Daughter of the Lion - Chapter Ten
Jul. 14th, 2024 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatLast time, Keely was kind of obnoxious. Then she decided to do something pro-active. Unfortunately, it didn't work that well and we ended on a cliffhanger.
Anyway, at the end of the last chapter, Keely ended up with an arm around her throat. This time, we see who it is. Teirnan!
Now how Teirnan managed to stumble across Keely is an interesting question. There's no real answer to that either. It made some sense, I suppose, that he was able to accost her when she left clankeep some chapters ago. But at this point in time, she'd gone back to Homana-Mujhar and then come BACK to the forest, to find the men in a completely different location.
It seems a bit unlikely.
Also, unfortunately, Keely seems to have the same problem that Alix had. She has badass powers, but somehow as soon as she's in actual distress, i.e. Thorne grabbed Alix by the arm, or Teirnan grabbing Keely here, she's unable to use them.
You know, we're ten chapters in to the book about our action-girl feminist lead. Is it wrong to wish for a little more action?
Anyway, Teirnan just wants to "talk" and has the nerve to ask her if she thinks he wants to harm her, his cousin. Um, dude, you have her by the NECK.
Keely merely points out that while he might not WANT to harm her, he would, quickly enough, if he thought it'd help his cause. Probably.
And I'll give Roberson some credit here. Teirnan, objectively speaking, hasn't done anything TOO treasonous yet. He's clearly an abusive asshole when it comes to Maeve, but aside from some taunting and storming off, he hasn't actually tried to harm the siblings.
But I do believe he would. At least in part because we saw what Ceinn did to Niall, and Teirnan doesn't even have Ceinn's general composure or self-control. He just oozes dickhead.
But anyway, Teirnan states what he wants:
"To talk," he repeated. "I told you so before; I do so again. But this time I have brought allies, so you understand I am serious. This is not a game, Keely ... it is the survival of our race."
So we already know it's going to be race-supremacist bullshit. But Keely can be intelligent sometimes, and she realizes that staying trapped is no good. She acquiesces.
Now, as it turns out, Teirnan isn't alone:
I did not bother to count them. I knew the numher was higher yet, for women and children had gone with them, and none of them were here, only warriors and their lir. In nearly two years Teirnan had collected a clan of his own, lured away from others, dividing the Cheysuli over an issue that touched us all.
This is where I really wish Roberson had done a better job of showing us who the a'saii are. Because so far, all we have is Teirnan, and there's nothing in Teirnan's nonsense that gives us any clue as to why these people are so apt to follow him.
As a reminder: the qu'mahlin wasn't THAT long ago, historically. The current king's father had been a survivor of it. The Cheysuli population's been decimated by a plague one generation ago. The Homanans still have the advantage numbers-wise. What do they THINK is going to happen if they replace the royal family (which happens to be both culturally Cheysuli while being descended from National Hero Carillon) with an offshoot line?
ESPECIALLY when members of that line are currently ruling Homana's closest allies! I mean, let's be real, I sincerely doubt that Hart is actually ruling Solinde. I'm thinking Niall's still got ultimate say, and what he doesn't decide, Ilsa probably does. But Hart (and Ilsa) are not going to be okay with a new ruling family that overthrew his father and twin brother.
Erinn and Atvia have finally stopped warring, and BOTH kingdoms have a vested interest in Homana being ruled by Liam's line. Corin, for the same reason as Hart, and Liam because his fucking DAUGHTER is the heir to the throne's wife!
I know I'm a broken record, but this is the absolute worst time to be contemplating any sort of siege. IF there is a better justification or more convincing argument in favor of the a'saii, then Roberson should share it with us.
Ooo, here's a thought. What if, instead of Rory as Keely's meet cute rival love interest, we had a member of the a'saii instead?
That said, I'm impressed that there are fifty or sixty a'saii here. It makes me wonder at the numbers. And then I realize that I can turn it around to mock Duncan more. Because the a'saii are portrayed as a smaller percentage of the clans, and so if they can muster sixty renegades AFTER the purges and plagues, then that means Finn had found a shit ton of other clans. And Duncan, assuming they were the last, was a fucking idiot. Yay!
Keely points out that they're giving up the afterlife. But Teirnan wants to explain why they're really doing this - what they lose if they serve the prophecy.
I admit, I'm interested here. Because there are a lot of reasons to hate the prophecy. Especially in the latter half of the series, where it seems like being of the line of Mujhars is a guaranteed date with rape, torture, and an untimely, unpleasant death for so many.
But Teirnan's argument:
Teirnan nodded intent agreement. "Aye, aye, of course he did—do you blame him? His cheysula was rujholla to the Mujhar, and Ceinn himself is of a purer line of descent than even the House of Homana. The Lion is Cheysuli, not Homanan—who better to claim it than a warrior of Ceinn's descent?"
Pretty much is Cheysuli supremacist shit. It does make me wish Shapechangers had gone more into what Cheysuli society was like during and before the purge, because we didn't see that. I'm fairly sure Song of Homana stated outright that Duncan had been descended from the original line of Cheysuli mujhars. Ceinn might be as well, But sadly, all we saw of Cheysuli society in Shapechangers was Duncan abusing Alix.
I will say one thing though, and I said it before in these reviews, while I don't buy into Teirnan's "purer" bullshit. It is a little uncomfortable that this whole prophecy to bring about the reborn Firstborn. Y'know, the Cheysuli savior, doesn't actually involve any new Cheysuli members.
We have the same family line looping back and forth. Kellan might be fractionally a decent amount of Cheysuli, but that's because of a shit ton of cousin fucking. It's from Hale and Duncan. And that's it. 8 books, 7 generations of characters, and not once after the first book does the Cheysuli royal bloodline marry an actual Cheysuli.
The distaff line's culimination, Ginevra, will add one more Cheysuli ancestor, through descent from Donal and Sorcha. That's still a fairly distant ancestor at that point.
