Black Jewels: I Cannot Be Controlled
Sep. 7th, 2015 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beroliContent note: Child murder, general bullying.
You'll likely notice a change of name scheme. The chapters themselves continue to not have names; the name of the blog entry is a comment by me.
Both the previous introductions have been, in effect, "See this man. He's powerful, he's angry, he's dangerous, he's sexy." Now, Bishop wants to introduce a new character, and while he's sexy, powerful, and angry, he's also over fifty thousand years old, a "Guardian," one of the living dead, and primarily a father figure: to Daemon, to Lucivar, and to Jaenelle. Accordingly, we get an info-dump right away, to introduce Saetan Daemon SaDiablo--eight paragraphs of infodump before we actually get his name in the text, but I'm mentioning it right up front in the name of clarity and not being really irritating.
Once, he'd been the Seducer, the Executioner, the High Priest of the Hourglass, the Prince of the Darkness, the High Lord of Hell.
The first two titles there seem stuck in only to convey, "He's dangerous and sexy." What he did to earn them will never be shown. Contrary to the implications of "the Seducer," his love life will quite quickly be revealed to have been, considering his lifespan, practically nonexistent. He's superhumanly attractive to women and tragically lonely; Bishop barely even tries to reconcile this. It's what she wants to write, so she does. "The Executioner" will never be mentioned again. What matters is that we know, right away, that this man has killed enough to get a nickname for it.
"The High Priest of the Hourglass" denotes rank in the Black Widow hierarchy. How much rank? Enough to outrank Luthvian, and that's all I can tell you for sure; presumably not enough to outrank Jaenelle. Where did he get the title? Why does he, the only male Black Widow, have it? Couldn't tell you. I guess it wasn't enough for him to be the only male Black Widow until Daemon was born (and apparently, by a kind of Lamarckian inheritance, was born a Black Widow because his father was one); he also had to be a special, ranking Black Widow--the only Black Widow we will ever meet to have any title at all.
"The Prince of the Darkness" and "the High Lord of Hell" are two ways of saying the same thing: the Darkness which the Blood talk about revering, in its maybe-sentient quasi-deific way, marked him as special, and he had an affinity for the realm of Hell, which led to all its denizens and the terrain of Hell itself recognizing him as its ruler. When the Blood die, they often become "demon-dead" and are automatically transported to the Realm of Hell; if no one interferes, they last in that state for a week, a month, a year, a decade...possibly a century or 500 centuries if they drink fresh blood. (Yes, the demon-dead are vampires. So are Guardians. What the mechanical difference is between Guardians and demon-dead, Bishop is anything but clear on.) Saetan has absolute power over the demon-dead, except when they're named Hekatah and he doesn't.
Once, he'd been Consort to Cassandra, the great Black-Jeweled, Black Widow Queen, the last Witch to walk the realms.
Just wait 'til we meet Cassandra. You'll love the way they interact. And when I say "love," I mean "hate."
Once, he'd been the only Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince in the history of the Blood, feared for his temper and the power he wielded.
...Wait a minute. Did she just admit that Saetan was feared for what he did with his power, not just tragically misunderstood and feared because of power which he never-never used in an unjust way? Yes, she actually did. She listed "his temper" first even.
Someone commented on the last blog entry that it's unrealistic that Daemon taunts the witches he serves. The thing is, he can't not. At no point in any of the books is a coded-as-good Blood male able to control his temper. She will, eventually, introduce a man--actually two men--who are able to think about politics enough to hold their tongues when dealing with someone who might cut them out, rather than bellowing or being violent whenever anything angers them; both are utterly evil, rapists and worse.
Once, he'd been the only male who was a Black Widow.
Technically, he was that until Daemon was born. And confused, misguided souls might say it was enough to make him special without having to also give him a special rank as a Black Widow.
Once, he'd ruled the Dhemlan Territory in the Realm of Terreille and her sister Territory in Kaeleer, the Shadow Realm. He'd been the only male ever to rule without answering to a Queen and, except for Witch, the only member of the Blood to rule Territories in two Realms.
The Dhemlan Territory in both Terreille and Kaeleer will be ruled by a Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince for a very long time to come. Much longer than the next Queen of Ebon Askavi will rule. But I should save going into my misgivings for later, about whether Jaenelle alone--and it is Jaenelle, the living myth, alone who wields more power and status than the High Lord of Hell--really makes a society count as ruled by women.
