Earwa > The Almanac: TAE Edition

The Slog WLW - Chapter 14 [Spoilers]

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H:
Chapter 14:


--- Quote ---The woman he had murdered had been overthrown.
--- End quote ---

The WLW here, saying he killed Esmenet.  Can the WLW be wrong?


--- Quote ---How? How could she abandon him? After all his work, his toil, isolating her from distractions, infiltrating her, possessing her—making her love...
--- End quote ---

Kel again here, is he feigning love for Esmenet?  Or is this part of what deranged him, that she felt so distant from her other children, he felt the need to make her love him?


--- Quote ---"What if he were simply a man pretending to be more—a prophet, or even as you say, a god—simply to manipulate you and countless others?"
"But why would he do such a thing?" the girl cried, seeming at once thrilled, confused, and appalled.
"To save your life."
Naree, for all her beauty, looked plain in her moments of unguarded sorrow. Esmenet watched her blink two tears before trying to find shelter beneath the false roof that was her smile.
"Why would he do such a thing?"
--- End quote ---

Oh, what a great conversation.  What a great question to end it.  Indeed, this is the whole AE series boiled down to one question.  One we really have little idea about...


--- Quote ---"Secret words—he even said so. Words that no one—no one—can hear."
He walked like an acrobat following a rope, heel to toe, heel to toe. Despite his diminutive frame, he seemed to tower above the ink pool of his shadow.
"No. He never told me to kill anyone. But then, why would he have to? The words were secret..."
For the first time the boy turned to look at the watching Knight.
"Of course he would expect me to kill anyone listening."
--- End quote ---

This is a curious part.  It almost seems like Kellhus trained Kel, or was trying to train him in something?  Perhaps this went wrong somehow?  Or even more oddly, perhaps it went right?


--- Quote ---"What?" he asked as he worked. "What is my brother's plan?" The Holy Shriah looked up from the posture of a penitent. "He must have known that the Gods would begin clamouring against him, that one by one their far-off whispers would take root in the Cults. He must have known his Empire would crumble in his absence... So then why? Why would he entrust it all to someone with no Dûnyain blood?"
--- End quote ---

Perhaps because the Empire doesn't matter?


--- Quote ---"Because he feared that tidings of discord would weaken the Ordeal's resolve."
This, at least, had been what she told herself... What she needed to believe.
"But then why would he cease communicating?" Maithanet asked. "Why would he personally refuse to answer our pleas? From his brother. From his wife..."
She did not know. The Holy Empress of the Three Seas wiped at the tears burning in the creases of her eyes, but the filth on her fingers only made them sting more.
"Then it dawned on me," Maithanet continued, looking out to the recesses of the shuttered Temple. "What if he foresaw the inevitability of his empire's collapse? What if the Three Seas were doomed to unravel no matter who ruled them? You. Me. Thelli..."
--- End quote ---

Or, as I talked about before, the Empire's collapse is wholly irrelevant to the ultimate conclusion, or goal?  Or could well be a necessary part of it.


--- Quote ---"If the Empire was doomed to perish," he said, "what would his reasoning be then?"
--- End quote ---

I know there is much speculation that Kellhus is different than other Dûnyain because he either has, had, or acquired passions.  While I don't disagree that he does have these "vestigal passions" at times, I do not believe he is currently allowing them to interfere with his Thousandfold Thought, even if they did influence his formulation of it.  Indeed, this lack of communication could well be an acknowledgement that if he were to speak to Esmenet, he might be tempted to interfere and so his reticence to do so is tacit confirmation that the crumbling of the Empire is within his plan.


--- Quote ---What kind of man made oil of his children? What kind of Saviour?
--- End quote ---

The Thousandfold Thought is a lie, we know this and Kellhus is no Savior.  Never was, just as the halos were never divine.


--- Quote ---"I made the exact same mistake you yourself made, Esmi," he said. "I thought of the New Empire as an end, something to be saved for its own sake, when really it's nothing more than a tool."
--- End quote ---

We know this actually.  Everything is a tool to a Dûnyain.


--- Quote ---"Sister!" he gasped. "You must tell my broth—!"
--- End quote ---

So cryptic, these last words.  Tell him what?  I think a warning, that the Gods are a bigger threat than he thinks they are.

profgrape:
1. Small tidbit from scene with Kelmomas and his captive Shrial knight:


--- Quote ---And the little boy grinned, an angel with the face of a demon.
--- End quote ---

Can't get much clearer than that, can you?

2. Regarding Matha's last words, whatever he wants to share with Kellhus (assuming he's the aforementioned "brother") is something that he feels his brother hasnt picked up on. Which given Kellhus deductive abilities is pretty impressive. I wonder if it's something about how the Gods can effectively hide their agents from even the hyper-perceptive Dunyain, that their abilities are indeed fallible?

Blackstone:
I don't have the book in front of me right now, but I think I recall Maithanet looking directly at Kelmomas and then the last words. I think the inference is that he realizes something is up with Kelmomas and he wants Esmi to warn Kellhus. The line about he angel with the demon face is intriguing. Shouldn't it be the other way around though?

@H - How do we know the TTT is a lie?

profgrape:
Kelmomas is still hiding when Maithanet is killed.   Before he's killed, however, he tells her "He isn't what you think he is, Esmi."

MSJ:

--- Quote from: Blackstone on April 21, 2016, 03:22:36 pm ---I don't have the book in front of me right now, but I think I recall Maithanet looking directly at Kelmomas and then the last words. I think the inference is that he realizes something is up with Kelmomas and he wants Esmi to warn Kellhus. The line about he angel with the demon face is intriguing. Shouldn't it be the other way around though?

@H - How do we know the TTT is a lie?

--- End quote ---

Moe explains it in TTT, it's Viramsata. The lie made breath (ground).

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