In Defense of Bethany Covenant
Or, in which Athena is a cold nasty bitch. You have been warned.
What the sweet bloody hell have you done?
Bethany Covenant? Psychotic, murderous, power-crazed, vicious, sadistic, arrogant, lying, venomous bitch. Y’know what? Let’s just shorten that to ‘evil’.
But also? Spirited, strong, intelligent, brave, supremely self-assured, strong-willed, persistent. And powerful. Can we say powerful?
All of these traits make her absolutely fascinating. But they also mean that Bethany is not likely to:
a.) stand quietly while Otto Keisinger is killing her in what is apparently a fit of jealous rage due to the fact that he’s in love with her (???!!!!!), much less stand quietly because she’s busy bewailing that Ambrose isn’t here to save her. (?????!!!!!)
b.) let Otto Keisinger shout at her (particularly in front of others) because she left the cottage despite his instructions--not without something damned good being in it for her, or without some sort of immediate payback. Bethany would not run away, or make some sort of halfhearted retort and proceed to stand still and let herself be murdered.
c.) baby-sit Aaron because she's so afraid he'll commit suicide.
d.) seriously write to Jeremiah complaining because he’s not home to manage things for her.
e.) be revealed to be a misunderstood saint who, if not for Otto Keisinger’s Horrible Evil Influence, would be baking cookies for her ailing brother and never would have laid a hand (much less a meat hook) on Aaron, is filled to the brim with regrets for his death, and never would have done it if Keisinger hadn’t pushed her to it.
Bethany is likely to:
a.) Fight back with every weapon she had. Cast every spell, summon every creature, then bite, kick, and slash as hard as she could. She'd *never* go down without a fight. This is, by the way, completely disregarding the fact that we know Bethany actually got bored with Keisinger and attacked him first.
b.) at the very least, snarl at him. More likely, slap him. More likely still, do both and punctuate that with a few lightning bolts.
c.) leave out a bunch of pills and sharp implements, probably with a stack of letters from his creditors, lock herself in her study, and put some champagne on ice.
d.) write to Jeremiah with said complaints only as part of a plot...otherwise, completely relish her freedom to do exactly as she pleased, and carry out her plans for Aaron’s murder.
e.) be revealed as...oh yeah...evil! You know, someone who wrote happily in her journal about brutally murdering her twin brother, was planning to be the consort of the Undying King, was attempting to murder her mentor when she met her untimely “end”? Someone who didn’t just embrace the Undying Curse, but threw her arms around it and gave it a French kiss?
Bethany as Keisinger’s unknowing puppet? Sure. God knows she was so power-mad she could have missed the trap she was being woven into. Bethany as Keisinger’s meek, unthinking little doll? Hell no!
Now, it’s always been a pet theory of mine that there were occasional moments of clarity within the Undying Curse, times when the siblings were themselves and were, for a few moments, capable of grief, guilt, remorse, etc. (This explains Jeremiah in my fanfic The Dream.) These moments would become less and less as the curse wore on, particularly depending on how deeply one turned towards it, but they were possible. So...I’m willing to buy that some of your descriptions of Bethany are entirely plausible; that some of her grief or guilt is the result of a moment of clarity, when she is truly Bethany and not Cursed Bethany. I’m not willing to buy, however, that Bethany’s cruelty was nothing but Otto Keisinger’s influence. I cannot believe she was that weak-willed. I cannot believe she spent her time moping about Covenant Estate, bewailing how no one was there to protect her from hurting and manipulating others.
It’s obvious to everyone but you, since you've bypassed the rose-colored glasses in favor of ocular implants, that Bethany and Keisinger were using each other. I’ll readily buy that sex might have been a part of the bargain. I’ll buy that there might have been a distant, twisted, respect (perhaps, coming from a skilled author, I’d even buy that it was a distant, twisted, affection) between them--the sort of acknowledgment that they were the same, and damned good at being the same, and that it would change absolutely nothing. But I can’t buy that Otto Keisinger was in any sort of love with her, even a possessive kind--and I can’t buy that, no matter what he knew, Bethany would have tolerated it if he was. She would have taken it as an insult.