Once, he'd been married to Hekatah, an aristo Black Widow Priestess from one of Hayll's Hundred Families.
Is this really what he thinks of when he thinks of Hekatah? It's so odd even for a starting place. Or is it what Bishop wants to give us? I can't actually tell if this is supposed to be Saetan's musings or a pure infodump; I think most likely the latter, because even Bishop might recognize she was writing a thoroughly self-indulgent character if she had him sitting in his study musing, "I used to have these five titles, and people feared my temper and my power." Either way, let me see if I can rephrase it to put in a little more information.
Once, he'd been married to Hekatah, an embodiment of utter evil who personally killed one of their children when the child was days old because she was angry at Saetan, and who started a war between Kaeleer and Terreille which both killed millions--including Hekatah, who is still around as one of the demon-dead--and highlighted the fact that Saetan lives by a shockingly inconsistent code of honor which can only be summed up as "I will not do anything that would resolve the plot." Hekatah is the true villain of the series, even more than her general personality-clone Dorothea.
Once, he'd raised two sons, Mephis and Peyton. He'd played games with them, told them stories [...] encouraged them to look with eager eyes upon all that the Realms had to offer--not to conquer but to learn [...].
I cut a lot out of that paragraph, but I left in the parts I wanted to comment on.
Two sons; he doesn't count the one Hekatah killed, because if he did, it would push "he won't kill Hekatah" beyond the level where Bishop can justify it even to herself.
All boys. He'll consider Jaenelle "the daughter of his soul," but note: Saetan's physical children, living or dead, are all boys.
He raised them effectively alone. This part actually makes sense, since their mother was Hekatah, who lacks a single iota of anything that could be mistaken for a positive quality. I am not joking or exaggerating.
"Not to conquer, but to learn." Of course, he got the two Territories he mentioned ruling through conquest, but since his author doesn't see it that way, he doesn't have to see it that way. I'll elaborate when she does.
Next follow five paragraphs of how tired and lonely and unhappy he is, before we finally find out that he's still clinging to the half-life of a Guardian because of a promise he made to Cassandra.
She'd made him promise to become a Guardian so that the extended half-life would allow him to walk among the living when his daughter was born. Not the daughter of his loins, but the daughter of his soul. The daughter she'd seen in a tangled web. (Black Widow foretelling spell.)
He'd promised because what she'd said had made his nerves twang like tether lines in a storm, because that was her price for training him to be a Black Widow, because, even then, the Darkness sang to him in a way it didn't sing to other Blood males.
So...yeah. Take note of what this says, because Bishop sure isn't going to. Cassandra really wanted Jaenelle to have Saetan's support. Made him promise he would stay around long enough to be there for her. If it hadn't been for that promise--if she'd just told him "if you don't hold out long enough to meet the daughter of your soul, you'll fade into the Darkness having been lonely and miserable for the bulk of however long you do live and unlive"--he would have faded into the Darkness having been lonely and miserable for the bulk of however long he lived and unlived. He would never have met Jaenelle. Getting to meet her at all is something he owes to Cassandra.
Remember that, because he won't.
Mephis knocks on the door of Saetan's study and Saetan invites him in, Bishop taking the time to tell us that his voice is a ghost of what it once had been. Mephis reports that "something strange is going on," and Saetan first says Hekatah can look into it--which is dereliction of duty to a horrifying degree considering who and what Hekatah is--and then asks if it's about Mephis' living brothers, Daemon and Lucivar. He'd been a flattered fool to cast the spell that temporarily gave him back the seed of life. He couldn't regret Daemon and Lucivar's existence, but he'd tortured himself for centuries with reports of what had been done to them. And considering the level of magical power he possesses, I have to conclude he enjoys torturing himself, since he's never lifted a finger to do anything about it. "Saetan, both your sons got raped five times so far today." "Alas! Woe is me!" His body was weak and he needed a cane to walk, but his mind was still sharp, the Black Jewels still vibrant, his skill in the Craft still honed which, Bishop will eventually establish albeit in a different context, means he could erase Hayll entirely in an eye-blink.
But once that brief mental aside by Saetan is over, Mephis clarifies that it's something that's happening on the island where the cildru dyathe, demon-dead children, go in Hell. In an amazing--indeed thoroughly implausible--coincidence, Saetan's old friend Andulvar Yaslana and Andulvar's grandson Prothvar come in at that moment with something Saetan needs to see from the same island: a huge, fantastic illusionary butterfly which shows the colors of the living realms in a Realm of forever-twilight[...] that muted colors until there was almost no color at all." A work of nearly impossible Craft. Saetan orders Prothvar to bring Char, the Warlord who has led the cildru dyathe for a thousand years, to him.
