In this essay...
...I will break down the beautiful irony of the final fight in RotG
(WARNING: Spoilers for some of the plot, lore and ending of The Return of the Gods, book 1 of the Children of the Sun series, below the cut)
The final fight at the climax of book 1 happens on top of an old cathedral in Enbrant.
Cathedrals are, by definition, the churches which house the chair/throne of a bishop. In other words, they represent the head of a religious unit.
And who was Kaleth intending to assasinate from the roof of one?
Relioth Morthan. The president of Enoria. The head of state.
But of course, we know Relioth is much more than just an ordinary politician. He is also Tharos, the God of War. The Conqueror of the North.
He was worshipped by humans, once upon a time, at cathedrals and churches most likely similar to the one seen at the end of book 1.
But not anymore, of course. He made humanity forget. Religion has died out in Enoria.
Only the old skeletal remains of the time humans knew of their Gods are left.
An old cathedral. A monument to a moment in history that's been forgotten for centuries. Just like Relioth's true identity, and all the devotion that comes with it.
And Kaleth on top of it, preparing to kill the very same God the church would've worshipped.
In much the same way as all of the blind faith, loyalty and worship the humans expressed to the Eternal Gods has died out, so has, in that moment, all of the blind faith, loyalty and kinship Kaleth felt for Relioth Morthan died out.
And in both cases, it is by Relioth's own hand. The maker of his own demise. Like he always does, he self sabotages. He destroys, himself and everyone and everything around him. It's tragic, really, how he kills the affection felt for him by anyone, and it in turn kills him right back.
Now there's only the ruined remains of something that had been good, once. And there's anger, and betrayal, and Kaleth pulls the trigger.
It doesn't kill Relioth, of course. But it sets in motion the chain of events that would eventually bring about his downfall in book 2.
The beautiful irony remains though, that he doesn't fall at the hands of things that hate him. He falls at the hands of things that loved him.
He falls precisely because he was loved. Devoted to. So loyal to it could end no other way except catastrophe once his machinations were revealed. The truth of them would hit so hard everything would implode.
And it does, as we see in the book.
Kaleth trusted him fully. There was no doubt in his mind Relioth was his friend. He stood up for him constantly against Rayni, and everyone else who would tell him not to trust Reli. In an odd way, without even knowing it, he worshipped too.
Unfortunately he worshipped at Relioth's little altar of lies, but I digress.
It's just so haunting to watch the man who once felt such devotion to him crumble apart at all of his lies and attempt to assasinate him from the roof of the very same church built to worship him, crumbled apart yet again at all of his lies and forgotten to time as he himself caused it to be, isn't it?
Love kills. Lies kill.
And we know this isn't the only moment in this series where that message is reinforced.
But that's a post for another time.
