another line from ep 31 i kinda missed the first time in all that was happening is liam describing how hal didn't intend this play to be about his brother, but in watching the second act of kother'ai, when it turns to tragedy, seeing this revolutionary hero be turned on by his own people and murdered for it, he can't help but feel that loss in a whole new way
speaking from experience as someone who did a degree in playwriting and have seen several of mine be put on, you can't not put a piece of yourself into the plays you write. even if you think you're just adapting an existing story, something of your life will sneak up on you
and sure, this script was already finished by the time thjazi was arrested and sentenced to execution, but hal's known that was on the table for decades. he did his best to protect his little brother when they were teenage soldiers, saw that little brother survive and secure his own happy ending, only to throw it away less than two years later because someone had to stand up for justice (even as hal begged him not to)
it's been 18 years since that night thjazi rode off, and as hal's spent that time raising children and forging this bastion of safety for his reckless family and fighting to have the kind of influence in his career where he can put this play on, in this place, he's watched thjazi fight for justice, and become a folk hero, and have his rebellion fail, and become a criminal, as hated as he is loved. hal didn't anticipate just how much the two events would coincide, but he wrote a play about the tragic hero who led the way for rungjani freedom even as he died for it, knowing there was going to be a point where the people in power tried to kill his brother for standing up to them
but look at how much has changed in just two weeks. with everything he stands to lose, would hal have had the courage, before thjazi died, to stand up to halovar like that? could this ritual that saved so many souls have happened, had thjazi's death not brought all the necessary people together? we've talked a lot about thjazi's intentions for the play, but what about the play's intentions for thjazi? written, even unintentionally, by someone who knows what it feels like to love a man like vokjan murzat, who can make a statement directly to the people that caused his brother's death and say thjazi was right. you killed him, but remember what happened to the people that killed vokjan. they can stay stuck forever in their shame that they chose power over freedom, and they were deposed, their god destroyed
the one change to this play that hal makes in the moment, after his realisation - casting an illusory falcon over vokjan's body at the end. one rebellion failed so another could succeed. thjazi's life mattered, and when this reckoning comes for those who try and hold themselves as new gods, it will be because he paved the way
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