It's a bit uncomfortable to think about. Especially in the light of the original racist depiction of Cheysuli in the series, and then the realization that the only main female characters who LOOK Cheysuli have been well...Gisella. Period.
I could actually understand the a'saii if their position involved this. But instead, Teirnan seems to be leaping onto some really bizarre sidetracks..
Sorry for the length of this excerpt but there's a lot to unpack.
Teirnan's eyes caught fire. "Aye, aye—and it is wrong. The prophecy itself is wrong; you serve a perverted relic." I had heard this nonsense before. I tried to tell him so, but he easily overrode me. "Keely, you have stronger gifts than any woman of the clans since Alix, our great-granddame. You know what it is to have the freedom, the power of lir-shape—what it is to fly the skies—what it is to go in cat-shape, or any form you desire—" Again he shifted forward, eyes fixed on my own. "You know better than anyone else can what it is to converse with the lir, to share in private thoughts, to have the earth magic at your beck—"
I was growing impatient. "Aye, Teir, I know—"
His tone hushed itself. "But what if you did not? What if you could not—if the power was stripped from you?"
I shook my head. "Not possible, Teir. The lir-gifts arc gods-given—"
He was close to laughing in frustration at what he perceived as my ignorance. "And what if the gods did it? What if they took those gifts away and made you as all the others? An unblessed Homanan woman, with less freedom than ever before."
"Teir, you are a fool—"
He slid forward on his knees, caught my hands, held them against his chest. "I swear by all that I am, I think they will do it. When the prophecy is completed, the Firstborn will rule again, uniting four realms and two races, with nothing left over for us." He gripped my hands tightly. "I swear by my lir, Keely, this is not a trick. I mean what I say: the gods will take back the gifts and give them to the Firstborn."
a) Keely doesn't have stronger gifts than any woman of the clans since Alix. BRONWYN had the same gift. Gisella too, though admittedly, she probably isn't considered of the clans. But there's nothing to show that Keely's talents are any better. (And why would they be?) Hell, ISOLDE had the ability too. So Teirnan well ought to know that.
I suppose he COULD be just trying to manipulate her, but Keely ought to realize that.
b) This whole thing about comparing Keely to an "unblessed Homanan woman" ignores one very specific issue with this series.
Keely without her magic power would be the same as a CHEYSULI woman. Because Cheysuli women HAVE NO MAGIC. It's been repeated over and over again. Keely is special because of her "old blood". (Which came from Alix's white mom, remember!)
It's aggravating, because there was no reason for only men to have this power. Alix could still have been special by being able to talk to all lir/take the form of all lir. But this is what you went with, Roberson, so you can't go back on it now.
c) Also, I've pointed THIS out all along too. But from everything we've actually seen, Homanan women have more freedom than Cheysuli women. If Deirdre decided she didn't want to be with Niall anymore, she could just leave. Maeve needed to GO TO THE CLAN COUNCIL to get free of her ACTUALLY EXCOMMUNICATED...hell, he's not even her husband. She was meijha not Cheysula!
Sorry, again, I'm a broken record. But still.
Finally d) There's been nothing in the prophecy to indicate anyone would lose powers or lir. Why would they? Descent from the firstborn is what gave them their powers to begin with?
This was a weird idea when it was first floated by Taliesin in Track of the White Wolf and it's still a weird idea. And it's one that's going to pop up sporadically from now on. Of all the legitimate arguments about ancestry.
Oh also, e) It's worth noting that Maeve is a descendant of Alix too. But because she isn't the product of cousin fucking, she doesn't have enough Old Blood to have powers. But don't expect either Maeve's sister or abuser to think about her here.
--
So anyway, why does Teirnan think this?
"Think, Keely! Think back, remember, recall the focus of what we are taught: the Firstborn had all the gifts, men and women alike .. . but they grew too inbred, diluting the blood and the magic. And so the gods formed two races out of one, portioning out the gifts; some to the Cheysuli, some to the Ihlini." He paused, jaw set very tight. "In hopes that someday Cheysuli would breed with Ihlini and fix the gifts once more."
"Why would the gods want their children to fight?" I asked. "We are enemies, Teir—"
"Again, I ask you to think." His intensity died away, replaced with quiet appeal. "We are enemies now, aye, but was it always so? Were we born enemies, or did something happen to cause a rift, a schism—a bloodfeud that holds even now?" He raised a silencing hand. "Think of the Ihlini and what we have learned of them; what even the Mujhar claims: not all are engaged against us. Not all serve Asar-Suli, but the old Solindish gods not so different from our own." He smiled. "Perhaps the gods are one and the same, just as Ihlini and Cheysuli."
None of this makes any sense. Or rather, it does, but it doesn't make sense that Teirnan is the one to say this. Or with what came before.
See?
"—that it took an outside influence to plunge Ihlini and Cheysuli into interracial war. That perhaps a few ambitious Ihlini—possibly only one—decided the natural gifts were not enough. To rule he needed more, and turned to the Seker." Teirnan spread his hands. "Thus spawning a third race: Strahan and others like him, with power distinctly augmented by the god of the netherworld."
I licked dry lips. "Then, according to you, the prophecy is more than the unification of races and realms, but a joining of power as well."
Slowly Teirnan nodded. "And once that power is unified, dilution is undesirable. Why not take it all and put it into one vessel? It is concentrated, augmented —there is no need for dilution. Dilution is undesirable; so are those who dilute."
So let's parse through this argument, shall we?
a) The Cheysuli and Ihlini were originally one race. This is pretty much established truth at this point, and we've seen a lot of support for this in the series, even before the idea came up.
b) The Firstborn grew too inbred. There's no basis for this. And how does inbreeding DILUTE the blood anyway? It might cause a shit ton of mutations, sure.
