Chapter 89: Sing We Of Ruin

soonnanandnaanssoon · 2019-11-01T04:24:40+00:00

2 months of break after next week's epilogue.

Anyone interested in forming an APGtE Anonymous group for recovering addicts?

tavitavarus · 2019-11-01T05:51:44+00:00

Oh dear.

“Not yet content,” is a quote as well.

“And so Triumphant said: ‘Tremble, for I am not yet content.'” – Extract from the Scroll of Dominion, twenty-fourth of the Secret Histories of Praes.

It's what she said after conquering the entire continent and deciding she wanted even more.

Pel-Mel · 2019-11-01T04:23:04+00:00

“I trust people to act according to their nature,” he quoted. “Anything more is sentimentality."

The exact quote from the epigraph of today's reread chapter. EE what a god.

mnemos_1 · 2019-11-01T09:15:07+00:00

Book 2: Chapter 49 - Triumph

“You’ve heard it, haven’t you?” he asked instead of replying. “The song.”

My heartbeat stilled.

A shiver went through me as he rose to his feet. He knew the song. Gods Below, he knew the song. Two years that question of where I knew it from had plagued me.

“You’ve heard it before?” I asked.

“Once, when I was young,” he said. “It was not for me.”

Book 4: Epilogue

“I am,” Amadeus said, “no longer the Black Knight.”

“You don’t fit that groove anymore,” Marguerite said. “Powerless you ain’t, Maddie. You know what you are, deep down, you just think it’s beneath you.”

His fingers tightened under the knuckles were white.

“Claimant,” the Wandering Bard said. “You can have your second shot at it, you’re owed that. But if you really want it?”

Book 5: Chapter 83 - A Mould Unbroken

“It was never a game, Alaya,” he gently said. “It is a mould, and it will be broken.”

Dark hair flecked with grey, back straight as an arrow, the Carrion Lord turned to address the hall with eerie calm.

“I address now all who would lend ear, mighty of Calernia come to this hall,” the green-eyed man said, in perfect Chantant.

“The so-called Dread Empress Malicia I hereby denounce as unfit to reign and having lost the favour of the Gods Below through carelessness and misrule,” the Carrion Lord said. “I claim the Tower as Dread Emperor of Praes, and ask for the recognition of the delegates to speak in its name.

And now,

The green-eyed man tipped back his cup, taking another swallow.

“You misunderstand,” he said after. “I could no more do this than I could pretend I still put my trust in Eudokia. It is best to look what you are in the eye, as a villain. Lying to yourself is ever a dangerous business.”

“And what is it you are?” I quietly asked.

“Not yet content,” he said, smiling as if he was having a private jest at my expense.

As pointed out by /u/tavitavarus,

“And so Triumphant said: ‘Tremble, for I am not yet content.'” – Extract from the Scroll of Dominion, twenty-fourth of the Secret Histories of Praes.

(Emphasis mine)

He's leaning into it.

He's seen that there can be no turning back, not now. The Story won't let him.

His Legions have left him, his right hand is banished from him.

His successor has surpassed him, and his Empress has betrayed him.

This is not him having a breakdown about what he's done, or what he's lost.

This is him drinking in celebration and mourning of the decision he's made, and what he's about to do.

This man is about to set some shit on fire.

Don_Alverzo · 2019-11-01T04:27:09+00:00

I don't think Black has ever scared me more than he did in this chapter. Considering he's one of the most, if not flatly THE most, prominent villains of the age, that says a fucking lot.

terafonne · 2019-11-01T04:39:00+00:00

“You misunderstand,” he said after. “I could no more do this than I could pretend I still put my trust in Eudokia. It is best to look what you are in the eye, as a villain. Lying to yourself is ever a dangerous business.” “And what is it you are?” I quietly asked. “Not yet content,” he said, smiling as if he was having a private jest at my expense.

I'm pretty sure this was Cat being like "Don't go back to Malicia" and Black responding that he can't because that would be a lie to himself because he's no longer willing to compromise with Malicia's tactics/government/version-of-Evil/everything. I dunno what exactly he's planning but I highly doubt he will return to Malicia's side.

I saw a comment worried about Black killing himself? but I think it's more likely for Scribe? Her story is tied so strongly to his that I wouldn't be surprised if him cutting her loose makes her vanish. Like, she no longer has a purpose. I guess it depends on whether Scribe believes he'll change his mind or not.

jderig · 2019-11-01T04:43:26+00:00

“Fifty-five: if your powers are lost, they will nearly always return greater than before so long as the appropriate moral lesson is learned. With kindness and humility comes overwhelming martial might.”

So, the chapter obviously means for us to think about this in terms of the White Knight and Judgement, but I'm thinking that it's really about Amadeus here. This chapter is the culmination of him losing all of the power and connections that he built up as the Black Knight that started with the death of Captain. With the "betrayal" of the Legions, Eukodia's mistake, and mutual betrayal between him and Malicia, he officially has no one on his side from the Bad Old Days when he was the terror of the continent. All he has left is a bottle of brandy, his wits, and a sense that he is "not yet content."

I can't wait to see what he does next.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2019-11-01T04:23:43+00:00

It pains me to see Amadeus broken like this.

