Homeland - Chapter Sixteen

[kalinara]

So last time, Drizzt spent his requisite six months at wizard school where we learn the shocking fact that had Drizzt been so inclined, he would have been an amazing wizard. And Salvatore tries his best to convince us that swinging a sword around is much more badass than fucking magic.

Sorry dude, I accept that Drizzt is badass but there is nothing more awesome than magic.

Um. This part deserves a warning. There's some dark shit going on at this graduation ceremony. The rape tag is there for a reason.



So we rejoin Drizzt as he's donning his ceremonial robes. He's just finished his six months in Arach-Tinilith. We're told that while Sorcere had been fun, this was anything but.

Honestly, I'm far more interested in reading about Drizzt having a difficult time than him having an easy time. So I'm a bit disappointed that we're skipping ahead. That said, it sounds a bit dry.

Every day, Drizzt and his classmates had been subjected to endless eulogies to the Spider Queen, tales and prophecies of her power and of the rewards she bestowed upon loyal servants.

Drizzt has developed a different view:

“Slaves” would have been a better word, Drizzt had come to realize, for nowhere in all this grand school to the drow deity had he heard anything synonymous with, or even hinting at, the word love. His people worshiped Lolth; the females of Menzoberranzan gave over their entire existence in her servitude. Their giving was wholly wrought of selfishness, though; a cleric of the Spider Queen aspired to the position of high priestess solely for the personal power that accompanied the title.

It all seemed so very wrong in Drizzt’s heart.

Drizzt had drifted through the six months of Arach-Tinilith with his customary stoicism, keeping his eyes low and his mouth shut. Now, finally, he had come to the last day, the Ceremony of Graduation, an event most holy to the drow, and wherein, Vierna had promised him, he would come to understand the true glory of Lolth.

I like this a lot. I could quibble a bit on where Drizzt himself might have heard the word "love", but I do buy that having spent his formative years with Zaknafein, Drizzt does recognize its lack on some level. And I definitely buy that he's grown to recognize ambition when he sees it.

The mention of Drizzt's "stoicism" sparks some thought. I think I mentioned this in my Icewind Dale reviews, but I don't really see Drizzt as stoic. I mean, I recognize that a drow upbringing is terrible, and even Zaknafein is only LESS abusive than everyone else. But Drizzt is neither particularly closed mouthed or uncomplaining about it. He's finally learned to keep his mouth shut, but he's always been very demonstrative. Kind of unrealistically so, at times.

Anyway, Drizzt is a little anxious. Apparently this is the day everything is supposed to make sense. And that's not necessarily a reassuring prospect. But we do get some nice atmosphere here:

Drizzt shielded his eyes as he entered the circular ceremonial hall of Arach-Tinilith. A fire burned in the center of the room, in an eight-legged brazier that resembled, as everything in this place seemed to resemble, a spider. The headmistress of all the Academy, the matron mistress, and the other twelve high priestesses serving as instructors of Arach-Tinilith, including Drizzt’s sister, sat cross-legged in a circle around the brazier. Drizzt and his classmates from the school of fighters stood along the wall behind them.

“Ma ku!” the matron mistress commanded, and all was silent save the crackle of the brazier’s flames. The door to the room opened again, and a young cleric entered. She was to be the first graduate of Arach-Tinilith this year, Drizzt had been told, the finest student in the school of Lolth. Thus, she had been awarded the highest honors in this ceremony. She shrugged off her robes and walked naked through the ring of sitting priestesses to stand before the flames, her back to the matron mistress.

Drizzt bit his lip, embarrassed and a little excited. He had never seen a female in such a light before, and he suspected that the sweat on his brow was from more than the brazier’s heat. A quick glance around the room told him that his classmates entertained similar ideas.

Hah. I'm not sure how drow maturity scales to human maturity, but it seems as though our young Drizzt is starting to...ahem...reach a point in his development.

So then things get kinkier, as scented smoke fills the room:

“Glabrezu,” the matron mistress moaned, and Drizzt recognized the tone as a summons, the name of a denizen of the lower planes. He looked back to the events at hand and saw the matron mistress holding a single-tongued snake whip.