And if this is the issue, why is the solution to inbreed more. It's worth noting, yet again, that Maeve whose mother has no relation to her father, has no powers. Keely, whose mother is the first cousin of her father, and thus also a descendant of Alix, has the double dose of old blood and does.
c) The gods split the gifts and race with the intention that they breed back together. What IS this nonsense? Why, if the gods could do that, wouldn't they just zap more powers into the existing line.
(The more logical assumption would be that the Firstborn married natives, and the gifts diminished that way, in different forms because of family lines and so on.)
d) That someone FORCED the Cheysuli and Ihlini to be enemies. THAT is actually an interesting thought. It seems like it's easily solved by the Ihlini serving Asar-Suti, the underworld god. The whole Solindish gods being the same is a non-revelation, we've KNOWN that the Ihlini and Cheysuli had the same pantheon ultimately for a while now.
(Also, we never did find out who the HOMANANS worship. DO they have the same pantheon as the Cheysuli???)
e) Tying into that, Strahan's Ihlini are not a separate race from the other Ihlini. No one on the Ihlini side has ever said that. It is however an interesting note that we've never met an Ihlini who didn't at some point worship Asar-Suti.
They do apparently exist, but the old woman from White Wolf, and Taliesin, are people who had once sworn to the Seker and gave it up.
f) How does this relate with Teirnan's freak out at the thought of interbreeding with Ihlini again???
g) He apparently thinks that once the power is unified, meaning a Firstborn is born, the Ihlini and Cheysuli would disappear. Genetics doesn't work that way. If a white Englishman and a Black woman have a mixed raced child, it doesn't make either parent less white or less black. Even if the kid somehow inherits both his father's gift for poetry and his mother's gift for music and becomes the greatest composer on the planet, it doesn't mean his parents suddenly become illiterate or tone deaf.
NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE.
Poor Keely gets my sympathy for trying to find some logic in this nonsense. She asks why, if the Firstborn became so inbred, would the gods want to create them again?
Teirnan claims it's because of the other blood thrown in - "foreign spices to make the stew taste better." Basically, he thinks the foreign blood will make the new Firstborn even stronger.
Which okay, then why all the cousin fucking again?
Anyway, this basically boils down to some nonsensical racial purity supremacy/replacement theory bullshit. Keely points out, rightly, that Teirnan sounds like Strahan.
And Teirnan has now become an Ihlini apologist, despite freaking out at the idea of anyone fucking one last book.
"—because he is not so wrong."
It was blasphemy. I shuddered once, shook my head vehemently. "He wants all of us dead!"
"He wants the prophecy broken." Teirnan sighed. "His methods are violent, aye, and deadly for those of our House, but I understand his reasons. How else do you break the prophecy than by destroying those it involves?"
"And if it is—"
"Then we will be free of destruction, Keely . . . free to be free again!"
...
My head hurts. Keely rightfully points out that Strahan wants to commit genocide, and has tried. Teirnan somehow thinks that if Strahan succeeds in committing genocide, they'll be free?
I'm going to try to give him some credit and assume he means if Strahan kills the royal family. But Teirnan IS a member of that family, remember? That's kind of his point. And he has the old blood through Isolde. His mother could shapeshift!
His kid with Maeve, it must be noted, ALSO has every blood except Ihlini. No one really thinks about that part. Because somehow the fact that Deirdre and Liam's mother was Atvian doesn't count in the calculation.
I mean, it does make sense if Teirnan's motivation is simply to clear the way for himself to take the throne and the rest of this is utter nonsense. But Keely really should see through this shit.
Anyway, Teirnan announces that he only intends to serve himself and have free will and not be bound by tahlmorra. And again, I sigh at what might have been. Because even if Teirnan was completely self-interested and this was all self-serving nonsense (which I believe it is), it could have been done better.
This is all repetitive with prior rants, but I like being repetitive. So here's how I would do it, I'll borrow my original Cheysuli Keighvin from my Shapechanger reviews. Except not him, he's dead now. His descendant. Let's give him an equally absurd name: Raiyan.
Raiyan is an a'saii. His grandparents were orphaned in the purge. He lost his parents in the plague. He's sick and tired of being told that it's all part of destiny.
And he can see it. The purge was necessary to put Carillon on the throne, and then for Carillon to make Donal his heir. Without it, there wouldn't have been nearly as much chaos during Shaine and Carillon's reigns. The plague was necessary to remove Donal from the throne. He was only 44, after all. He could well have ruled another two decades, and given the clusterfuck he'd managed to set up by Track of the White Wolf, he probably could have destroyed everything. Instead, the plague killed both lir, so Niall takes over. Niall is smarter, more likable, still Cheysuli, but looks like beloved ancestor Carillon. AND puts him in place to start arranging his kids for the next step in the prophecy.
Fine. He gets it. But now they have world peace. So why do we need the prophecy anymore? All it does now is make the Ihlini try to kill them. Pretty much every lead character of the series has been captured, tortured, and eventually murdered by Ihlini hands or machinations. Maybe they'd STOP if they quit now? And even if they don't...
How do we know that it's a good thing to bring back a race of demigods? Let's leave the bullshit about "losing your powers" aside. That doesn't make sense. But these demigods, with both Cheysuli and Ihlini powers, ARE going to be scary. Look at what the queen did, and she wasn't even born Ihlini! Gisella mind controlled the King for a long time just learning Ihlini tricks! Rhiannon has both Ihlini and Cheysuli blood and she raped and kidnapped the prince under the nose of every Cheysuli in the realm.
What if the demigods are like the Ihlini? The Ihlini are their descendants after all. Maybe the Cheysuli are the weird ones for being half-decent?
Let's just stop! We have world peace! Let's leave it at that. Marry the royal kids off to Caledon, Ellas, and the Steppes - none of whom are mentioned in the prophecy. Or, you know, to Cheysuli people, because that hasn't been a thing and apparently isn't involved in the prophecy at all.
There you go. Perfectly reasonable motives for someone to join the a'saii. No nonsense or leaps of logic required.