I’ll also grant to you that if you weren't on Standing Stones "back in the day", and therefore able to have long discussions with a couple of the developers, then you missed a few details about Bethany. However, you've played the game and read the Journal of Jeremiah, and that should have filled you in *right* quick about what you're dealing with. The fact that you've got all this information and you're still insisting on whitewashing Bethany just blows my mind. By the time of Bethany’s “death”, it’s pretty apparent that any semblance of goodness has washed right out of her. I’d say that “moral ambiguousness” is probably the most she’s capable of in her very few moments of clarity--absolutely no more. And even that’s a stretch. Bethany is evil, but one of the biggest components of her depravity--I think the most frightening component--is that she likes it that way. If she ever had any hesitation, any recognizable regrets, that was a very long time ago. Even before her “death”, Bethany is not human in any way, and that’s just how she wants it.
Making matters even worse is that Bethany isn't your only victim--no one, from Joseph to the maid, has escaped your clutches unscathed. (Joseph setting Ambrose on people?!) But it’s poor Bethany who’s suffered the most. You’ve ripped her right out of canon and turned her into a pathetic, sniveling little creature who’s only capable of doing anything when Otto Keisinger is applying a great deal of pressure. When you haven’t been doing that, you’ve been gouging the setting and the canon. I don’t mind telling you that that timeline was one day from retirement!
What’s *really* sad is that you’re not a bad writer otherwise. You need some polish, sure, but you set the scene competently enough and keep the plot moving. But you cripple the cast by completely whitewashing them, taking from them their interesting traits. (You also introduce some interesting inconsistencies into your own stories.) Your characterizations are so awful that they drown out what you do right.
In short...I'm guessing you've got a brain. Please use it, think everything over, and do some heavy story revising. If you can find it, read ARM's work, and dr_coma's. See the difference between their excellent stories and your own. Come away wiser. Improve your own writing. You'll feel a lot better. And it might just get the bad taste out of my mouth.
What the sweet bloody hell have you done?
Bethany Covenant? Psychotic, murderous, power-crazed, vicious, sadistic, arrogant, lying, venomous bitch. Y’know what? Let’s just shorten that to ‘evil’.
But also? Spirited, strong, intelligent, brave, supremely self-assured, strong-willed, persistent. And powerful. Can we say powerful?
All of these traits make her absolutely fascinating. But they also mean that Bethany is not likely to:
a.) stand quietly while Otto Keisinger is killing her in what is apparently a fit of jealous rage due to the fact that he’s in love with her (???!!!!!), much less stand quietly because she’s busy bewailing that Ambrose isn’t here to save her. (?????!!!!!)
b.) let Otto Keisinger shout at her (particularly in front of others) because she left the cottage despite his instructions--not without something damned good being in it for her, or without some sort of immediate payback. Bethany would not run away, or make some sort of halfhearted retort and proceed to stand still and let herself be murdered.
c.) baby-sit Aaron because she's so afraid he'll commit suicide.
d.) seriously write to Jeremiah complaining because he’s not home to manage things for her.
e.) be revealed to be a misunderstood saint who, if not for Otto Keisinger’s Horrible Evil Influence, would be baking cookies for her ailing brother and never would have laid a hand (much less a meat hook) on Aaron, is filled to the brim with regrets for his death, and never would have done it if Keisinger hadn’t pushed her to it.
Bethany is likely to:
a.) Fight back with every weapon she had. Cast every spell, summon every creature, then bite, kick, and slash as hard as she could. She'd *never* go down without a fight. This is, by the way, completely disregarding the fact that we know Bethany actually got bored with Keisinger and attacked him first.
b.) at the very least, snarl at him. More likely, slap him. More likely still, do both and punctuate that with a few lightning bolts.
c.) leave out a bunch of pills and sharp implements, probably with a stack of letters from his creditors, lock herself in her study, and put some champagne on ice.
d.) write to Jeremiah with said complaints only as part of a plot...otherwise, completely relish her freedom to do exactly as she pleased, and carry out her plans for Aaron’s murder.
e.) be revealed as...oh yeah...evil! You know, someone who wrote happily in her journal about brutally murdering her twin brother, was planning to be the consort of the Undying King, was attempting to murder her mentor when she met her untimely “end”? Someone who didn’t just embrace the Undying Curse, but threw her arms around it and gave it a French kiss?
