An image of what her daughter might look like came to him: sturdy but fine-boned, dark languid hair chopped low-caste short, a cheek perfectly curved to the cup of a palm. But it was Esmi he actually envisaged. Her as a child.
Confirmation that Akka had never seen Mimara until he met her early in TJE. If I remember correctly, one of them misremembers this at some point.
Also, imagining young Mimara as young Esmenet isn't too far off from the truth. Not that Akka knew this at this point, though.
She had dwindled in the five years since he had last come to Sumna.
Taking note of another timeline reference...there might be an inconsistency here concerning Achamian and Mimara's recollections during TAE (if there is, I'll add that to the inconsistencies/mistakes thread eventually).
There is a moment in TWP where Akka is stumbling through camp and he thinks he sees a young Esmenet. I'm of the opinion that who he actually saw was Mimara.
"The world has the habit" Achamian said, "of breaking the back of my promises."
I feel like this quote, along with the quote about the past that MSJ mentioned earlier and the "I was meant to suffer" one from chapter 1, beautifully sum up Akka's character and story arc.
He has such great lines.
Maithanet came from the deep south, Inrau had told him, from Cingulat or Nilnamesh, where the hold of the Thousand Temples was uncertain.
This part of his backstory is presumably true, right? Since I am completely clueless when it comes to geography, could someone confirm this for me?
Shimeh isn't far from there - Kellhus goes on to conquer one of those to right after his anointment in Shimeh. This could be true assuming that Moenghus didn't start his conquest of the Cishaurim in their holy city - which makes sense. He'd want to do his own 'prince of nothing' bit outside the power center. Once he had a proper identiy - Mallahet - he'd eventually make his way to Shimeh. During that time he would have realized he needed a child for TTT and would have sired Maithanet.
The story of Maithanet's birthplace could have been muddled by hearsay, but Nilnamesh and Cingulat are far enough south to be confused for eachother in rumors.
Kind of like how people in the US know about where Israel is (probably), but the rest of the middle east is just 'a place' ie most people don't know specifically where each country/city is in relation to eachother just that its over here ... somewhere.
Point being, the rumors of Maithanets origins are close enough to what is likely the truth for it not to matter much either way.
But before any words could be spoken, hands guided the Prince, still staring, to one side, and Achamian found himself looking into the serene and surprisingly youthful face of Maithanet.
The Shriah's face darkened, but his blue eyes glittered with . . . with . . .
More clues to Maithanet's identity. He's most likely only in his mid-to-late 20s at this point!
Also, those Anasūrimbor/Dūnyain supernaturally dominant genetics really are insane. Maithanet's mother was presumably a dark-skinned, dark-haired, brown-eyed Ketyai woman, and yet he still looks Norsirai. Still, not as ridiculous as in the case of his nephews and nieces, as it's just him in this case.
Earwa genetics are a bit Fantastic
He can see the Few.
Only the Few could see the Few.
When I first read this, I thought this would turn out to be quite important later on. It seems like it was just another clue to his identity (he's of the Few just like his father and half-brother). Maybe it was also something that helped him uncover some of those plots?
I didn't really get the impact of this when I read it initially - not like the revelation in TWP where Kellhus reveals he's of the Few. I think you're right, its largely a clue to his family heritige, along with his other physical attributes. In retrospect, its glaringly obvious that he's related to Kellhus.
The Shriah turned his strong bearded profile to him, and Proyas was struck by the crisp blue of his eyes. "Tell me, Nersei Proyas," Maithanet said with the voice of edict. "Who was that man, that sorcerer, who dared pollute my presence?"
And here Proyas finds himself caught in the web of manipulations of a Dūnyain for the first time. Which will sadly be a constant for the rest of his life, as we know.
Oof. Knowing his last free moments are behind him hurts more because of how it ends.
Poor guy.
Some further remarks: Interesting that we have those mentions that something is "off" about Sarcellus, that absence of something. Remember how Simas was described by Nautzera as being "devoid of sentiment" in the previous chapter? To me that's further evidence that he was indeed a skin-spy at that point. Nautzera thinks that's just part of Simas' character, but it's very likely that it's something else.
The skin-spies have been around for hundreds of years at this point. People, especially those in high station who have unknowingly been in contact with them for centuries, are probably used to this flat-affect effect. And I agree, skin-spies everywhere.
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). As I said, I think I'll read some sequels. It really seems that everyone agrees that later books are where its at. This kind of goes against my rule, but unlike Prince of Thorns which I very nearly hated, Storm Front had elements that I really liked. I'm tempted to read more, and your encouragement makes it all the more enticing.
