's pawn? Not that one can complain, I suppose - it sets up the third book brilliantly.


• Speaking of the third book - here, Karril says that tampering with mankind's development was forbidden. But isn't that exactly what the mother of the Iezu was doing? (The rules that govern the Iezu never quite made sense to me, either.)


• Karril's line about the First Sacrifice, and how something like that couldn't happen today because there are just too many people - I hate to say it, but it sounds a hell of a lot more plausible than Tarrant's sacrifice lateron imprinting on the fae, much less the Patriarch's. No one but Tarrant himself is involved in Tarrant's sacrifice, after all, and even if the Patriarch's believers supported his sacrifice - how many people are around who are entirely untouched by this and who would want no part of it? The effect seems too big for the sacrifice; the Church doesn't seem nearly far enough along to be able to do anything like that. This is one of the things I've always struggled with. Does anyone have a good theory how it all comes together?

On Thursday, we'll be continuing with the last chapters: chapter 49 and the epilogue ...

Comments

[rekishi]

maybe for Tarrant it is because he does it at a focal point of the fae, I mean Shaitan is one of the places where they stream up. and for another, his sword is a tangible symbol of his power, with Gerald being one of the (if not THE) most powerful sorcerers on Erna AND an Adept, maybe his sacrifice counts especially much?

as for the Patriarch, we know that he is a natural sorcerer who is maybe not even aware of his gift (although from the blackflashes we get of his mother I'm not so sure) and thereby his impression on the fae carries another emphasis?

just quick thoughts, I'll see if I can think about this some more but now i need to run to class *sigh* I hate 8 am lectures

[trobadora]

I suppose you can argue that, but neither explanation seems to flow directly from the books for me. I have to think about it; the books don't make it make sense on their own. Or at least that's the way I feel about it.

(8 AM? OMG, evil!)

[rekishi]

8 am is very evil.

isn't sacrificing a life much more power than than mere technology, what Casca did? need to think again when I'm more awake than now (which was another 8 am day *shudder*)

[trobadora]

Hm. The power isn't in what is being sacrificed, but in what it means to the one doing the sacrifice. I suppose it's not impossible to believe Tarrant's life is more important to him than Terran tech (and cultural heritage) ever was to Casca ... *g*

[rekishi]

It...probably is. But I think a blood sacrifice is still more powerful because I don't think all those lizards and what else Casca sacrificed before he blew up the ship meant anything at all to him. They were simply lives. Small lives but lives.

[shadowystar.livejournal.com]

You don't need to call him a friend, sweetie - actions speak louder than words.
Oh yes, how true.
...because it tries to substitute mere ickiness for the suble psychological terror it usually relies on...
That bothered me a little, too. The subtle horror of a host, of having to share your body with someone who has perfect control of it, would be enough and even more horrifying (and I'm not talking about that part with Jenseny where the Prince tries to be nice!), in my opinion.
...tampering with mankind's development was forbidden...
Nice idea, almost reminds me of the Non-Interference Rule from ... where again? Star Trek - TNG? Well, from where a high developed society decides to let lesser developed societies develop on their own. But as I said, almost. Here, I think, the point is that the Iezu need humans. Karril said it himself, they are symbiotes. They need said mankind to survive. Maybe if they tamper too much with humans they would be more *like* humans and didn't the Iezu MOther want to preserve her kind as much as possible? Maybe that was why she set the rule? She, herself, had no other chance than keep doing exactly that for the same reason.
...that couldn't happen today because there are just too many people...
Got bothered with that, too. Personally, I think, it was the only possible way to get rid of Gerald in a heroic and dramatic way. BTW, I don't think sealing the fae against human influence was that clever for many reasons, having problems with the planet's seismologic activity being the first. What do you think will happen when the quake Wards fail? How quick will the population growth rate be back to zero - if you remember my entry on populace on Erna?

[trobadora]

Trek's Prime Directive? Heh.

And as you probably know, I absolutely agree about quake wards, etc. - I really don't think this shiny new world will do very well any time soon!

[fragorl.livejournal.com]

I always thought that the Hunter's sacrifice was quite literally in a different league - it was not the sacrifice of the man called Gerald Tarrant, it was the sacrifice of the Prophet, who was still one of the most powerful legendary figures with thousands of followers, and the Hunter who had developed into a legend far eclipsing the man, and then on a more personal scale the sacrifice of immortality which kind of includes the sacrifices he made at the start of his wife and children because effectively he is giving up what he gained from them - thats a lot of sacrifice! The Patriarch always seemed more difficult to justify, but then I thought maybe because it wasnt deliberate - he believed that he was creating a future where people would feel the guilt of the sin that they had caused and not carry on battling each other etc. and what he did wasnt conscious - he wasnt saying I will die to destroy the fae, so perhaps it was that which made it happen? I am less sure of that one though! I dont particularly like that part of the ending much!

[trobadora]

I think the Hunter's sacrifice you can actually explain if you try (though the book itself doesn't really seem to). But as you say, the Patriarch is harder. I guess we'll have to pay extra attention when we reach that in the reread!

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

sending out its spirit to claim more attractive bodies while it floated in the semi-darkness, slugs and snails for its nursemaids.

I'd totally forgotten that part. How very Dorian Grey.

[trobadora]

Morbidly pretty, isn't it?