Oh brother. I suppose we can't have a drow story without some femdom kink in the mix. (And I'm generally on board with femdom kink! But this all seems just a bit cartoonish...)

Drizzt wins my affection by mumbling a question about where the whip came from. Hah. Apparently some of the other classmates were mumbling similar things. Okay. That makes me laugh. Well done, Salvatore.

Anyway, the naked girl calls out to the whip as ordered. Everyone's getting high on fumes. The high priestess is gasping and coaxing the student in the ritual, while the girl keeps crying out in primal, powerful screams that "cut through" the men in the room.

...so this is basically just like a ritualized lesbian BDSM scene?

Oh, but then things get REALLY kinky:

The flames heard the call. They roared higher and higher and began to take shape. One sight caught the vision of all in the room now—caught it and held it fully. A giant head, a goat-horned dog, appeared within the flames, apparently studying this alluring young drow student who had dared to utter its name.

Somewhere beyond the other-planar form, the snake whip cracked again, and the female student repeated her call, her cry beckoning, praying.

The giant denizen of the lower planes stepped through the flames. The sheer unholy power of the creature stunned Drizzt. Glabrezu towered nine feet and seemed much more, with muscled arms ending in giant pincers instead of hands and a second set of smaller arms, normal arms, protruding from the front of its chest.

Drizzt has the instinct to run up and rescue the student, but then is distracted by...

Through all the haze and the daze, the tantalizing, dizzying aroma of the smoky red incense continued its assault on reality. Drizzt trembled, teetered on a narrow ledge of control, his gathering rage fighting the scented smoke’s confusing allure. Instinctively, his hands went to the hilts of the scimitars on his belt.

Then a hand brushed against his leg.

He looked down to see a mistress, reclined and asking him to join her—a scene that had suddenly become general around the chamber.

The smoke continued its assault on him.

The mistress beckoned to him, her fingernails lightly scraping the skin of his leg.

Ohhh. It's an ORGY. OKAY THEN.

Anyway, I may quibble with the definition of Drizzt as stoic, but I do think he's the kind of guy who doesn't particularly like losing control. And he's understandably not happy with this whole situation. He pulls away from the hopeful mistress and stumbles toward the exit. Only the screams of the female student follow him. I...don't want to know.

(It doesn't pay to be valedictorian, I suppose. The salutatorian must be thanking Lolth hard right now.)

And then he's not alone.

Vierna then was beside him, her robe opened casually in the front. Drizzt, his head clearing, began to wonder about the price of his actions. The look on his sister’s face, he noted with still more confusion, was not one of scorn.

“You prefer privacy,” she said, her hand resting easily on Drizzt’s shoulder. Vierna made no move to close her robe. “I understand,” she said.

Drizzt grabbed her arm and pulled her away. “What insanity is this?” he demanded.

Vierna’s face twisted as she came to understand her brother’s true intentions in leaving the ceremony. “You refused a high priestess!” she snarled at him. “By the laws, she could kill you for your insolence.”

Okay, for once, Drizzt, I'm with you. (Also my first read of this book, I actually thought VIERNA was the lady hitting on Drizzt. But on reread, I believe they're talking about a different woman.)

Look, I'm not necessarily opposed to dark ritualized sex practices linked with abusive power structures (IN FICTION ONLY), but this is all VERY sudden. Everything up until this point, in both the Icewind Dale Trilogy and this book, has been remarkably sexless. I feel like I'm watching that one episode of Midsomer Murders where they decided to explore the idea of fan service by making Jones suddenly hot and having him infiltrate a sex cult, but if the episode then actually had them tie him to an altar and fuck his brains out.

The tonal shift is just really bizarre is what I'm saying.

Anyway, Drizzt protests, understandably, and we see the dark seedy underbelly of this entire society:

“I do not even know her,” Drizzt shot back. “I am expected to—”

“You are expected to do as you are instructed!”

“I care nothing for her,” Drizzt stammered. He found he could not hold his hands steady.

“Do you think Zaknafein cared for Matron Malice?” Vierna replied, knowing that the reference to Drizzt’s hero would surely sting him. Seeing that she had indeed wounded her brother, Vierna softened her expression and took his arm. “Come back,” she purred, “into the room. There is still time.”

Drizzt’s cold glare stopped her as surely as the point of a scimitar.