I think Roberson doesn't go with this because it's kind of hard to argue with Raiyan's logic, right?
Okay, anyway, back to Teirnan who is dramatically talking about how hard it was to make this decision and become excommunicated. And He might actually have a point there:
"No, nor was I." For a moment pain undermined his conviction, muting the fire in him. "It was not— easy. In no way. What we are, each of us—what we become—is shaped from birth to fit prescribed behavior patterns, all bound up in honor codes and rituals, in the name of Cheysuli gods. It becomes a sacred duty, cloaked in the mystery of faith—but as a way of enforcement, a means of manipulation ... because if we were given absolute freedom of choice, would we choose to complete the prophecy? Or turn our backs on it, leaving the gods without the Firstborn?" He was solemn now, clearly cognizant of what he said, and of what he advocated. "Even the afterworld—is there really an afterworld?—is something we arc promised since birth." Teirnan shook his head, "lint how do we know, Keely? How can we be certain? All we know is what we are told, being taught by other Cheysuli who were taught identical things. Is there room for honesty? Or only for superstition?"
There's a good point buried in here. But he ruins it by asking Keely what she'd do if Strahan came and demanded her lir gifts, if she'd give them up without a fight.
And again, that's NOT WHAT'S HAPPENING.
It's also pretty stupid because the actual culmination of the prophecy happens at the end of book 8. Two more generations down the line. Some of these characters will still be alive by that point, but they're not going to be young. Teirnan acts like this will happen tomorrow.
...I suppose, it could just be that unlike any other character in the series, Teirnan can actually add fractions. But then he'd know it's too late anyway. Hmph.
And Keely, being an idiot, actually starts buying this:
I looked beyond him, to the others. I looked at warriors and lir, gathered in the shadows, and wondered how anyone could have foreseen this. It was not in the prophecy. So many things are, though many only fragments like overheard conversations distorted by distance and interruption. And so many things are not, almost as if the gods—or the Firstborn, who wrote the prophecy—had wanted no one to know the full truth. Because, if Teir was right, to know it gave us the freedom to deny it; now, we only served, with unthinking obedience.
AGH.
It's NOT A PART OF THE PROPHECY. And you guys KNOW THE FUCKING PROPHECY. I suppose I shouldn't even be mean to Keely, because Roberson seems to think this is a logical leap to make.
But yeah, anyway, Teirnan doubles down on the idea of the gods stripping them of their gifts to give them to someone else. Which still doesn't make sense, and if Keely had a brain in her head, she'd point out that Alix's old blood gifts didn't come about at the cost of anyone else's. But nope.
Anyway, she decides that Teirnan is tragic and heroic:
I raised my head and looked into the face of certitude, the eyes of a Cheysuli. And knew, looking at him, he had not forfeited his honor. He was as dedicated to the preservation of his race as anyone else I knew.
But Teirnan risked more; in that, he was alone.
...now I've read this book, so I know that this book is NOT building a Keely/Teirnan romance. But I kind of wish it did, because that would actually be really interesting. As long as Roberson stopped sharing his philosophies.
Anyway, she asks what he wants, and Teirnan's demand both makes a lot of sense and no sense:
Teirnan's tone was gentle. "Refuse the Erinnish prince. Bear him no children, Keely. It will be more than enough."
So yeah. That's fucking stupid. As far as Teirnan knows, that wouldn't do a damn thing. Keely is one of four siblings, all with the same blood. She's engaged to Sean, who is the full sibling of Aileen, who married Brennan.
Keely+Sean has the exact same fractional ancestral makeup as Brennan+Aileen. It'd make no difference.
Now, it does matter from Keely's side, because she knows and we know that Brennan and Aileen's son is sickly, and Aileen can't have more children. But Teirnan doesn't know that. Or at least he shouldn't!
And if he does...then Keely ought to be asking how the hell he knows that!
And maybe she will. Next chapter.
Anyway, at the end of the last chapter, Keely ended up with an arm around her throat. This time, we see who it is. Teirnan!
Now how Teirnan managed to stumble across Keely is an interesting question. There's no real answer to that either. It made some sense, I suppose, that he was able to accost her when she left clankeep some chapters ago. But at this point in time, she'd gone back to Homana-Mujhar and then come BACK to the forest, to find the men in a completely different location.
It seems a bit unlikely.
Also, unfortunately, Keely seems to have the same problem that Alix had. She has badass powers, but somehow as soon as she's in actual distress, i.e. Thorne grabbed Alix by the arm, or Teirnan grabbing Keely here, she's unable to use them.
You know, we're ten chapters in to the book about our action-girl feminist lead. Is it wrong to wish for a little more action?
Anyway, Teirnan just wants to "talk" and has the nerve to ask her if she thinks he wants to harm her, his cousin. Um, dude, you have her by the NECK.
Keely merely points out that while he might not WANT to harm her, he would, quickly enough, if he thought it'd help his cause. Probably.
And I'll give Roberson some credit here. Teirnan, objectively speaking, hasn't done anything TOO treasonous yet. He's clearly an abusive asshole when it comes to Maeve, but aside from some taunting and storming off, he hasn't actually tried to harm the siblings.
But I do believe he would. At least in part because we saw what Ceinn did to Niall, and Teirnan doesn't even have Ceinn's general composure or self-control. He just oozes dickhead.
But anyway, Teirnan states what he wants:
"To talk," he repeated. "I told you so before; I do so again. But this time I have brought allies, so you understand I am serious. This is not a game, Keely ... it is the survival of our race."
So we already know it's going to be race-supremacist bullshit. But Keely can be intelligent sometimes, and she realizes that staying trapped is no good. She acquiesces.
Now, as it turns out, Teirnan isn't alone:
I did not bother to count them. I knew the numher was higher yet, for women and children had gone with them, and none of them were here, only warriors and their lir. In nearly two years Teirnan had collected a clan of his own, lured away from others, dividing the Cheysuli over an issue that touched us all.
