something else that's just occurred to me in talking about sources of sorcery in this world - brennan did mention way back when that aniko seremai was a sorcerer, and that his house, while being vassals to tachonis, did have a sorcerous origin of their own (something snake related, which is why it's the symbol of their house)
but his abilities, the spellcasting, the poison attacks, i don't think we ever saw from gaya (not before she died, anyway)
she fights purely with a sword and shield and was exiled to castle torch by her family for unknown reasons, but stayed there out of wanting to do right by her family's wishes and keep her honor, until she died and realised she'd wasted her entire life for them
i wonder if she and occtis have more in common than they ever realised
rewatching: interlude on choice (with 4x031 spoilers)
Julien cares a lot about choices and consequences. He verbally speaks of them as inherently entwined in a way that it doesn't feel like other characters do. Or maybe as more... immutable than other characters do. There's often a sense that a die, once cast, cannot be changed.
4x001, when Aranessa says that love doesn't go away even if someone turns their back and walks away, Julien responds, "Be that has it may, he made his choice. And he chose his pride over your love. And he's paid for it now twice over. And we are here and we can mourn as you feel is necessary, but we also live because we have been smart and we will continue to live. I've got you. I will also protect you from your own unnecessary emotional pain. If need be."
She responds, "People can really hurt themselves, Julien, trying to protect themselves from pain. Mine is mine to feel, my friend."
Aranessa is extremely gentle with Julien, the vast majority of the time. I do feel like it's pretty clear that the subtext of what she's saying here is that Julien is hurting himself by trying to protect himself from emotional pain. She can see the same self-destructive behavior from Julien that his dad sees, but her reaction is so incredibly different.
When speaking with his father, Julien talks again about Thjazi's choices:
Raimond: "It was a tragedy and a heartbreak that he ended up on the other side of the Falconer's Rebellion."
Julien: "Every man makes their choices. I'm sorry that I was the consequence of his."
Julien also makes it clear in this conversation that a large part of why he hates Thjazi is the effect that Thjazi had on the people that he loves: "To have you turn away and throw our entire house's name and-- For friendship with that man. The glory was mine, yes, but you? You sullied everything. So I don't forgive him for what he did to you. As much as I don't forgive him for what he did to Aranessa."
This is something that we can reflect on again in terms of what Julien says in 4x031 about Thjazi: "You all have been tricked by a person with endless charisma and cult-like personality."
He thinks that Aranessa and Raimond fell victim to a cult-leader, essentially. He feels like Aranessa and Raimond were tricked by Thjazi into making bad choices.
The fight in 4x014 brings us back to that idea of choice leading to unavoidable consequences:
Matt: "Asked to stand down, do the men with the spears who've been attacking Thaisha look like they took the command?"
Brennan: "Only the ballista have. These other guards down here have not been interrupted."
Matt: "Well then, they made their choice."
He attacks them and gives no quarter. They made their choice, they chose their side, and there is nothing else to say.
In episode 4x016, Julien holds an impromptu interrogation of the party to try to get their motives on the table, and he explains why: "I'm an instrument of war. I've been raised to be and honed to be. My effectiveness is only based on the information I have. That's how I make tactical choices. I ask these questions so that I have information. Not to judge you, but just to ensure that I can keep myself safe and those I trust around me."
Making (smart) tactical choices is how Julien keeps himself safe.
Then we get three fun examples in rapid succession in 4x031:
About Teor going to the wrong location: "That was his choice."
About Thimble going back in to try to save Teor: "That's her choice."
But then when he's trying to defend Occtis against people saying that he left Thimble behind, Julien says, "We had no other choice" (other than to flee). Because to Julien, that is the only choice that should exist at that point. Staying would mean choosing death.
Looking at Julien's behavior in 4x031, and then looking at what he says to Aranessa in 4x001, he is very much approaching Occtis the same way:
And we are here and we can mourn as you feel is necessary, but we also live because we have been smart and we will continue to live.
This is exactly what he was urging Occtis to do the entire episode. He urged Occtis to do the smart thing ("You have a big brain, supposedly still") and to choose to live rather than risk his life trying to save someone that Julien had determined had already made the choice to throw her life away. That was her choice, Julien says, and also, he makes clear, we need to make a different one. And he is so relieved when Occtis is finally willing to make the 'smart' choice to leave Thimble behind because it's too dangerous to stay.
But Julien, himself, is not willing to leave Occtis behind. He is not making the smart choice that he is stridently arguing that Occtis needs to make. Instead, he chooses to follow Occtis even back into the manor itself, in the hopes that he can convince Occtis not to throw his life away.
So, yeah, interested to see how this thread develops.
Admittedly I haven't actually read it but I fucking love veths design in her origins comic I get why people didn't like the stylization but I think it's a very fitting choice and she's so cute I love her messy hair and her cute little bangs and her big ol eyes and her round nose 💗💗💗
“I'm not saying that's all there is. But it's unavoidable, to a certain extent. You don't have to be a bad person to do bad things if it's hurting other bad people.”-Dariax
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