“The Spider Queen is the deity of our people,” Vierna sternly reminded him. “I am one of those who speaks her will.”

“I would not be so proud of that,” Drizzt retorted, clinging to his anger against the wave of very real fear that threatened to defeat his principled stand.

So I have a few thoughts here.

1. So we've basically got a institutional ritualized rape practice going on here. And in a way, I do appreciate that. It's the logical extension of the society as described. And I actually rather appreciate that Vierna points out Zaknafein as an example. Even if he does have some kind of fondness for Malice, the relationship is one where he would never have any right to say no. He's a rape victim. Just like Rizzen. And any other consort in this grotesque set up.

2. I also rather like the way Vierna and Drizzt discuss it. Neither of them use the word "rape" here, and Drizzt's response is wounded pride that Zak's brought up here, not horror at the realization that his mentor is a victim. They grew up in this society. This is normal to them. Neither of them would have the concept or word for why it's wrong. Even though Drizzt, on some level, is aware that it is.

(Compare this to Drizzt's thoughts about compassion, love and honor, using those words.)

3. That said, I'm still not completely sure I think Salvatore realizes that Zak is a victim or has thought of ramifications of this society beyond a kinky porn set up. But to be fair to him, this isn't exactly the kind of book or genre where rape trauma is explored in depth. (I feel like Salvatore can be hit or miss when it comes to this sort of thing. I remember thinking he actually did pretty well when it came to Artemis Entreri's side trilogy, and developing how Entreri's past traumas forged him. But I remember being more annoyed at how he wrote Dahlia in later books. I'll have to see what I think when we get there.)

4. Drizzt's retort about Lolth though is part of the reason I don't see him as stoic. He's got every right to feel that way, of course, but he's very open about it.

And indeed, Vierna and Drizzt basically get into a shouting match that amounts to "Lolth sucks!" "You suck!"

At some point, there's a "climactic, anguished scream" from inside the room. And just in case we didn't put two and two together, Drizzt mutters that it's an "evil union."

Then Drizzt gets judgy:

Drizzt cast an accusing glance her way. “Have you had a similar experience?”

“I am a high priestess,” was her simple reply.

Darkness hovered all about Drizzt, outrage so intense that he nearly swooned. “Did it please you?” he spat.

“It brought me power,” Vierna growled back. “You cannot understand the value.”

“What did it cost you?”

Vierna’s slap nearly knocked Drizzt from his feet. “Come with me,” she said, grabbing the front of his robe. “There is a place I want to show to you.”

Dude, you're basically asking if your sister was raped by a monster and you're acting like this is something she chose to do. What do you think would have happened if she said no? In this fucking society?

I think this has always been my biggest problem with Drizzt. He's noble and honorable, and he manages to be so despite his origins. That's normally my bag. I love that kind of shit. But Drizzt is so incapable of empathizing with anyone! He pays lip service to compassion, but we never really see him extend it to ANYONE.

Anyway, Vierna leads him to Tier Breche. Technically Drizzt isn't supposed to pass through the gate, because he's not yet graduated. But Vierna's a high priestess and mistress of the academy, and she can graduate him. (He's not sure of that, but he doesn't want to piss her off. Fair enough.)

So where are they going?

They veered off to the eastern end of the great cavern, across from the wall that held House Do’Urden, and came to the entrances of three small tunnels, all guarded by glowing statues of giant scorpions. Vierna paused for just a moment to consider which was the correct course, then led on again, down the smallest of the tunnels.

The minutes became an hour, and still they walked. The passage widened and soon led them into a twisting catacomb of crisscrossing corridors. Drizzt quickly lost track of the path behind them as they made their way through, but Vierna followed a predetermined course that she knew well.

Then, beyond a low archway, the floor suddenly dropped away and they found themselves on a narrow ledge overlooking a wide chasm. Drizzt looked at his sister curiously but held his question when he saw that she was deep in the concentration. She uttered a few simple commands, then tapped herself and Drizzt on the forehead.

They levitate down to the chasm. Vierna's put a mask on them so no one can see. And this is what she's here to show him:

At first, Drizzt thought it was a drow elf, and from the waist up, it was indeed, though bloated and pale. Its lower body, though, resembled a spider, with eight arachnid legs to support its frame. The creature held a bow ready in its hands but seemed confused, as though it could not discern what had entered its lair.