This is where I really wish Roberson had done a better job of showing us who the a'saii are. Because so far, all we have is Teirnan, and there's nothing in Teirnan's nonsense that gives us any clue as to why these people are so apt to follow him.
As a reminder: the qu'mahlin wasn't THAT long ago, historically. The current king's father had been a survivor of it. The Cheysuli population's been decimated by a plague one generation ago. The Homanans still have the advantage numbers-wise. What do they THINK is going to happen if they replace the royal family (which happens to be both culturally Cheysuli while being descended from National Hero Carillon) with an offshoot line?
ESPECIALLY when members of that line are currently ruling Homana's closest allies! I mean, let's be real, I sincerely doubt that Hart is actually ruling Solinde. I'm thinking Niall's still got ultimate say, and what he doesn't decide, Ilsa probably does. But Hart (and Ilsa) are not going to be okay with a new ruling family that overthrew his father and twin brother.
Erinn and Atvia have finally stopped warring, and BOTH kingdoms have a vested interest in Homana being ruled by Liam's line. Corin, for the same reason as Hart, and Liam because his fucking DAUGHTER is the heir to the throne's wife!
I know I'm a broken record, but this is the absolute worst time to be contemplating any sort of siege. IF there is a better justification or more convincing argument in favor of the a'saii, then Roberson should share it with us.
Ooo, here's a thought. What if, instead of Rory as Keely's meet cute rival love interest, we had a member of the a'saii instead?
That said, I'm impressed that there are fifty or sixty a'saii here. It makes me wonder at the numbers. And then I realize that I can turn it around to mock Duncan more. Because the a'saii are portrayed as a smaller percentage of the clans, and so if they can muster sixty renegades AFTER the purges and plagues, then that means Finn had found a shit ton of other clans. And Duncan, assuming they were the last, was a fucking idiot. Yay!
Keely points out that they're giving up the afterlife. But Teirnan wants to explain why they're really doing this - what they lose if they serve the prophecy.
I admit, I'm interested here. Because there are a lot of reasons to hate the prophecy. Especially in the latter half of the series, where it seems like being of the line of Mujhars is a guaranteed date with rape, torture, and an untimely, unpleasant death for so many.
But Teirnan's argument:
Teirnan nodded intent agreement. "Aye, aye, of course he did—do you blame him? His cheysula was rujholla to the Mujhar, and Ceinn himself is of a purer line of descent than even the House of Homana. The Lion is Cheysuli, not Homanan—who better to claim it than a warrior of Ceinn's descent?"
Pretty much is Cheysuli supremacist shit. It does make me wish Shapechangers had gone more into what Cheysuli society was like during and before the purge, because we didn't see that. I'm fairly sure Song of Homana stated outright that Duncan had been descended from the original line of Cheysuli mujhars. Ceinn might be as well, But sadly, all we saw of Cheysuli society in Shapechangers was Duncan abusing Alix.
I will say one thing though, and I said it before in these reviews, while I don't buy into Teirnan's "purer" bullshit. It is a little uncomfortable that this whole prophecy to bring about the reborn Firstborn. Y'know, the Cheysuli savior, doesn't actually involve any new Cheysuli members.
We have the same family line looping back and forth. Kellan might be fractionally a decent amount of Cheysuli, but that's because of a shit ton of cousin fucking. It's from Hale and Duncan. And that's it. 8 books, 7 generations of characters, and not once after the first book does the Cheysuli royal bloodline marry an actual Cheysuli.
The distaff line's culimination, Ginevra, will add one more Cheysuli ancestor, through descent from Donal and Sorcha. That's still a fairly distant ancestor at that point.
It's a bit uncomfortable to think about. Especially in the light of the original racist depiction of Cheysuli in the series, and then the realization that the only main female characters who LOOK Cheysuli have been well...Gisella. Period.
I could actually understand the a'saii if their position involved this. But instead, Teirnan seems to be leaping onto some really bizarre sidetracks..
Sorry for the length of this excerpt but there's a lot to unpack.
Teirnan's eyes caught fire. "Aye, aye—and it is wrong. The prophecy itself is wrong; you serve a perverted relic." I had heard this nonsense before. I tried to tell him so, but he easily overrode me. "Keely, you have stronger gifts than any woman of the clans since Alix, our great-granddame. You know what it is to have the freedom, the power of lir-shape—what it is to fly the skies—what it is to go in cat-shape, or any form you desire—" Again he shifted forward, eyes fixed on my own. "You know better than anyone else can what it is to converse with the lir, to share in private thoughts, to have the earth magic at your beck—"
I was growing impatient. "Aye, Teir, I know—"
His tone hushed itself. "But what if you did not? What if you could not—if the power was stripped from you?"
I shook my head. "Not possible, Teir. The lir-gifts arc gods-given—"
He was close to laughing in frustration at what he perceived as my ignorance. "And what if the gods did it? What if they took those gifts away and made you as all the others? An unblessed Homanan woman, with less freedom than ever before."
"Teir, you are a fool—"
He slid forward on his knees, caught my hands, held them against his chest. "I swear by all that I am, I think they will do it. When the prophecy is completed, the Firstborn will rule again, uniting four realms and two races, with nothing left over for us." He gripped my hands tightly. "I swear by my lir, Keely, this is not a trick. I mean what I say: the gods will take back the gifts and give them to the Firstborn."
a) Keely doesn't have stronger gifts than any woman of the clans since Alix. BRONWYN had the same gift. Gisella too, though admittedly, she probably isn't considered of the clans. But there's nothing to show that Keely's talents are any better. (And why would they be?) Hell, ISOLDE had the ability too. So Teirnan well ought to know that.
I suppose he COULD be just trying to manipulate her, but Keely ought to realize that.
b) This whole thing about comparing Keely to an "unblessed Homanan woman" ignores one very specific issue with this series.
