Cliffhanger ending The first question I asked myself as I put down the book having read the last page is whether the ending is a cliffhanger or if the world is really doomed. It seems to me that the namesake of the series has only just begun and the obvious approach would be to write another series about the de facto second apocalypse. That beggars the question, however, whether there is any feasible hope for humanity (and thus whether there are credible options to base a story upon where the second apocalypse is averted); virtually all warlike men have or will perish with the exception of Zeumians (spelling?). Same should be true for the schools.
Humanity certainly seems doomed, but I think the bad guys have a hidden weakness in their position. Like, yes, 4 Dunyain in charge, that is the bad, but, turn that around...the one inside of the Whirlwind is a little boy who loves his Mommy. Like, Kelmo is certainly good at winning army fights (witness his use of the sranc to relay the chorae into position), but he also doesn't give even one shit about shutting the world, and cares entirely about Esme. From a consult POV that is a problem.
Kellhus demise What did you guys think about this? I'm personally a bit confused since it seemed on the one hand that Kellhus was descending, greeting the great ordeal, but then at the same time perishing to a chorae. I'm assuming he actually did perish tho, and maybe the figure that greeted the great ordeal was some hologram or something. I'm a bit undecided on Kellhus ending, whether it was credible that he died the way he died. I mean, shouldn't he have noticed Kelmomas presence?
He got killed when Kelmomas appeared and broke Ajokli possession (same way as he broke WLW 1 and 2's White Luck). A skin spy salted him, and they force Kelmo into the Sarcophagus. They use the imaging technology that they were using to fake Shae to hide it behind an image of Kellhus while it is spinning up and getting the Sranc back.
Kellhus: good or bad? I have to say that it was finally concluded that Kellhus was in fact a bad guy. While admittedly he was fighting the consult in earnest; it seems that he was in fact (willingly or in enslavement/possession) basically going to make Earwa a living hell.
If you look back at the talks that Kellhus has with himself re: tending the fields vs burning them it is pretty clear he is talking to Ajokli at that time. Kellhus himself was, as mentioned a bunch of times, not a man but a place. Dedicated entirely to salvation, no matter how vile the means. He made a pact with the 4 horned brother for victory. He was willing to give the world 'any wound, save one that was mortal'. I think, ultimately he is 'good' in that he was out to keep people around. Bad in that he made a pact with the devil to do it.
Dunyain claiming the consult I personally loved this twist, so good, so smart, and so obvious even though I hadn't conceived anything like this could happen. Masterly, Bakker!
Agreed. I read it and couldn't believe I didn't see it coming.
Momen story arc pointless? I fail to see how anything in Momemn made any sense to the overall story of of the book. Sure, there are some connections to the ending with Kelmomas becoming the No-God and everything, but WHY did Kellhus care about what happened to Esmenet at all? I thought Bakker was perhaps unto something when Kellhus states that Esmenet is the only darkness he experience but that ultimately wasnt given any follow-up
Kellhus was in love with Esmenet, and couldn't bring himself to leave her to die. He went back to save her. In doing so he picked up Kelmomas, which was his doom. The Momemn arc taught us how White Luck worked and gave us insight into Kelmomas and Esmenet, who were important characters going forward.
Kayutas Why didnt this guy DO anything in the books, really? it really did feel like he played no part whatsoever, whereas all other of the anasurimbor children had some important part to play
He was mostly a Kellhus stand in for Sorweel and Proyas. His role was to essentially shine some light on stuff that couldn't either remain entirely opaque or be entirely revealed, via his perspective as half Dunyain.
Malowebi Not really sure why he was present in the book: his depicting of Kellhus' actions could just have been through Kellhus' point of view rather than having this guy dangling by Kellhus' side cursing Likaro.
He is a way to have scenes from Kellhus's perspective while hiding the fact that Kellhus is possessed. Nobody else can be in the Golden Room, but we can't be in Kellhus' head there.
Kellhus grandson (Mr. Crabfingers) what the hell happened to this guy? I'm really disappointed this wasn't followed up at all in the book, ESPECIALLY considering TUC is essentially the same book as TGO and just disappeared randomly.
I feel like he is being left in the wind so that he can show up in the next book.
Cnauir What really did happen here in the end? it seemed that he was possessed by the four horned brother, same as kellhus perhaps, but what happened when he walked into the whirlvwind? I think his parts were really well-written however, and even if he seemingly had no purpose to the overall story I really liked his parts. There is just something titanic in the phrase "the most violent of all men" (especially from Proyas' PoV during the first meeting between the believer-kings and Kellhus in the beginning of TTT) I'm wondering whether Cnaiur could be Bakker's best written character. Such violence combined with such intellect.
I'm also a big fan of Cnaiur. I think he walked into the Whirlwind and was shredded. I expect he'll be a Ciphrang in the next book. I think he was possessed by Gilgaol, rather than Ajokli.
Akka Same question as with Cnauir. I'm a bit bummed about this personally. I thought Akka was really the hero of the book and it would have been nice to see some sort of redemption for him. It was just a bit anti-climatic the ending (if it can even be called such) for Akka.
I don't think we see Akka die, right? He might well have figured out a way to escape, or been captured.
Serwa I really liked Serwas development in this book, but im a bit curious what the whole point was of fighting the dragon when there was seemingly no follow up to it? It kinda felt like they could all have waited for Kellhus to finish his encounter with the unholy consult.
I think we might see more of Serwa to come. With her teleportation, she might have escaped the final massacre.
General thoughts on the book I might have come across as a bit negative here. I usually have a negative first impression of books, especially when speed through them which admittedly is the case here. I think a lot of my negativity turns on whether we get another book in this series or if this is really the end. There are just too many unanswered questions I think. Overall I did like the book however, Bakker's writing is excellent as usual and the story is high paced and filled with awesomeness basically.
I liked the book an awful lot, very surprised and excited by the end.
