[LMB] And finally, HH chapter 23 !

[Tzivia Adler]

thank you, kalina, for a wonderful summary.

> No sun, nor moon, nor stars, in an hour of neither
> day nor night.
what a wonderful way of describing how cut off from reality they are.

> And the same Hallowed king will commit all his hostages, his warriors, to 
> oblivion. Unfair.
espec. since each soul is supposed to choose, and be chosen by its own god. 
remember how at ijada's trial, she might have her death penalty commuted? 
the hangman (or headsman?) may do his duty of sending her soul on to the 
next plane of existance, but certainly he should not be guilty of sundering 
her soul.  now wencel is prepared to commit a wholesale sundering, which 
would make his sin worse than the king who ordered the slaughter.  no wonder 
i always thought of w. as the villlian.

> Horseriver kisses Fara's hand that holds the knife. An instant memory
> flashes in Ingrey's mind of his wolf licking him before he cuts the
> wolf's throat. ...  Consistently the message is - I know what it means, 
> and I make this
> sacrifice willingly. A very, very strong idea, to my mind.
>
and if only wencel had put effort into making it a 'willing marriage' he 
might actually have won the night.  'stand by your man' only if your man 
stood by you first.

 > Now, that image was, to me, a strong association with The picture of
> Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. I have no clue if it was intentional, but
> I cannot read the descriptions of Horseriver's body without thinking
> of that story...
>
how interesting!  that makes a lot of sense.


> but perhaps, a whole living heart can delay the fading of the warriors, 
> enough to find some path that leads away from that oblivion.
>
it puzzles me how cutting half the wolf's heart would throw ingrey back into 
his own body, though

> Here at last comes the clash of wills. Not Ingrey with Horseriver,
> although that would have been logical - Ingrey who argues with
> everybody, even a god. But between Horseriver and Ijada.
maybe he had a bad influence on her?  but she was idealistic from teh first 
time we meet her, trusting to justice at her trial and not realizing that 
important people might put their collective thumb on the balance.  she kept 
refusing to run away with ingrey ... as his sister.  i do wonder, though, if 
he had offered to pretend to be her husband, would she have agreed?

> Then comes the ghost standard bearer. Whom Ingrey thinks was the last
> Hallowed King's own standard bearer, burried in the same hole, under
> the same mound. The standard he holds, Ijada takes up.
it seems that while people retain their wounds, the broken standard is ready 
to stand tall and proclaim the king.

> And then Horseriver needs Fara to support him when all else seems  to 
> fail.
> Only he failed Fara long ago, and one cannot be given trust by people whom 
> he has betrayed. > And Fara fully reacts to the snake that Horseriver is. 
> One who never
> even tried to make things right, in pursuit of his own goals. Oh yes, 
> Horseriver
> does not lose to Ingrey, or Ijada. He loses to Fara, because he never
> bothered to win her over, just forcing her this way and that. I think
> Fara breaking the standard she was entrusted with is one of the
> bravest and worthiest things I have read, with the rag crumpling in
> the puddle of Wencel's blood... OH yes...
>
yes.  i was almost in shock at how she refused to go along with her husband. 
a true princess at last, realizing her own worth and how she had been badly 
used - and refusing to be badly used any longer.  i was so proud of her.  i 
bet her sick headaches will get a lot better now...


> Kalina
>
ziviya, better late than never
> 



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