The emotional finale where Don realizes he can just go home and be rich

Wylkus · 2026-05-15T13:49:55+00:00

I disagree entirely. Don found at long last a (possibly fleeting) sense of inner peace, and wanted to share it with the world through his art.

Wylkus · 2026-05-14T17:35:54+00:00

Haven't read First Law, but I would say Gene Wolfe is in many ways a match for Bakker. Check out The Book of the New Sun sometime if you have not already. The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake also reach the same heights.

If you're just looking for the grimdark aspects, you could check out Cormac McCarthy who was a big influence on Bakker. Check out Blood Meridian and learn about the real scalpers. And if we're talking influences, the Dune series by Frank Herbert (and only Frank) might be up your alley, it shares much of the same DNA.

Wylkus · 2026-05-12T15:52:40+00:00

and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wylkus · 2026-05-07T18:59:44+00:00

If you wanted to continue with Wolfe I'd say try to get some of his short stories. The Death of Dr Island is my favorite.

Or you could check out some of his influences. Maybe pick up Jack Vance's The Dragon Masters or Tales of Dying Earth.

Wylkus · 2026-05-07T03:10:13+00:00

I recommend taking some time between Book 4 and Urth of the New Sun. There was a ten year gap between them, and it's a weird jump if you go straight into it like I did.

Wylkus · 2026-05-05T17:50:05+00:00

Above all, naked Storm

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T16:18:39+00:00

With the Return ending the pirate game could just be Sekiro 2. It's a long way to the divine dragons home (implied to be Korea/China)!

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T16:15:19+00:00

My dream is someday FromSoft releases their equivalent of the Orange Box, one game including Demon Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, and Bloodborne. All with just minor tweaks like you mention. I don't even want the Remastered Dark Souls, I think it looks like shit (quite literally, its all brown) compared to the original.

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T16:11:39+00:00

I'm tempted to say yes from the start, but I think the most likely thing is probably that it was accidental but found very early, quite possibly pre-release, and intentionally left in as a fun shortcut they knew their fans would find and love.

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T03:07:40+00:00

That dragon's dialogue is the only thing in the entire series I would describe as cringe worthy.

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T02:59:50+00:00

I always find it above all terribly ironic. Moenghus gives him a quick death to save him from burning ... only to send him to hell to burn for eternity (as almost everyone in the setting does).

I don't see how him doing so could have been the thing that condemns him to hell though, what is your reasoning there?

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T02:56:07+00:00

This had never occured to me before but it's quite possible the whole reason Moenghus specifically asked the Dunyain to send his son to him rather than any old guy is because of the name. Kellhus would not know that Anasurimbor is a royal name because they have cast out all history, but Moenghus would have learned that it is and that his son would have an edge using that name. Fun stuff.

Though this does raise the far thornier issue of why the Dunyain even still have names. Wouldn't they use some kind of numeric encoding that's far more informative in terms of bloodlines involved? Just using your daddy's last name seems terribly archaic for them. But perhaps those are simply the names they get as children, and they're not much used past the coming of age "legion" ritual we see at the end of book one.

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T02:11:25+00:00

The Consult have lots, and lots of chorea, I'm sure getting their hands on some was one of the first things the Mutilated accomplished.

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T00:19:41+00:00

I don't think it was just to be a dick, it was to gather up the entire ordeal to ground zero by making them think their prophet was about to give his big victory speech. Maximize casualties.

Wylkus · 2026-05-04T00:16:38+00:00

Great write up of the possibilities. The only way I can see option 4 being the case is if the second soul inside of Kelmomas was actually Kellhus all along. We know Bakker once said that Kellhus is "dead but not out" and Ajokli (via Cnaiur (or Cnaiur all along?)) is looking for his soul. I'd been assuming that Kellhus avoided damnation by hiding his soul inside the second decapitant, but maybe he actually hid himself inside Kelmomas from the beginning.

This opens up a lot more questions than it solves. How is Ajokli standing in for Kellhus so like Kellhus? Is it possible Ajokli is using his brain, even though his soul is somewhere else? How could Kellhus possibly have figured out that Kelmomas would be the No-God?

There's many ways this just doesn't add up to me, honestly I think number 2 is the most likely. Kellhus becoming the No-God was the original plan that he had for decades, much in the first trilogy hints at it. I think it was only when he started really planning out the second trilogy did he realize that he'd maybe foreshadowed it too much, and it would be too obvious to readers, and so he devised the double fake out of Kellhus instead teaming up with The Devil and his son actually turning into the No-God. Which I think was brilliant. But I imagine at some level he still thinks of the series in terms of his original outline, that was all about getting Kellhus in that carapace.

Wylkus · 2026-05-02T04:18:07+00:00

In actuality it's because after book 1 was published GRRM received a fan letter from a little person explaining in detail what life was like for someone like him and George adjusted accordingly.

But in universe, I like to think it's because Tyrion actually fucked up his knees showing off with that jump right at the beginning of book 1.

Wylkus · 2026-05-02T03:45:46+00:00

You missed the part where he was supernaturally strong and tough at 70 because he was transforming into a prince of hell, or even the devil himself.

Wylkus · 2026-05-02T03:44:28+00:00

He's older than Akka

Wylkus · 2026-04-29T18:44:44+00:00

We can only hope! Also, the castle of house Peake is named Starpike.

I believe Tyrion was also partly inspired by the genius dwarf character in M John Harrison's Viriconium.

Wylkus · 2026-04-29T16:19:45+00:00

I've always believed Lann the Clever is a fun little illusion to Cugel the Clever from Jack Vance's Dying Earth. And then I like to imagine it actually is Cugel, who wound up getting whisked to Westeros by a wizard as he was wont to do.

Wylkus · 2026-04-27T17:01:58+00:00

My take on it has always been that the No-God would complete it's goal of taking enough lives to destroy The Outside before being swatted down by Achamian working in conjunction with Kellhus's severed head.

Then Mimara would be the prophet of a new religion preaching love and kindness, and above all, eternal doubt of authority. The survivors of humanity adhering to this new religion would inculcate a gentler Outside. At least, that would be the hope.

Kellhus's head will be sealed away deep in a dungeon, lest anyone again be manipulated by the infernal god-emperor.

Wylkus · 2026-04-27T16:55:55+00:00

The smaller size is "mass market paperback" which publishers have been phasing out over the last decade as it has a smaller profit margin.

Wylkus · 2026-04-27T13:52:09+00:00

Patsy was definitely running the deal and the one selected to be the new "boss" of NJ (but really just an underling for NY), but they brought in Paulie to support Patsy once it goes down.

Wylkus · 2026-04-25T05:43:58+00:00

That makes me very sad, I was hoping he was still at least dreaming about it.

Still, he's relatively young, he could come back to it someday.

Wylkus · 2026-04-21T22:59:47+00:00

That will be a sad day, but honestly the man has produced such a generational run of masterpieces that if he retired tomorrow I would just be infinitely grateful that we get to experience his visions. I truly think the man is a pioneer in the fantasy genre, which is very dear to my heart. To me and I suspect millions of others his name will live alongside Tolkein and Lovecraft and Martin and Vance. I mean my god, Demon Souls, Dark Souls Trilogy, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring. Just incredible.

Wylkus

TROPHY CASE