The resolution of the Coldfire trilogy--spoilers

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

So, a good place to start is at the end.

The way I read, I'm constantly trying to figure out where the plot is going, and how it might resolve. One of the things I so liked about the Coldfire trilogy was that it was very hard for me to figure out how she could bring it to a satisfying conclusion. I like it when someone is able to really surprise me. So when I first read Crown of Shadows, I looked forward to seeing how it would end.

Well, most of us know how it ends, and my first response was to nearly throw the book across the room. It felt so...unfitting. I had the impression that Friedman had written herself into a corner, and that she had left plots dangling. I mean...Damien, just standing there? Surely he would've done something. Everything in my reading experience said that you don't simply leave a character standing there at the end, with nothing left to do and nowhere to go. Isn't that a story in itself? And Tarrant...egad, what happened with Tarrant? It was weird, and jarring for me. I felt terribly let down that this was how it would all end after everything that had happened.

In subsequent reads, it came together for me a bit. Or maybe I just learned to live with my disappointment. I can get behind Damien's mixture of joy and despair now. I can snicker at Tarrant's parting one-up on the ex-priest. I can look forward and wonder what Tarrant, in his new body, might be going off to do; what Damien might find to do with the rest of his broken life. Wondering what could possibly come after for them both has become part of the story for me.

But I still wonder...is that what she was trying to do? I mean really. What was the point of that ending?

Comments

[alice_montrose]

It's... complicated. I would be lying if I said Crown of Shadows is not my least favourite book in the trilogy. Still, we work with what we get, eh?

In my eyes, the book always ended with the Patriarch's Sacrifice. What comes afterward - the introduction of Riven Forrest, Andrys & Narilka's wedding, and of course Damien's meeting with a certain young man - is a series of... I'm not sure what to call them... epilogues, perhaps, that attempt to bring a certain closure to the series while still leaving plenty of room for interpretation. Because that's what it is, isn't it? An open ending, so that each reader can imagine for himself or herself what happens afterward.

Anyway, in regards with Gerald's second resurrection, I think we could have expected it. Throughout the books, he has held onto life with teeth and claws. How many times was he on the brink of death and came back? He wouldn't be one who is satisfied with mortality, and he probably knows that his soul's redemption for 900 years of sins will not happen in a lifetime. You must remember who he is - or rather, was: proud, arrogant... and immortal. No, I don't think he would give that up so easily, not with a new world out there just waiting for him to explore, and exploit all those new possibilities.

I am not quite sure what to make of poor Damien, though. After all he's been through he finds himself alone, with no purpose. Perhaps he'll manage to pick up what's left of him and reinvent himself? And if not, maybe a certain young man will show up to give him a good kick in the derriere and drag him off to have some new adventures. *lol* But seriously, I'm not really sure how Damien will carry on, for he has lost everything. Everything.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

He wouldn't be one who is satisfied with mortality, and he probably knows that his soul's redemption for 900 years of sins will not happen in a lifetime.

He doesn't have much of a choice, does he? Either he dies and ends up in hell, or he tries to redeem himself (which will take another few centuries at least), or he finds a way to avoid dying once more. And since that last option has worked rather well for nine hundred years, why change a winning formula...

But poor Damien, there at the end. *sigh*

[alice_montrose]

*nod nod* On both counts.

Oh, btw,. I think we forgot to list Hesseth in the interests section. *sweatdrops*

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

*off to add Hesseth*

I am wondering about something, though. The whole purpose of the Church was to bring mankind back to space. So if Gerald achieves that final goal all by himself, would that mean redemption for him?

[alice_montrose]

Hmm... maybe. Who knows? I mean, the way I see it he might try his best to redeem himself over the next few centuries. Or he'll try his best at becoming the best scientist there is and eventually accomplish space travel. Maybe the Mother of the Iezu will give him a hand there.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

The second option seems more likely to me... Redemption is a bit tricky for him. He'd have to do something that outweighs his past because as he said, he can't pretend to regret what he did.

But turning into a scientist and coming up with the occasional new way to live a few centuries longer...

[(Anonymous)]

That's a very interesting point, actually. If God is created from the fae, and the fae is only on Erna...then if Tarrant were to leave the planet someday, would that rid him of the irritating problem of redemption?

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

Argh. That was me. Forgot to sign in.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting point, actually. If God is created from the fae, and the fae is only on Erna...then if Tarrant were to leave the planet someday, would that rid him of the irritating problem of redemption?

It would seem logical... so all he has to do is stay alive until he (or someone else) develops reliable ways of space travel, and then find another planet without fae or something similar. No more Hell to worry about, so dying wouldn't be quite as scary as before anymore. Even though immortality probably does become a habit at some point.

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

...You know, I was going to point out that no fae means no immortality, too. But...well, who knows what sorts of technology humans have come up with at that point? Maybe a more scientific sort of immortality does wait for him out there.

And now I'm imagining the kind of culture shock that'd happen if Tarrant ran into super-futuristic humans.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Culture shock to him or to the super-futuristic humans? ;-)

Actually he might not venture out to space until he is certain there is a way of immortality waiting which won't need the fae to work. He might just try to first find the technology to go to space, then figure out a way to make immortality last without the fae, then go to space. I doubt time is much of an issue for him.

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

Culture shock to him or to the super-futuristic humans? ;-)

Good question. Frankly, I'm not quite sure! :)

[alice_montrose]

*lol* My bet is, culture shock on the super-futuristic humans. Because Gerald would likely be... intrigued.