17 KiB
[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil Book 3: Chapter 67: Middle Eight
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Author: u/Zayits *
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URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/02/21/chapter-67-middle-eight/
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Score: 61
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Created: 2018-02-21T05:09:38
Post:
Comments:
u/M3mentoMori [+20] (3 minutes later)
Well, shit.
u/Zayits [+8] (26 minutes later)
Yeah. The only remaining hope is that Thief or Robber managed to do something in the meantime that would allow him to Destroy the bindings.
Still, for all the comfort quotes from the future allow us, they only speak of Cat and not of her predecessors. That's no cliffhanger here, that's a chapter-long drop that is cut off inches before the ground.
u/AurelianoTampa [+3] (42 minutes later)
Took the words out of my mouth. Damn.
u/Nihilvin [+14] (5 hours later)
You know what? I want the author to go the whole way with this twist. Make book 4 Diabolist and Cat vs the world.
u/None [+9] (7 hours later)
the plot twist is that there are not plot twist and diabolist wins in the end ? interesting take.
u/WalterTFD [+2] (8 hours later)
I mean, I don't see that as entirely impossible.
Like, Procer has a lot of narrative weight. We are gonna fight them.
But Cat herself muses that while she can go anywhere she wants through Arcadia the fight will be a walkover. There is no way Evil vs. Good comes down to teleportation and burning Good's homeland. So Cat has to lose that fey power before the fight with Procer.
I feel like, in order to escape Diabolist, Cat has to lose or massively curtail her Fey nature, thus becoming a human and not BIND-able. Maybe Black can accomplish that, but it might take Malicia.
u/Croktopus [+3] (23 hours later)
Black uses Destroy (or Cat uses it after Taking it from him) to destroy the mantle of winter.
u/Hoactzins [+11] (19 minutes later)
Hot damn, 3/4 of a book of Cat having a massive power boost has just paid off for Diabolist.
I like how for all of her plots, Diabolist's backup plan was simply to wait for Cat to use Break and then Claim her freely. Simple but effective.
Plus I guess all of her talk of Cat's morality and the like helped her in Creation's eyes. Slowly attacking Cat at her foundations is probably the shit that the Gods eat up.
u/Nihilvin [+10] (22 minutes later)
Cat lost the moment she used her third aspect at the start. Fights between Named are all about the aspects and she used her biggest one right off the bat.
u/ForgottenToupee [+3] (31 minutes later)
Has she used Take yet? I thought she didn’t have access to it because of the bindings
u/Nihilvin [+8] (38 minutes later)
She never used Take in the fight
u/Flamesmcgee [+3] (3 hours later)
She's used Break, only. She has Break, Take and winter powers. Take hasn't been seen yet.
u/RiOrius [+6] (5 hours later)
Fall is her third (and seemingly most powerful) aspect. He's not saying she used all three.
u/melmonella [+4] Tremble, o ye mighty, for a new age is upon you (7 hours later)
I'd say Take is more powerful. Fall is a powerboost, but it's a pretty straight powerboost. If opponent had an idea for how to deal with Cat's winter powers Fall doesn't really bring anything qualitatively different to the table-it's just same winter powers, but more of them. Take, on the other hand, gives Cat a new power (great) while permanently taking a power away from the enemy (double great) and thus qualitatively changing the structure of the fight. It's effectively two aspects in one in terms of power.
u/eaglejarl [+1] (8 hours later)
She may not be able to use Take at all due to Akua's Bind. If she can then she probably can't use it against Akua. What could be interesting is if she uses it against Black to Take an Aspect from him that lets her get free of Akua. What are his Aspects?
u/-main [+3] (8 hours later)
Destroy, Lead, Conquer, I believe. Destroy could be useful to Take.
u/melmonella [+1] Tremble, o ye mighty, for a new age is upon you (9 hours later)
Yeah, pretty dumb of her not to use it as soon as she could touch Akua. Not many downsides.
u/TideofKhatanga [+2] (3 hours later)
I guess all of her talk of Cat's morality and the like helped her in Creation's eyes
People have been dropping anvils on her this entire book and Catherine still hasn't caught on with the fact that she can't half-ass being evil. I guess that this will open her eyes.
u/paradoxinclination [+12] (24 minutes later)
I think the question that needs to be asked is; how is Black going to break the shape of the narrative Akua is writing here? It would rob too much weight from Catherine's own story for Black to kill Akua himself, and pretty clearly he isn't going to kill Cat. But he's also not really the kind of mentor who'd let his apprentice strike him down in some act of self sacrifice.
