I just finished the trilogy. I loved it so much that I sped through it, and now I think I missed some things. 1) When did Simon Snow find a key at a hidden waterfall? I considered it almost like a fanfic prompt and was going to write a fic for it, but then I worried that it was already covered in canon and I simply overlooked it. 2) Why is Baz able to lift the sword? He says he wondered if he’d be able to but he could. What did I miss? Can you help? Thanks for your time! 🤞🤞🤞
thanks for the ask anon! I’m so glad you loved it!!! Yes, I had to remind myself to slow down when I was reading AWTWB. I read Carry On like I would read any book, because I didn't know what to expect but I read Wayward Son too quickly, I think, and missed some important parts the first time around. I read it for a second time the day after my first read and went through it more slowly and that made it even better.
as far as your specific questions:
1) In AWTWB Simon does tell us that he once found a key in a hidden waterfall but I don't recall it being something he mentions in either of the previous two books. Agatha mentions a key in chapter 68 of Carry On but it's not specified and she's not even sure it's a key that was stolen and if Simon even found it:
"Except for once, four years ago, when we snuck out on Christmas Eve to track werewolves through Soho. They'd stolen some key–or maybe a gem, I can't bloody remember." Agatha, ch 68, Carry On. (she actually does remember a page or two later and it's the moonstone, not a key.)
I think this key and waterfall mention is one of those references that Simon makes, that hint to the backstories of all the missions he undertook for the Mage in the years prior. Like when he mentions orc-upines, aspssasins, diphthongs and gryphons in Wayward Son–tantalizing hints at his past, adventures and battles he took almost for granted, but we get no distinct details of those encounters.
So if you are inspired to write a fic backstory for this mention, go for it!
2) Baz lifting the sword is something a few people have asked about. @theflyingpeach wrote a wonderful post on the topic and it's mentioned at the end of this post also, but I'll talk about it briefly again! The Salisbury sword is an Excalibur–not the Excalibur, but an Excalibur, so it has the property of being able to be placed in anything (a table, a stone, a wall) by its rightful owner but once it's planted in something it can't be budged by anyone but the rightful owner. That's why Lady Ruth can't pull it out of the table–she's not a Salisbury by blood–but Simon can, because he is and this proves it. Baz wouldn't have been able to pull it out of the table. It's not that someone can't hold it or even lift it, it's that they can't draw it once it's been planted. In the scene you reference, Simon has simply placed the sword on the bed. He's not planted it anywhere, not shoved the blade into something. Baz lifts it and moves it aside because it's simply resting there, not intentionally planted there.
(And I think it's also a lovely metaphor for how they can carry this new burden/weight/knowledge together. That Simon isn't alone.) (seriously read peach's post–it says it all)