"He won't come willingly," Prothvar said.
Saetan stared at the demon-dead Warlord. "Bring Char to me."
"Yes, High Lord."
Right, so, just so long as we're all clear that Saetan is a benevolent ruler who avoids trampling over his subjects.
Then the scene jumps to Char being there, presumably having been dragged there. He sits opposite Saetan, trying hard not to be frightened, with Andulvar, Mephis, and Prothvar standing around him in a half circle; if Saetan actually thought Char had committed a crime, I'd still wonder why he was being quite so harsh, but this is all just to show Saetan as powerful. Powerful and pointlessly cruel are, apparently, far closer in Bishop's mind than in mine.
"Who makes the butterflies, Char?" Saetan asked too quietly. The book compares him to a freezing wind. And yet, Char's refusal to answer is presented as about his Blood instincts, about him being a Warlord. It does not apparently occur to Bishop that this ridiculous display of petty viciousness could hardly not convince Char that Jaenelle is not safe if Saetan finds out about her. The book pours on yet more words about how absolute Saetan's power over the demon-dead is (except apparently Hekatah, as we'll learn later), but it does not apparently occur to Bishop that that makes Saetan's aggressive approach to Char incredibly cruel, not badass. Until he had an answer, he had no time for gentleness.
The confrontation ends when Jaenelle contacts Char on a psychic thread and says she wants to meet Saetan, thereby avoiding either man having to back down (where "back down" for Saetan would mean "not do something horrible to Char"). Char promises he'll bring Jaenelle to meet Saetan "tomorow," and Saetan agrees to let Char save face by not doing so immediately.
You'll likely notice a change of name scheme. The chapters themselves continue to not have names; the name of the blog entry is a comment by me.
Both the previous introductions have been, in effect, "See this man. He's powerful, he's angry, he's dangerous, he's sexy." Now, Bishop wants to introduce a new character, and while he's sexy, powerful, and angry, he's also over fifty thousand years old, a "Guardian," one of the living dead, and primarily a father figure: to Daemon, to Lucivar, and to Jaenelle. Accordingly, we get an info-dump right away, to introduce Saetan Daemon SaDiablo--eight paragraphs of infodump before we actually get his name in the text, but I'm mentioning it right up front in the name of clarity and not being really irritating.
Once, he'd been the Seducer, the Executioner, the High Priest of the Hourglass, the Prince of the Darkness, the High Lord of Hell.
The first two titles there seem stuck in only to convey, "He's dangerous and sexy." What he did to earn them will never be shown. Contrary to the implications of "the Seducer," his love life will quite quickly be revealed to have been, considering his lifespan, practically nonexistent. He's superhumanly attractive to women and tragically lonely; Bishop barely even tries to reconcile this. It's what she wants to write, so she does. "The Executioner" will never be mentioned again. What matters is that we know, right away, that this man has killed enough to get a nickname for it.
"The High Priest of the Hourglass" denotes rank in the Black Widow hierarchy. How much rank? Enough to outrank Luthvian, and that's all I can tell you for sure; presumably not enough to outrank Jaenelle. Where did he get the title? Why does he, the only male Black Widow, have it? Couldn't tell you. I guess it wasn't enough for him to be the only male Black Widow until Daemon was born (and apparently, by a kind of Lamarckian inheritance, was born a Black Widow because his father was one); he also had to be a special, ranking Black Widow--the only Black Widow we will ever meet to have any title at all.
"The Prince of the Darkness" and "the High Lord of Hell" are two ways of saying the same thing: the Darkness which the Blood talk about revering, in its maybe-sentient quasi-deific way, marked him as special, and he had an affinity for the realm of Hell, which led to all its denizens and the terrain of Hell itself recognizing him as its ruler. When the Blood die, they often become "demon-dead" and are automatically transported to the Realm of Hell; if no one interferes, they last in that state for a week, a month, a year, a decade...possibly a century or 500 centuries if they drink fresh blood. (Yes, the demon-dead are vampires. So are Guardians. What the mechanical difference is between Guardians and demon-dead, Bishop is anything but clear on.) Saetan has absolute power over the demon-dead, except when they're named Hekatah and he doesn't.