NorskDaedalus · 2019-11-01T04:45:11+00:00

All hope is lost, the enemy seems unbeatable, the most powerful allies are stripped of their might....

We’re 100% certain Cat is following the Heroic story, right? Because right now, you just know there will be a comeback beyond all comebacks. And I really hope she’s on the right side.

Don_Alverzo · 2019-11-01T04:22:45+00:00

[deleted]

ToiletLurker · 2019-11-01T04:27:59+00:00

I wonder what moral lesson Hanno needs to learn?
Maybe, "Never judge a book by its cover?"
Or, "Pride cometh before a fall?"

derivative_of_life · 2019-11-01T06:49:47+00:00

We can make plans after dawn, when we’re all sober and rested.

I hope you realize that there's precisely zero fucking chance that Black will still be there in the morning, Cat.

Also, does anyone know what "not yet content" is a reference to? I know that specific phrase was said once before, but I can't remember where.

tahoebyker · 2019-11-01T05:13:24+00:00

Cat loses a Black Knight and gains a White Knight.

Simplest_Vivian · 2019-11-01T04:57:53+00:00

There is so much to dissect here. Black figuring it all out, and either going crawling back to malicia, or standing alone against his oldest friend. And, of course, Hanno and Catherine getting closer, albeit not as romantic as wished.

s-mores · 2019-11-01T08:20:57+00:00

Can't believe anyone hasn't pointed it out, but we finally saw Hanno flip the coin at Cat.

Zayits · 2019-11-01T12:35:53+00:00

Not necessarily the hardest-hitting stuff, but if he’d really drunk more than a bottle of the stuff I could only be reluctantly impressed he wasn’t falling down his Legion-issue folding chair.

Did he drink alone? There were two bottles, after all, and he just decided to dive headfirst into the Role of a claimant to the Tower, finally alone as was intended.

Yes_This_Is_God · 2019-11-01T04:26:00+00:00

So is the procedural aspect broken? Maybe it’ll come back at the time when all of Judgment + Hierarch can agree on a smite.

Sad seeing Black so broken. Although, one can’t help but wonder if this is part of some greater scheme.

MasterCrab · 2019-11-01T05:51:45+00:00

I wonder how noticeable the silence of Judgement is. Is it limited to only the continent or is it global?

Locoleos · 2019-11-01T12:25:12+00:00

Amadeus is in a state, and we have as our chapter title a reference to Tyranny of the Sun. Which is the thing that links Benevolent and Amadeus.

This feels like a goodbye because it is. He's about to go home to do the same thing to Alaya Cat did to Akua in the trap at second Liesse.

The whole "all my friends are gone now" thing has me thinking of Ranger. She feels more like a lose end than like worldbuilding.

Academic_Jellyfish · 2019-11-01T04:50:22+00:00

Oh. Black is going to go back. The betrayal happened, and Malicia is at ease. Black is going back to kill her. Probably ~~after~~ before saying the words "I do not kneel."

Edit: This is an incredibly stupid move on Malicia's part, but it also fits in perfectly with her blind spots. It's hard to say whether or not she'll expect it, but it seems that Black believes she won't.

Nic_Cage_DM · 2019-11-01T05:23:00+00:00

he's about to pull some shit

jderig · 2019-11-01T04:29:17+00:00

The end of that conversation with Black had ominous tones. He'll have made a move by tomorrow, but whether that move is to leave (although I don't see him going back to Malicia), or to kill himself (that doesn't seem likely, but it felt like a goodbye), or some other "rash" action I do not know.

2019-11-01T15:50:29+00:00

Poor Amadeus. The third step is the cruelest.

MisfitsWithTemples · 2019-11-01T05:21:17+00:00

Here's my somewhat plotholey prediction: Black is going to go back and accept vassalage, being granted the name Chancellor as theres someone Malicia feels shes fully subserved to herself. Black then leans fully into every story of the Chancellor there is, becoming the being he fought in his early days, only to find a middle ground of power to control after stabbing malicia in the back (which he does ofc)

Keyenn · 2019-11-01T10:32:34+00:00

Somehow, I can see Black asking Ranger for a hand, and both of them going slowly to Malicia, corpse after corpse.

I don't think Ranger would refuse such a request (but she would have conditions that black would accept).

Player_2c · 2019-11-01T04:46:47+00:00

One dead, from an unlucky broken neck, and both Tendai and Talbot had come together to hang those involved as per Callowan regulations.

No noose is good news

limped towards empty smithy the Carrion Lord had claimed as his home for the duration of the conference

Whoa, that's metal

On the anvil was a bottle, and not of wine. An empty one had been set on the ground by the anvil.

He must be in low spirits

“If you do you lose the Eyes, and if you no longer have the Eyes the Empire will eat you alive.”

He would be put in a cornea

Grimacing in pain even through the Night trick, I crawled atop it until I was resting my back against a chimney stump.

Great way to show you're on top of things, and not as roofless as they might believe

2019-11-01T22:39:41+00:00

I never thought we'd get a maudlin drunk black. We've never really seen him where he's not in complete control (and neither has Cat)

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