ARC: TWP Chapter 9

  • 1 Replies
  • 2857 Views

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

TheCulminatingApe

  • *
  • Kijneta
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
    • View Profile
« on: October 05, 2018, 06:22:21 pm »
Quote
One can look into the future, or one can look at the future.  The latter is by far the more instructive.
- AJENCIS, THE THIRD ANALYTIC OF MEN

Quote
If one doubts that passion and reason govern the fate of nations, one need only look to meetings between the Great.  Kings and emperors are unused to treating with equals, and are often excessively relived or repelled as a result.  The Nilnameshi have a saying, "When princes meet, they either find brothers or themselves," which is to say, either peace or war.
- DRUSAS ACHAMIAN, THE COMPENDIUM OF THE FIRST HOLY WAR
« Last Edit: October 09, 2018, 06:54:11 pm by TheCulminatingApe »
Sez who?
Seswatha, that's who.

TheCulminatingApe

  • *
  • Kijneta
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
    • View Profile
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2018, 03:42:11 pm »
Xerius has been summoned - presumably by Maithanet (who else could it be?), and is not impressed.
Quote
He summons me!  Me!  The insolence!

He reflects on advice from his mother
Quote
..."The world doesn't constrain us," the indomitable Empress had once explained, batting her harlot eyes, "so we must constrain ourselves - like the Gods... Discipline, sweet Xerius. We must have discipline.
The Gods are constrained? - by what?

There are crowds along the route from the Andiamine Heights to the Cmiral.  They are jeering and laughing at Xerius
Quote
Within moments, it seemed, hundreds had become thousands, and as their numbers grew, so did their gall.  Soon the air shivered with the thunder of multitudes.  Horrified, Xerius watched the torchlight sort through face after unwashed face, each turned to him, some watching in silent accusation or contempt, some sneering, others shouting or howling in spittle-flecked rage.  The procession trundled on, as yet unimpeded, but the sense of bristling pageantry had evaporated. Xerius swallowed.  Cold sweat snaked between hid clothes and skin. He turned his eyes resolutely forward, to the stiff backs of his cavalrymen.
This is what he wants, he told himself.  Remember, be disciplined!...
... They truly abhor me, Xerius realised.  They hate me... Me!
But this would change, he reminded himself.  When all was finished, when the fruits of his labour had become manifest, they would hail him as no other emperor in living memory.  They would rejoice as trains of heathen slaves bore tribute to the Home City, as blinded kings were dragged in chains to their Emperor's feet. And with shielded eyes they would gaze upon Ikurei Xerius III and they would know - know! - that he was indeed the Aspect-Emperor, returned from the ashes of Kyraneas and Cenei to compel the world, to force nation and tribe to bow and kiss his knee.
I will show them!  They will see!

Poor old Xerius,  paranoid, delusional, megalomaniac, from a family of appalling people.  There will be an Aspect Emperor doing exactly what you think, but it won't be you.
I wonder if he is actually a bad ruler, or if Maithanet has stirred the people up against him (bearing in mind later events).  Also, this apparent conflict between Emperor and Shriah seems to foreshadow events in TAE.

They reach the temple, and Xerius gives his orders
Quote
"Send word to the barracks!  Hack this place to silence!  I want my chariot to skid across blood when I return!"
Hard to have any sympathy for him.

He can hearing people chanting Maithanet's name.  I assume the Shriah can read him like a book, and has set the whole thing up.

Quote
"Tell me", Maithanet said, "have you sealed a pact with the heathen?  Have you vowed to betray the Holy War before it reaches the Sacred Land?"
Could he know
"I assure you, Maithanet... No".

Of course he knows.

Quote
...All of this - he mobs, the demand to meet here in Xothei, even the chanting of his name - was a demonstration of some kind, terrifying in its premeditated lack of subtlety.
I'll crush you, Maithanet was saying.  If the Holy War fails, you'll be destroyed.
Strangely prescient.