Vierna was pleased by the disgust on her brother’s face as he viewed the thing. “Look upon it well, younger brother,” she signaled. “Behold the fate of those who anger the Spider Queen.”

It's a drider. And Vierna signals back that Lolth is not a merciful deity.

Drizzt watched, mesmerized, as the drider shifted its position on the boulder, searching for the intruders. Drizzt couldn’t tell if it was a male or female, so bloated was its torso, but he knew that it didn’t matter. The creature was not a natural creation and would leave no descendants behind, whatever its gender. It was a tormented body, nothing more, hating itself, in all probability, more than everything else around it.

“I am merciful,” Vierna continued silently, though she knew her brother’s attention was fully on the drider. She rested back flat against the stone wall.

Drizzt spun on her, suddenly realizing her intent.

Then Vierna sank into the stone. “Goodbye, little brother,” came her final call. “This is a better fate than you deserve.”

...in a way, I do think Vierna is showing the only mercy that she knows how. A quick death rather than life in this society, or getting forcibly transformed into a mindless monster.

So Drizzt gets to avoid rape and fight a bunch of driders instead. He does pretty well, but he's not the greatest warrior in the world (yet), so he starts to get overcome.

But then:

Then Drizzt felt a hand grab his robe, and he was roughly lifted to his feet and slammed against the stone wall.

He opened his eyes to see his sister’s face.

“He lives,” Drizzt heard her say. “We must get him back quickly and tend to his wounds”

It's Malice, and Vierna.

“I thought this the best way,” Vierna apologized.

“We cannot afford to lose him,” came an unemotional reply. Drizzt recognized the voice from his past. He fought through the blur and forced his eyes to focus.

“Malice,” he whispered. “Mother.”

Her enraged punch brought him into a clearer mindset.

“Matron Malice!” she growled, her angry scowl only an inch from Drizzt’s face. “Do not ever forget that!”

To Drizzt, her coldness rivaled the poison’s, and his relief at seeing her faded away as quickly as it had flooded through him.

This is one of those bits that honestly feels like it should have happened earlier in the story, but I like the emotional aspects nonetheless.

I also like this closing part:

“You must learn your place!” Malice roared, reiterating the command that had haunted Drizzt all of his young life. “Hear my words,” she demanded, and Drizzt heard them keenly. “Vierna brought you to this place to have you killed. She showed you mercy.” Malice cast a disappointed glance at her daughter.

“I understand the will of the Spider Queen better than she,” the matron continued, her spittle spraying Drizzt with every word. “If ever you speak ill of Lolth, our goddess, again, I will take you back to this place myself! But not to kill you; that would be too easy.” She jerked Drizzt’s head to the side so that he could look upon the grotesque remains of the drider he had killed.

“You will come back here,” Malice assured him, “to become a drider.”

I'm not the only person who initially read the whole encounter at the beginning as Vierna trying to seduce/rape her brother, by the way. It's the timing, but I think the dialogue makes it clear that she's talking about another woman. It's a shame, because the ambiguity ruins what I think the point of the chapter really is.

Because VIERNA actually does show empathy here. Her initial response, when she thinks Drizzt just wants privacy is actually understanding rather than scorn. She is cruel when she realizes his true motives, but she's also at least somewhat concerned about him. The high priestess could have him killed for rejecting her, but there's still time to go back in.

And as I mentioned, I do think that Vierna tried to show Drizzt the only mercy she understands. Because Drizzt can't survive in this society. He doesn't have Zaknafein's self-control or ability to compromise his ethics. (He can't accept the cross-parry as it is.) He has no ability to conceal his revulsion or hold back his more heroic/honorable impulses. And if he doesn't get out of there, eventually, it will kill him. Or worse.

The tragedy of Vierna of course is that, unlike Drizzt, she never got that one-on-one time with Zaknafein. Instead she had her mother. And she had Arach-Tinilith. She had her spider goddess and implicitly rape by a monster. The only kind of mercy she knows how to show is murder. She's not going to be able to survive Menzoberranzan with her humanity (...so to speak) intact. And that really is very sad.