Keely without her magic power would be the same as a CHEYSULI woman. Because Cheysuli women HAVE NO MAGIC. It's been repeated over and over again. Keely is special because of her "old blood". (Which came from Alix's white mom, remember!)
It's aggravating, because there was no reason for only men to have this power. Alix could still have been special by being able to talk to all lir/take the form of all lir. But this is what you went with, Roberson, so you can't go back on it now.
c) Also, I've pointed THIS out all along too. But from everything we've actually seen, Homanan women have more freedom than Cheysuli women. If Deirdre decided she didn't want to be with Niall anymore, she could just leave. Maeve needed to GO TO THE CLAN COUNCIL to get free of her ACTUALLY EXCOMMUNICATED...hell, he's not even her husband. She was meijha not Cheysula!
Sorry, again, I'm a broken record. But still.
Finally d) There's been nothing in the prophecy to indicate anyone would lose powers or lir. Why would they? Descent from the firstborn is what gave them their powers to begin with?
This was a weird idea when it was first floated by Taliesin in Track of the White Wolf and it's still a weird idea. And it's one that's going to pop up sporadically from now on. Of all the legitimate arguments about ancestry.
Oh also, e) It's worth noting that Maeve is a descendant of Alix too. But because she isn't the product of cousin fucking, she doesn't have enough Old Blood to have powers. But don't expect either Maeve's sister or abuser to think about her here.
--
So anyway, why does Teirnan think this?
"Think, Keely! Think back, remember, recall the focus of what we are taught: the Firstborn had all the gifts, men and women alike .. . but they grew too inbred, diluting the blood and the magic. And so the gods formed two races out of one, portioning out the gifts; some to the Cheysuli, some to the Ihlini." He paused, jaw set very tight. "In hopes that someday Cheysuli would breed with Ihlini and fix the gifts once more."
"Why would the gods want their children to fight?" I asked. "We are enemies, Teir—"
"Again, I ask you to think." His intensity died away, replaced with quiet appeal. "We are enemies now, aye, but was it always so? Were we born enemies, or did something happen to cause a rift, a schism—a bloodfeud that holds even now?" He raised a silencing hand. "Think of the Ihlini and what we have learned of them; what even the Mujhar claims: not all are engaged against us. Not all serve Asar-Suli, but the old Solindish gods not so different from our own." He smiled. "Perhaps the gods are one and the same, just as Ihlini and Cheysuli."
None of this makes any sense. Or rather, it does, but it doesn't make sense that Teirnan is the one to say this. Or with what came before.
See?
"—that it took an outside influence to plunge Ihlini and Cheysuli into interracial war. That perhaps a few ambitious Ihlini—possibly only one—decided the natural gifts were not enough. To rule he needed more, and turned to the Seker." Teirnan spread his hands. "Thus spawning a third race: Strahan and others like him, with power distinctly augmented by the god of the netherworld."
I licked dry lips. "Then, according to you, the prophecy is more than the unification of races and realms, but a joining of power as well."
Slowly Teirnan nodded. "And once that power is unified, dilution is undesirable. Why not take it all and put it into one vessel? It is concentrated, augmented —there is no need for dilution. Dilution is undesirable; so are those who dilute."
So let's parse through this argument, shall we?
a) The Cheysuli and Ihlini were originally one race. This is pretty much established truth at this point, and we've seen a lot of support for this in the series, even before the idea came up.
b) The Firstborn grew too inbred. There's no basis for this. And how does inbreeding DILUTE the blood anyway? It might cause a shit ton of mutations, sure.
And if this is the issue, why is the solution to inbreed more. It's worth noting, yet again, that Maeve whose mother has no relation to her father, has no powers. Keely, whose mother is the first cousin of her father, and thus also a descendant of Alix, has the double dose of old blood and does.
c) The gods split the gifts and race with the intention that they breed back together. What IS this nonsense? Why, if the gods could do that, wouldn't they just zap more powers into the existing line.
(The more logical assumption would be that the Firstborn married natives, and the gifts diminished that way, in different forms because of family lines and so on.)
d) That someone FORCED the Cheysuli and Ihlini to be enemies. THAT is actually an interesting thought. It seems like it's easily solved by the Ihlini serving Asar-Suti, the underworld god. The whole Solindish gods being the same is a non-revelation, we've KNOWN that the Ihlini and Cheysuli had the same pantheon ultimately for a while now.
(Also, we never did find out who the HOMANANS worship. DO they have the same pantheon as the Cheysuli???)
e) Tying into that, Strahan's Ihlini are not a separate race from the other Ihlini. No one on the Ihlini side has ever said that. It is however an interesting note that we've never met an Ihlini who didn't at some point worship Asar-Suti.
They do apparently exist, but the old woman from White Wolf, and Taliesin, are people who had once sworn to the Seker and gave it up.
f) How does this relate with Teirnan's freak out at the thought of interbreeding with Ihlini again???
g) He apparently thinks that once the power is unified, meaning a Firstborn is born, the Ihlini and Cheysuli would disappear. Genetics doesn't work that way. If a white Englishman and a Black woman have a mixed raced child, it doesn't make either parent less white or less black. Even if the kid somehow inherits both his father's gift for poetry and his mother's gift for music and becomes the greatest composer on the planet, it doesn't mean his parents suddenly become illiterate or tone deaf.
NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE.
Poor Keely gets my sympathy for trying to find some logic in this nonsense. She asks why, if the Firstborn became so inbred, would the gods want to create them again?
Teirnan claims it's because of the other blood thrown in - "foreign spices to make the stew taste better." Basically, he thinks the foreign blood will make the new Firstborn even stronger.
Which okay, then why all the cousin fucking again?
Anyway, this basically boils down to some nonsensical racial purity supremacy/replacement theory bullshit. Keely points out, rightly, that Teirnan sounds like Strahan.
And Teirnan has now become an Ihlini apologist, despite freaking out at the idea of anyone fucking one last book.
"—because he is not so wrong."