Once, he'd been Consort to Cassandra, the great Black-Jeweled, Black Widow Queen, the last Witch to walk the realms.
Just wait 'til we meet Cassandra. You'll love the way they interact. And when I say "love," I mean "hate."
Once, he'd been the only Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince in the history of the Blood, feared for his temper and the power he wielded.
...Wait a minute. Did she just admit that Saetan was feared for what he did with his power, not just tragically misunderstood and feared because of power which he never-never used in an unjust way? Yes, she actually did. She listed "his temper" first even.
Someone commented on the last blog entry that it's unrealistic that Daemon taunts the witches he serves. The thing is, he can't not. At no point in any of the books is a coded-as-good Blood male able to control his temper. She will, eventually, introduce a man--actually two men--who are able to think about politics enough to hold their tongues when dealing with someone who might cut them out, rather than bellowing or being violent whenever anything angers them; both are utterly evil, rapists and worse.
Once, he'd been the only male who was a Black Widow.
Technically, he was that until Daemon was born. And confused, misguided souls might say it was enough to make him special without having to also give him a special rank as a Black Widow.
Once, he'd ruled the Dhemlan Territory in the Realm of Terreille and her sister Territory in Kaeleer, the Shadow Realm. He'd been the only male ever to rule without answering to a Queen and, except for Witch, the only member of the Blood to rule Territories in two Realms.
The Dhemlan Territory in both Terreille and Kaeleer will be ruled by a Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince for a very long time to come. Much longer than the next Queen of Ebon Askavi will rule. But I should save going into my misgivings for later, about whether Jaenelle alone--and it is Jaenelle, the living myth, alone who wields more power and status than the High Lord of Hell--really makes a society count as ruled by women.
Once, he'd been married to Hekatah, an aristo Black Widow Priestess from one of Hayll's Hundred Families.
Is this really what he thinks of when he thinks of Hekatah? It's so odd even for a starting place. Or is it what Bishop wants to give us? I can't actually tell if this is supposed to be Saetan's musings or a pure infodump; I think most likely the latter, because even Bishop might recognize she was writing a thoroughly self-indulgent character if she had him sitting in his study musing, "I used to have these five titles, and people feared my temper and my power." Either way, let me see if I can rephrase it to put in a little more information.
Once, he'd been married to Hekatah, an embodiment of utter evil who personally killed one of their children when the child was days old because she was angry at Saetan, and who started a war between Kaeleer and Terreille which both killed millions--including Hekatah, who is still around as one of the demon-dead--and highlighted the fact that Saetan lives by a shockingly inconsistent code of honor which can only be summed up as "I will not do anything that would resolve the plot." Hekatah is the true villain of the series, even more than her general personality-clone Dorothea.
Once, he'd raised two sons, Mephis and Peyton. He'd played games with them, told them stories [...] encouraged them to look with eager eyes upon all that the Realms had to offer--not to conquer but to learn [...].
I cut a lot out of that paragraph, but I left in the parts I wanted to comment on.
Two sons; he doesn't count the one Hekatah killed, because if he did, it would push "he won't kill Hekatah" beyond the level where Bishop can justify it even to herself.
All boys. He'll consider Jaenelle "the daughter of his soul," but note: Saetan's physical children, living or dead, are all boys.
He raised them effectively alone. This part actually makes sense, since their mother was Hekatah, who lacks a single iota of anything that could be mistaken for a positive quality. I am not joking or exaggerating.
"Not to conquer, but to learn." Of course, he got the two Territories he mentioned ruling through conquest, but since his author doesn't see it that way, he doesn't have to see it that way. I'll elaborate when she does.
Next follow five paragraphs of how tired and lonely and unhappy he is, before we finally find out that he's still clinging to the half-life of a Guardian because of a promise he made to Cassandra.
She'd made him promise to become a Guardian so that the extended half-life would allow him to walk among the living when his daughter was born. Not the daughter of his loins, but the daughter of his soul. The daughter she'd seen in a tangled web. (Black Widow foretelling spell.)
He'd promised because what she'd said had made his nerves twang like tether lines in a storm, because that was her price for training him to be a Black Widow, because, even then, the Darkness sang to him in a way it didn't sing to other Blood males.