I think... Black might need to find some way to have Akua kill him with her own hands. That moment of high emotion could lead to Cat breaking free of Akua's grasp and transitioning, or transitioning and gaining an Aspect that then allows her to escape. It sidesteps the issue of the Calamites, and subverts the usual cliché of the villain being killed by their own intended replacement.
u/haiku_fornification [+24] (3 hours later)
I think the question that needs to be asked is; how is Black going to break the shape of the narrative Akua is writing here?
I feel like the narrative is already on Cat's side. Akua even explained why - Squire is half Good and half Bad. It's true that in a villainous Role Cat would be boned right now but is she a Villain at the moment? She's fighting against her nemesis in their evil lair, her mentor captured and her army and all of her Kingdom at risk. It's even shown in the dialogue: Akua is doing the evil monologuing and Cat is talking about love.
The whole thing stinks of a Hero's most desperate moment before divine intervention or some such.
u/leakycauldron [+4] Imperium of Man (7 hours later)
Villains don't get divine interventions though. Just Robber.
u/None [+3] (7 hours later)
This, Everyboy is especting for cat to become black queen or something in the vain, I think Black biggest insult to the heave is to steal one of their own, she is going to make cat a hero, but not one that will follow the gods above whims.
u/nick012000 [+1] (an hour later)
how is Black going to break the shape of the narrative Akua is writing here?
Cat kills him. Cat transitions into the Name of Black Knight. Since her nature as the Duchess of Moonless Nights is tied to her Name, she'll lose her fae powers when she transitions. This also means that she'll no longer be bound by Diabolist.
It would also serve as her defeating the Diabolist's Monster (herself) and the Pivot simultaneously.
u/None [+2] (an hour later)
[deleted]
u/Flamesmcgee [+5] (3 hours later)
Black Queen isn't name material by any stretch, no matter how much the fandom likes it. It's way too clunky.
I know you guys aren't poets, but come on.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+5] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (10 hours later)
There is that line about wanting to make a queens decree to Black, the popular belief she is the black queen, Black's telling her she can be a queen if that's what she wants . . . I'm not sure how you say it's not supported. It's not a classic name as far as we know but neither was adjutant.
u/Flamesmcgee [+1] (12 hours later)
It's got nothing to do with classic anything. I'm arguing that "Black Queen" has about as much flair as a floating turd, by the standard of names.
"Exiled Prince" is stylish. "Tyrant of Helike" has style, as does Dread Empress of Praes or Tyrant of Praes or whatever Malicia's actual name is. Black and White Knight has style, as well as buckets upon buckets of precedence. Adjuntant is also a stylish name.
Black Queen is no such thing, and therefore it is not going to be her name. It doesn't roll off the tongue and invoke a clear archetype the way literally all the other names do.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+1] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (13 hours later)
So your saying it's lacking gravitas, okay gotcha and my apologies for misunderstanding.
That brings up an interesting point, in that black may not be part of her next name. Do we know if Squires only become knights?
u/Flamesmcgee [+1] (14 hours later)
Yeah, that's about right. I don't know about squires and knights, but we have seen apprentice (traditionally the potential next Warlock) transition to Hierophant and Heiress (traditionally the potential next Dread Empress) transition to Diabolist. So I think the lines aren't as clear cut as has been implied.
That's my interpretation anyway.
u/rabotat [+1] (2 days later)
It doesn't roll off the tongue and invoke a clear archetype
Interesting. It may be a culture thing, but in my country's folklore it is a thing and an archetype. Here is a write-up about a legend from the city in which I live.
When this whole "Black Queen" started I thought it was a generaly accepted trope, but after googling a bit I realize it is not a thing in the West.
u/nick012000 [+1] (2 hours later)
Black Queen's probably not an actual Name; it'd be a nickname of someone's actual Name, which would probably have to be something like Queen of Callow - but since her formal title is vice-queen of Callow, she can't transition into that Name unless she revokes the "vice" part of "vice-queen", and declares independence from Praes.
u/cyberdsaiyan [+2] (3 hours later)
Queen of Blades?
u/nick012000 [+2] (4 hours later)
IIRC, The author stated in the comments below one of the chapters that her Name was Queen of Callow; Queen of Blades was just something people called her.
u/Zayits [+0] (31 minutes later)
At this point I hope for something otherwise nigh-impossible, like too much time passing in Arcadia, so Black would have time to partially undo his bindings, or the reinforcements would come.
u/paradoxinclination [+3] (51 minutes later)
I'm pretty sure Black is already free, at least that's the implication I got from that last line. Can't really 'await' someone if you're still their prisoner, plus there needs to be some kind of climactic final battle here.
u/sparkc [+8] (an hour later)
Correct me if I’m wrong but it feels like Masego would have warned Catherine of this outcome had he known she intended to use Arcadia as a battlefield? It didn’t feel like a Diabolist being suited to Arcadia was intended to be some particularly big secret.