It was blasphemy. I shuddered once, shook my head vehemently. "He wants all of us dead!"
"He wants the prophecy broken." Teirnan sighed. "His methods are violent, aye, and deadly for those of our House, but I understand his reasons. How else do you break the prophecy than by destroying those it involves?"
"And if it is—"
"Then we will be free of destruction, Keely . . . free to be free again!"
...
My head hurts. Keely rightfully points out that Strahan wants to commit genocide, and has tried. Teirnan somehow thinks that if Strahan succeeds in committing genocide, they'll be free?
I'm going to try to give him some credit and assume he means if Strahan kills the royal family. But Teirnan IS a member of that family, remember? That's kind of his point. And he has the old blood through Isolde. His mother could shapeshift!
His kid with Maeve, it must be noted, ALSO has every blood except Ihlini. No one really thinks about that part. Because somehow the fact that Deirdre and Liam's mother was Atvian doesn't count in the calculation.
I mean, it does make sense if Teirnan's motivation is simply to clear the way for himself to take the throne and the rest of this is utter nonsense. But Keely really should see through this shit.
Anyway, Teirnan announces that he only intends to serve himself and have free will and not be bound by tahlmorra. And again, I sigh at what might have been. Because even if Teirnan was completely self-interested and this was all self-serving nonsense (which I believe it is), it could have been done better.
This is all repetitive with prior rants, but I like being repetitive. So here's how I would do it, I'll borrow my original Cheysuli Keighvin from my Shapechanger reviews. Except not him, he's dead now. His descendant. Let's give him an equally absurd name: Raiyan.
Raiyan is an a'saii. His grandparents were orphaned in the purge. He lost his parents in the plague. He's sick and tired of being told that it's all part of destiny.
And he can see it. The purge was necessary to put Carillon on the throne, and then for Carillon to make Donal his heir. Without it, there wouldn't have been nearly as much chaos during Shaine and Carillon's reigns. The plague was necessary to remove Donal from the throne. He was only 44, after all. He could well have ruled another two decades, and given the clusterfuck he'd managed to set up by Track of the White Wolf, he probably could have destroyed everything. Instead, the plague killed both lir, so Niall takes over. Niall is smarter, more likable, still Cheysuli, but looks like beloved ancestor Carillon. AND puts him in place to start arranging his kids for the next step in the prophecy.
Fine. He gets it. But now they have world peace. So why do we need the prophecy anymore? All it does now is make the Ihlini try to kill them. Pretty much every lead character of the series has been captured, tortured, and eventually murdered by Ihlini hands or machinations. Maybe they'd STOP if they quit now? And even if they don't...
How do we know that it's a good thing to bring back a race of demigods? Let's leave the bullshit about "losing your powers" aside. That doesn't make sense. But these demigods, with both Cheysuli and Ihlini powers, ARE going to be scary. Look at what the queen did, and she wasn't even born Ihlini! Gisella mind controlled the King for a long time just learning Ihlini tricks! Rhiannon has both Ihlini and Cheysuli blood and she raped and kidnapped the prince under the nose of every Cheysuli in the realm.
What if the demigods are like the Ihlini? The Ihlini are their descendants after all. Maybe the Cheysuli are the weird ones for being half-decent?
Let's just stop! We have world peace! Let's leave it at that. Marry the royal kids off to Caledon, Ellas, and the Steppes - none of whom are mentioned in the prophecy. Or, you know, to Cheysuli people, because that hasn't been a thing and apparently isn't involved in the prophecy at all.
There you go. Perfectly reasonable motives for someone to join the a'saii. No nonsense or leaps of logic required.
I think Roberson doesn't go with this because it's kind of hard to argue with Raiyan's logic, right?
Okay, anyway, back to Teirnan who is dramatically talking about how hard it was to make this decision and become excommunicated. And He might actually have a point there:
"No, nor was I." For a moment pain undermined his conviction, muting the fire in him. "It was not— easy. In no way. What we are, each of us—what we become—is shaped from birth to fit prescribed behavior patterns, all bound up in honor codes and rituals, in the name of Cheysuli gods. It becomes a sacred duty, cloaked in the mystery of faith—but as a way of enforcement, a means of manipulation ... because if we were given absolute freedom of choice, would we choose to complete the prophecy? Or turn our backs on it, leaving the gods without the Firstborn?" He was solemn now, clearly cognizant of what he said, and of what he advocated. "Even the afterworld—is there really an afterworld?—is something we arc promised since birth." Teirnan shook his head, "lint how do we know, Keely? How can we be certain? All we know is what we are told, being taught by other Cheysuli who were taught identical things. Is there room for honesty? Or only for superstition?"
There's a good point buried in here. But he ruins it by asking Keely what she'd do if Strahan came and demanded her lir gifts, if she'd give them up without a fight.
And again, that's NOT WHAT'S HAPPENING.
It's also pretty stupid because the actual culmination of the prophecy happens at the end of book 8. Two more generations down the line. Some of these characters will still be alive by that point, but they're not going to be young. Teirnan acts like this will happen tomorrow.
...I suppose, it could just be that unlike any other character in the series, Teirnan can actually add fractions. But then he'd know it's too late anyway. Hmph.
And Keely, being an idiot, actually starts buying this:
I looked beyond him, to the others. I looked at warriors and lir, gathered in the shadows, and wondered how anyone could have foreseen this. It was not in the prophecy. So many things are, though many only fragments like overheard conversations distorted by distance and interruption. And so many things are not, almost as if the gods—or the Firstborn, who wrote the prophecy—had wanted no one to know the full truth. Because, if Teir was right, to know it gave us the freedom to deny it; now, we only served, with unthinking obedience.
AGH.
It's NOT A PART OF THE PROPHECY. And you guys KNOW THE FUCKING PROPHECY. I suppose I shouldn't even be mean to Keely, because Roberson seems to think this is a logical leap to make.