So...yeah. Take note of what this says, because Bishop sure isn't going to. Cassandra really wanted Jaenelle to have Saetan's support. Made him promise he would stay around long enough to be there for her. If it hadn't been for that promise--if she'd just told him "if you don't hold out long enough to meet the daughter of your soul, you'll fade into the Darkness having been lonely and miserable for the bulk of however long you do live and unlive"--he would have faded into the Darkness having been lonely and miserable for the bulk of however long he lived and unlived. He would never have met Jaenelle. Getting to meet her at all is something he owes to Cassandra.
Remember that, because he won't.
Mephis knocks on the door of Saetan's study and Saetan invites him in, Bishop taking the time to tell us that his voice is a ghost of what it once had been. Mephis reports that "something strange is going on," and Saetan first says Hekatah can look into it--which is dereliction of duty to a horrifying degree considering who and what Hekatah is--and then asks if it's about Mephis' living brothers, Daemon and Lucivar. He'd been a flattered fool to cast the spell that temporarily gave him back the seed of life. He couldn't regret Daemon and Lucivar's existence, but he'd tortured himself for centuries with reports of what had been done to them. And considering the level of magical power he possesses, I have to conclude he enjoys torturing himself, since he's never lifted a finger to do anything about it. "Saetan, both your sons got raped five times so far today." "Alas! Woe is me!" His body was weak and he needed a cane to walk, but his mind was still sharp, the Black Jewels still vibrant, his skill in the Craft still honed which, Bishop will eventually establish albeit in a different context, means he could erase Hayll entirely in an eye-blink.
But once that brief mental aside by Saetan is over, Mephis clarifies that it's something that's happening on the island where the cildru dyathe, demon-dead children, go in Hell. In an amazing--indeed thoroughly implausible--coincidence, Saetan's old friend Andulvar Yaslana and Andulvar's grandson Prothvar come in at that moment with something Saetan needs to see from the same island: a huge, fantastic illusionary butterfly which shows the colors of the living realms in a Realm of forever-twilight[...] that muted colors until there was almost no color at all." A work of nearly impossible Craft. Saetan orders Prothvar to bring Char, the Warlord who has led the cildru dyathe for a thousand years, to him.
"He won't come willingly," Prothvar said.
Saetan stared at the demon-dead Warlord. "Bring Char to me."
"Yes, High Lord."
Right, so, just so long as we're all clear that Saetan is a benevolent ruler who avoids trampling over his subjects.
Then the scene jumps to Char being there, presumably having been dragged there. He sits opposite Saetan, trying hard not to be frightened, with Andulvar, Mephis, and Prothvar standing around him in a half circle; if Saetan actually thought Char had committed a crime, I'd still wonder why he was being quite so harsh, but this is all just to show Saetan as powerful. Powerful and pointlessly cruel are, apparently, far closer in Bishop's mind than in mine.
"Who makes the butterflies, Char?" Saetan asked too quietly. The book compares him to a freezing wind. And yet, Char's refusal to answer is presented as about his Blood instincts, about him being a Warlord. It does not apparently occur to Bishop that this ridiculous display of petty viciousness could hardly not convince Char that Jaenelle is not safe if Saetan finds out about her. The book pours on yet more words about how absolute Saetan's power over the demon-dead is (except apparently Hekatah, as we'll learn later), but it does not apparently occur to Bishop that that makes Saetan's aggressive approach to Char incredibly cruel, not badass. Until he had an answer, he had no time for gentleness.
The confrontation ends when Jaenelle contacts Char on a psychic thread and says she wants to meet Saetan, thereby avoiding either man having to back down (where "back down" for Saetan would mean "not do something horrible to Char"). Char promises he'll bring Jaenelle to meet Saetan "tomorow," and Saetan agrees to let Char save face by not doing so immediately.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-08 08:11 am (UTC)Also, what a boring way to structure a book. It looks like she's showing off all her Gary Stu D&D characters.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-11 12:14 am (UTC)I hope the author doesn't think she's writing anything remotely feminist by having women in charge. Because the way all women seem to be thus far, it seems exactly the sort of thing a really misogynistic man would write to prove why women should NEVER be in charge because they're all terrible people who will rampantly abuse men! Not to mention they're only even able to be in charge because of birthright and not by earning it in any way.
Also, if Dark is Good and Light is Evil, she's still writing in absolutes. That's not edgy or challenging. That's the same script with the names swapped, just like what she's doing with gender. And names like Saetan Daemon SaDiablo? Seriously? I'd have thought that was dumb when I was 13. I bet she thinks it's soooo creative to have him not be evil, hahaha, brilliant!
no subject
Date: 2015-09-12 03:45 am (UTC)It only gets worse from here.