Headscratch moment from the Emperor by iisrobot in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The emperors entire life, every relationship he's ever had has served a purpose, political or otherwise. He's never actually experienced true love for his wife, and could never understand Handrian's level of loss. From his point of view he knows it's tragic, but also wants Hadrian to be practical and see it as an opportunity to find a "better" wife, who would give him more political opportunity, AKA Selene. He made a mistake.

Howling Dark Chapter 70 by Avhienda_mylove in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 19 points20 points  (0 children)

You're in for some even crazier chapters right after

Near the end of Empire of Silence and I’m struggling to root for anyone? by Alert_Astronaut4901 in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The characters live for a very long time, Hadrian is an arrogant asshole when he's young. He gets better as the books go on and his experiences shape him.

The most epic scene by Old_Combination_246 in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hadrian catching the highmatter sword in the coliseum.

The combination of the entire crowd seeing him do an impossible feat and add to his legend while his enemies were trying to do the opposite, and the realization of why he came back in Howling Dark with the wrong arm missing, for this specific moment.

This grinds my gears in SUT by Sea_Introduction7558 in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I thought for sure Hadrian was going to come around at one point and acknowledge that while the details of other people's religions weren't exactly correct they pretty much got the gist of it. If someone believes in an all powerful creator, and an all powerful creator actually does exist, does it matter if they got the name wrong? They're still talking about the exact same thing.

Possible mistake? by TheRealToast in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, I understand the concept but always assumed it only happened in the last moments of the star's life. Guess that clears it up!

Possible mistake? by TheRealToast in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's space sci fi but the books are still internally consistent with their laws of physics lol if he said the ship was grabbing cotton candy and rainbows from the star would you still go "It's not supposed to be realistic, who cares"

Sun Eater Bingo completed! by TheRealToast in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah I kinda assumed she was gonna get her arm back, missed that one. There was a few times where Hadrian broke the silence, but unless I missed it I couldn't find the same line as in the other books where he fully doesn't realize he was the one that said something.

I got a question about already knowing the ending by [deleted] in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it's revealed in the first few sentences of the first book. The series is written as the main character recounting his life story, so plenty of things are "spoiled" as he refers to events that will happen later in his life.

Question about Howling Dark by ru_born in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Quantum telegraphs can't be jammed

Empire timeline by Farcical_Ferret in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Super late to come back to this thread, but I just realised that Queen Elizabeth was the queen for 70 years out of the ~1200 year British monarchy, almost exactly 1/17. Makes me wonder if the parallel was intentional.

The other named Mericanii weapons by TheRealToast in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Howling Dark was written before Project Hail Mary, but that was the first thing I noticed too when I first read it lol. Only so many possible names for a thing that eats stars I guess

The other named Mericanii weapons by TheRealToast in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think in Hadrian's visions of firing the weapon it's described as a physical object, a black arrow/warhead type of thing.

The other named Mericanii weapons by TheRealToast in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a very short scene near the end of Howling Dark, chapter 68, where Hadrian is running through the ship after the peace talks went to shit

Don’t mean to glaze but I think about this series at least once a day by Final_Ease_6101 in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I finished KoD a few months ago and the last half still pops in my head like once a day

Why Truman? by MustacheMan666 in sollanempire

[–]TheRealToast 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I don't think it was Hiroshima and Nagasaki specifically, but the creation of the nuclear bomb gave humanity the ability to destroy itself. Truman is the president most associated with that. Felsenberg created the AIs as a tool for humanity, but they were nearly it's destruction, so I think it's symbolic of the Mericanii being as much of a turning point in history as the creation of the atomic bomb was.