But yeah, anyway, Teirnan doubles down on the idea of the gods stripping them of their gifts to give them to someone else. Which still doesn't make sense, and if Keely had a brain in her head, she'd point out that Alix's old blood gifts didn't come about at the cost of anyone else's. But nope.
Anyway, she decides that Teirnan is tragic and heroic:
I raised my head and looked into the face of certitude, the eyes of a Cheysuli. And knew, looking at him, he had not forfeited his honor. He was as dedicated to the preservation of his race as anyone else I knew.
But Teirnan risked more; in that, he was alone.
...now I've read this book, so I know that this book is NOT building a Keely/Teirnan romance. But I kind of wish it did, because that would actually be really interesting. As long as Roberson stopped sharing his philosophies.
Anyway, she asks what he wants, and Teirnan's demand both makes a lot of sense and no sense:
Teirnan's tone was gentle. "Refuse the Erinnish prince. Bear him no children, Keely. It will be more than enough."
So yeah. That's fucking stupid. As far as Teirnan knows, that wouldn't do a damn thing. Keely is one of four siblings, all with the same blood. She's engaged to Sean, who is the full sibling of Aileen, who married Brennan.
Keely+Sean has the exact same fractional ancestral makeup as Brennan+Aileen. It'd make no difference.
Now, it does matter from Keely's side, because she knows and we know that Brennan and Aileen's son is sickly, and Aileen can't have more children. But Teirnan doesn't know that. Or at least he shouldn't!
And if he does...then Keely ought to be asking how the hell he knows that!
And maybe she will. Next chapter.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-15 12:08 pm (UTC)You know, we're ten chapters in to the book about our action-girl feminist lead. Is it wrong to wish for a little more action?
Yeah, I'd love to see some more action, too!
And well-done on the motive for the a'saii! Why would they need to fulfill the Prophecy, after all? Given how stable everything is now, I can see why some would be hesitant to go on with it...
(Also, what were Keely's powers again? I think I forgot.)
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Date: 2024-07-15 01:06 pm (UTC)So the standard Cheysuli powers come from a lir bond. As boys, Cheysuli men bond with a magic animal called a lir. They get the ability to telepathically communicate with said lir and can shapeshift into a similar form. They can also use "Earth Magic" - a special kind of healing trance that works better with more Cheysuli acting in concert. (Lir are usually predator types: wolves, big cats, bears, falcons, hawks.)
Regular Cheysuli women have no powers, which always struck me as bullshit. If Roberson wanted to go with gender essentialism, she could have had the women bond with non-predators. But nope, no magic at all. EXCEPT Alix and her female descendants (until Maeve, and to be fair, I don't think Keely's daughter can shapeshift either, but I'm not 100% sure about that). Alix and Keely (and Bronwyn, Ginevra and Isolde) can telepathically speak with any lir and shapeshift into any animal form.
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Date: 2024-07-15 03:47 pm (UTC)Oh, now I understand what the "earth magic" is about, at least!
Yeah, I'd have expected Keely to have shifted at least once by now.
and shapeshift into any animal form.
It might have come up, but hearing that, I'd love it if one of them shifted into an obscure form as a plot point.
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Date: 2024-07-15 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-15 05:56 pm (UTC)Thanks for correcting me!
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Date: 2024-07-15 06:02 pm (UTC)Also, it is a little bizarre. This is our action girl feminist who's been chomping at the bit to use her sword, whose powers apparently make her the equivalent of any man - or are supposed to anyway.
And in ten chapters, she's used a sword once (in practice), been ambushed by an enemy relative twice, been captured by the Erinnish mercenaries twice, and has taken lir form all of once.
Instead, we've had like seven chapters of bitching about her siblings and three of meet-cute with a bandit. I feel like I've been baited and switched. But there's still a lot of story left.
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Date: 2024-07-15 06:51 pm (UTC)Yes, I get it! I was already thinking that I just missed something about the book.
You said something about Strahan appearing in this book, so I hold out hope that we will get what we were promised!
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Date: 2024-07-15 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-15 06:12 am (UTC)This was a weird idea when it was first floated by Taliesin in Track of the White Wolf and it's still a weird idea. And it's one that's going to pop up sporadically from now on. Of all the legitimate arguments about ancestry.
The series really needs a scene, or even a full chapter, where multiple characters who are knowledgeable about the prophecy discuss all the implications. Realistically, if it's been around that long, the language should have shifted since it was given, and probably should have been given in a different language. Maybe there's something in the word choice that implies the Cheysuli and Ihlini will be no more once the Firstborn return. Maybe other legends of the Firstborn paint a less-than-rosy picture, even if the prophecy itself does not. In the real world, there are huge debates about the intended meaning of pretty much every passage of the Hebrew Bible; something similar should be going on for the Cheysuli.
Now, it does matter from Keely's side, because she knows and we know that Brennan and Aileen's son is sickly, and Aileen can't have more children. But Teirnan doesn't know that. Or at least he shouldn't!
Even if Aidan dies, Aileen is now barren, and Keely doesn't have kids, there's still Hart and Corin. Hart doesn't seem likely to add new blood to the line, but his kids still could, and Corin could marry a woman with Erinnish heritage. Possibly even an Ihlini, since they've had influence in Atvia for a while. Fulfillment of the prophecy might be set back a generation, but it's far from dead.
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Date: 2024-09-15 06:39 am (UTC)...fortunately, Teirnan does not seem to be aware of that, or he'd probably treat his ex-girlfriend better.
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Date: 2024-09-15 11:15 pm (UTC)I actually had that thought! But forgot about it by the time I got to my computer (I don't like writing comments on my tablet.) Imagine if Maeve found a nice Ihlini man, preferably not related to Tynstar and his rapist family, and gave birth to the new Firstborn while everyone was ignoring her. For bonus irony points, the new Firstborn would be her second-born.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-16 01:39 am (UTC)That would be a great twist ending to the series. :-D