Bethany as Keisinger’s unknowing puppet? Sure. God knows she was so power-mad she could have missed the trap she was being woven into. Bethany as Keisinger’s meek, unthinking little doll? Hell no!
Now, it’s always been a pet theory of mine that there were occasional moments of clarity within the Undying Curse, times when the siblings were themselves and were, for a few moments, capable of grief, guilt, remorse, etc. (This explains Jeremiah in my fanfic The Dream.) These moments would become less and less as the curse wore on, particularly depending on how deeply one turned towards it, but they were possible. So...I’m willing to buy that some of your descriptions of Bethany are entirely plausible; that some of her grief or guilt is the result of a moment of clarity, when she is truly Bethany and not Cursed Bethany. I’m not willing to buy, however, that Bethany’s cruelty was nothing but Otto Keisinger’s influence. I cannot believe she was that weak-willed. I cannot believe she spent her time moping about Covenant Estate, bewailing how no one was there to protect her from hurting and manipulating others.
It’s obvious to everyone but you, since you've bypassed the rose-colored glasses in favor of ocular implants, that Bethany and Keisinger were using each other. I’ll readily buy that sex might have been a part of the bargain. I’ll buy that there might have been a distant, twisted, respect (perhaps, coming from a skilled author, I’d even buy that it was a distant, twisted, affection) between them--the sort of acknowledgment that they were the same, and damned good at being the same, and that it would change absolutely nothing. But I can’t buy that Otto Keisinger was in any sort of love with her, even a possessive kind--and I can’t buy that, no matter what he knew, Bethany would have tolerated it if he was. She would have taken it as an insult.
I’ll also grant to you that if you weren't on Standing Stones "back in the day", and therefore able to have long discussions with a couple of the developers, then you missed a few details about Bethany. However, you've played the game and read the Journal of Jeremiah, and that should have filled you in *right* quick about what you're dealing with. The fact that you've got all this information and you're still insisting on whitewashing Bethany just blows my mind. By the time of Bethany’s “death”, it’s pretty apparent that any semblance of goodness has washed right out of her. I’d say that “moral ambiguousness” is probably the most she’s capable of in her very few moments of clarity--absolutely no more. And even that’s a stretch. Bethany is evil, but one of the biggest components of her depravity--I think the most frightening component--is that she likes it that way. If she ever had any hesitation, any recognizable regrets, that was a very long time ago. Even before her “death”, Bethany is not human in any way, and that’s just how she wants it.
Making matters even worse is that Bethany isn't your only victim--no one, from Joseph to the maid, has escaped your clutches unscathed. (Joseph setting Ambrose on people?!) But it’s poor Bethany who’s suffered the most. You’ve ripped her right out of canon and turned her into a pathetic, sniveling little creature who’s only capable of doing anything when Otto Keisinger is applying a great deal of pressure. When you haven’t been doing that, you’ve been gouging the setting and the canon. I don’t mind telling you that that timeline was one day from retirement!
What’s *really* sad is that you’re not a bad writer otherwise. You need some polish, sure, but you set the scene competently enough and keep the plot moving. But you cripple the cast by completely whitewashing them, taking from them their interesting traits. (You also introduce some interesting inconsistencies into your own stories.) Your characterizations are so awful that they drown out what you do right.
In short...I'm guessing you've got a brain. Please use it, think everything over, and do some heavy story revising. If you can find it, read ARM's work, and dr_coma's. See the difference between their excellent stories and your own. Come away wiser. Improve your own writing. You'll feel a lot better. And it might just get the bad taste out of my mouth.