Quote
"Come... Listen to what I say to my people"
But over the course of this brief exchange, the sounds of thousands chanting Maithanet's name had transformed, hesitantly at first, but with greater certitude with each passing moment.  Changed
Into screams...
... At last he felt a match for this obscenely imposing man.
"Do you hear, Maithanet?  Now they call out my name".
"Indeed they do," the Shriah said darkly.  "Indeed they do".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in Gedea, the Men of the Tusk are laying siege to Hinnereth, only for the city to surrender to the Nansur.  Ultimately the leaders accept this, except Saubon, who has to be restrained from attacking Conphas.  Their rivalry continues.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proyas asks Xinemus what he makes of Kellhus.
Quote
...Somehow, some way, his presence makes me... Makes me better.

They discuss Akka and Esmi.
Quote
She's good for him," Xinemus said defensively.  "I've never seen him so content, so happy".
"But you sound worried".
Xinemus narrowed his eyes an instant, then sighed heavily.  "I suppose I do," he said, looking past Proyas.  "For as long as I've known him, he's been a Mandate Schoolman.  But now... I don't know."

Proyas is not impressed that Akka teaches Kelhus
Quote
"The Tusk", Proyas snapped, "'Burn them, for they are unclean!'  Burn them!  How much more clarity can there be?  Kellhus consorts with an abomination.  As do you".
The Marshal was shaking his head.  "I can't believe that".
Proyas fixed him with his gaze.  Why did he feel so cold?
"Then you cannot believe the Tusk"
The Marshal blanched, and for the first time the Conriyan Prince saw fear on his old sword-traner's face - fear!  He wanted to apologise, to unsay what he'd said, but he cold was so unyielding...
So true
I simply go by the Word!
If one couldn't trust the God's own voice, if one refused to listen - even for sentiment's sake! - then everything became scepticism and scholarly disputation.  Xinemus listened to his heart, and this was at once his strength and his weakness.  The heart recited no scripture.
"Well then", the Marshall said thinly.  "You needn't worry about Kellhus any more than you worry about me..."
Proyas narrowed his eyes and nodded.

Interesting passage, showing us how Kellhus is starting to make people question their tradition faith.  We see echoes of themes raised earlier in the series regarding doubt vs certainty, and emotion vs intellect.

Also when Proyas talks about trusting 'the word', another 'word' for 'word' is logos.  A hint of the limitations of the Dunyain?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Kellhus is pondering...
Quote
The promises and threats of what was came murmuring, and futures were discussed.
There was a world, Earwa, enslaved by history, custom, and animal hunger, a world driven by the hammers of what came before.
There was Achamian and all he had uttered  The Apocalypse, the lineages of Emperors and Kings, the Houses and Schools of Great Factions, the panoply of warring nations.  And there was sorcery, the Gnosis, and the prospect of near limitless power.
There was Esmenet and slender thighs and piercing intellect.
There was Sarcellus and the Consult and a wary truce born of enigma and hesitation.
There was Saubon and torment pitched against lust for power.
There was Cnaiur and madness and martial genius and the growing threat of what he knew.
There was the Holy War and faith and hunger.
And there was Father.
What would you have me do?.
Possible worlds blew through him, fanning and branching into a canopy of glimpses...
Nameless Schoolmen climbing a steep, gravelly beach.  A nipple pinched between fingers. A gasping climax.  A severed head thrust against the burning sun.  Apparitions marching out of the morning mist.
A dead wife.
Kellhus exhaled, then breathed deep the bittersweet pinch of cedar, earth, and war.
There was revelation.

Various pointers to the rest of Part 2, or the book and the whole series. 

So, Kellhus wants the Gnosis and the power it brings.  Esmenet - is he genuinely attracted to her, or is she another tool to be used?  Faith and hunger pop up a few times in the next few chapters.

And there was Father.  What would you have me do?  At first reading, it can reasonably be inferred that he is asking Moenghus.  But is he?  Has Kellhus chosen a different path?  Is Moenghus now a problem to be dealt with?  Is the question in fact directed towards someone, or something else?
« Last Edit: October 06, 2018, 03:46:23 pm by TheCulminatingApe »
Sez who?
Seswatha, that's who.