Chapter nine: Reunion

[baeraad]

Halfway there! To celebrate, I typed up Aseena's stats, according to my latest idea for how a Demesneverse RPG character sheet would look.

...

... what? I like stats. I find them soothing.

Name: Aseena
Home: Tenchurch Abbey
Caste: Servant
Lifestyle: Sophist
Character: Inquisitive
Tragic Flaw: Scatter-Brained
Talents: Basic Athletics, Basic Charm

Comments

[sunlit_music]

I love the face off between Dara and Mansuur. They are so evenly matched, and Dara's cockiness towards him was such a delight.

Plus -woo hoo! We get to see Aseena! :D

Poor Jalon...I hope that Aseena and Dara can rescue him. He was incredible to sacriice himself like that. It was sad but hilarious when he was shouting, "I surrender! I really, really surrender! See how I surrender! Why, I have dreamed all my life of surrendering!"

It's good to see Dara being more human and sympathetic towards Aseena and brave enough to stand up to her.

[baeraad]

I think it's kind of a rule with antiheroes: if they are obnoxious and unbearable in the normal course of things, they need to be cool and badass when in really tense, dangerous situations, or else the audience will start to question why they're reading about this twerp in the first place. ;)

Jalon has a lot of heart. :) And besides, nobly sacrificing yourself for the greater good is just too Romantic to pass up the opportunity for. ;)

Dara becoming more human as the story goes on is totally an ongoing theme. :)

[yahalomay]

"So we meet again," Dara said.

"I don't believe we have ever actually met," Mansuur said. "I saw you from the stage yesterday night, as you fled before my invincible might like a frightened rat - that's about as close as we've ever gotten to meeting."

Heee!

I still want him to die.

I like the tension between Aseena (yay! Aseena! I was excited to have her POV agaain) and Dara. Both of them were understandably stressed out. After almost getting Jalon back, Aseena has to lose him again. :(

Excellent finish to the chapter, I love it. :)

[baeraad]

I still want him to die.

Is it wrong that I feel a strong sense of accomplishment for having created a villain that you hate that much? :D

Excellent finish to the chapter, I love it. :)

Hee! Glad you liked it. :D

Shadowed Citadel really is a much more operatic sort of place than Dreaming Meadow, isn't it? When Dreaming Meadow is in danger, you notice by people getting more angry and on edge. When Shadowed Citadel is in danger, you notice by the fact that it starts raining blood. :D

[yahalomay]

Is it wrong that I feel a strong sense of accomplishment for having created a villain that you hate that much? :D

XD I know that I come across as very forgiving of people/"villains" in real life, but in novels and fiction, it's like I have a switch that I can flick and my hatred flows like wine at a tavern. Sometimes in action movies, like Die Hard or Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, I can sit down in the middle, ask whoever it watching "Who is the bad guy?" and thoroughly enjoy myself watching him lose.

I do still enjoy it when authors attempt to pull the rug out from under me and it turns out suchandsuch is SURPRISE EVIL, or when the main character doesn't realise the villain is evil/doesn't realise quite the extend of their villainy, though. Like, in Merlin, when I was still watching, one of my favourite parts of predicting when Morgana would go over the Dark Side. Or, you know, in Mortal Engines, how Valentine is evil, but the main kid doesn't realise it until later on? Or how Mr. Motley from Perdido St Station is obviously a

[baeraad]

but in this, I can gleefully and completely hate Mansuur.

Mansuur really has no particular redeeming features, no. Growing up, he was told that he had a destiny to help bring about the end of the Demesne, and he had the choice to embrace that destiny and be a pivotal figure in an epic disaster, or renounce it and be a regular person. He chose the option that made him the most important and special. That tells you pretty much all you need to know about Mansuur. :P

And just to make the difference between him and his FomF counterpart more pronounced, let's remember that Rina was possessed by a demon, and thereby physically incapable of moving past the moment of perfect despair she was trapped in. Mansuur could, theoretically, get over himself at any moment and seek redemption - he just sees no reason to do so.