I do hope the answer is not that Catherine didn’t run her plan by Masego because if you’re preparing to fight a Named mage he would be one of the first people you would run your plans by.
u/Oaden [+1] (6 hours later)
Does Masego even know that Diabolist has the aspect Claim?
u/sparkc [+2] (7 hours later)
‘Bind’, I believe. Regardless, Masego should know that luring Ubua into Arcadia is a poor move.
u/None [+3] (7 hours later)
Masego did indeed warned her about it, the think is that she expected Akua to use claim on her not bind, when Aku used claim but she till had her winter power she got confident on that she would be able to fight toe to toe with Akua and forgot about Bind even when she just saw it on the 4 vision
u/sparkc [+2] (7 hours later)
This doesn’t appear relevant though as to whether fighting in Arcadia is a good idea. Catherine though fighting in Arcadia would be to her advantage yet as it turns out Diabolists are suited to such environs and Catherine seemed completely unaware of this even though, presumably, this is knowledge Masego could have given her had they gone over her strategy together, which they should have. This holds regardless of aspect knowledge or usage.
u/None [+1] (8 hours later)
I think that in hindsight yeah it was a poor plan, masego warned her that enemies could take advantage of her winter side, what non of us took in account and like you say masego should have, was that Diabolist would indeed gain a bigger advante than cat.
u/Yes_This_Is_God [+6] (24 minutes later)
baited and outsmarted
u/None [+2] (7 hours later)
footage of a chessboard
u/ForgottenToupee [+5] (32 minutes later)
Oh look, it’s the thing that’s been foreshadowed since Book One
u/Flamesmcgee [+2] (3 hours later)
What are we talking about here, specifically?
u/Oaden [+3] (6 hours later)
Villain vs Villain that likes to think of herself as acting for the greater good
u/ForgottenToupee [+0] (13 hours later)
In Book One, she was warned by Scribe to never even think about betraying or killing the Black Night (or maybe it was Ime’s warning by Scribe, now that I think about it)
u/Zayits [+4] (9 hours later)
I just realized we missed another opportunity for Cat to break out: Black hasn't used Destroy yet. As I understand it, it's a power that is meant specifically to suppress other people's Aspects, so he can either bait Akua into whatever its range is (I would guess that it's touch-based, but I thought the same about Take, and then Battle of Four Armies and One happened) or, in case they have to sacrifice something and catch Akua off guard, have Catherine Take it.
u/-main [+4] (13 hours later)
The discussion in /r/PracticalGuideToEvil has gone very differently.
There's been people pointing out that the 'middle eight', in our list of musically themed chapter titles, is the midpoint where things change. It's the breakdown, the bridge, the point where the music goes to a different space for a while in order to create contrast when the familiar section kicks back in.
And others stating that Akua vs. Cat looks like a straight up Villian vs. Hero fight at this point, with Cat as the hero... and there's no way that narrative ends with Akua winning.
I see this as how the 'apprentice kills the master' trope associated with the Black Knight happens. Black treated Cat so well that it would never happen normally, therefore we get mind control bullshit. And that in turn would cause Cat to transition into a new name. Akua already mentioned that a Black Knight with the power of the last of Winter would be significantly harder to deal with.
u/WalterTFD [+2] (an hour later)
Ruh Roh. This is a serious problem.
u/RynnisOne [+2] (10 hours later)
This one seemed rather rushed compared to the previous.
There wasn't much complexity in the fighting and it was fairly straightforward.
If it wasn't for that "Rule of Three" stuff supposedly no longer applying, I'd say Cat was just trying to get this portion over quickly as a 'loss' so she could get to the third and final conflict faster.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+2] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (11 hours later)
Anyone looked at the general definitions of middle 8, the part of the song on the middle that contrasts the theme and repeated choruses that come before and after, to temper thier speculation?
u/TideofKhatanga [+1] (3 hours later)
We all knew that Akua would bind Catherine to her will. Like we all know that Catherine will kill Black. One can hope otherwise but it's not that kind of story.
Now, Akua will reforge Catherine to her liking. Give her purity of purpose, make her a villain in full. And in doing so, create the blade that will kill her, like every villain before her. My only question is: what Name will Catherine get, once she realizes that the only way to end up where she wants to isn't to rise as Malicia or Akua's second but to become Empress herself? Black Knight doesn't suit her at all, it's so last millenium.
u/rumblestiltsken [+1] (a day later)
Killing black is the exact type of story cat repeatedly subverts throughout the story so far.
I'm willing to bet that black is not gone at the end of this fight. Cat kills and raises him, or kills herself in his place and transitions, or thief/robber/warlock/hierophant intervenes, or something else. But black dying now is too heavily foreshadowed to believe. It would be like Chekhov firing his gun.