From the Bantam Spectra trade paperback: A whisperjewel summoned him to Worlorn, and a love he thought he'd lost. But Worlorn isn't the world Dirk t'Larien imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight, forever falling toward night. Amid this bleak landscape is a violent clash of cultures in which there is no code of honor - and the hunter and the hunted are often interchangeable. Caught up in a dangerous triangle, Gwen is in need of Dirk's protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her - and his cunning cohort. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and it's becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. While each will fight to stay alive, one is waiting for escape, one for revenge, and another for a brutal, untimely demise.
From the back of the Timescape paperback: An interplanetary fantasy of love and war Responding to the call of his lover of years before, Dirk t'Larien traveled long months to Worlorn, a dark, dying world inhabited only by the lost stragglers of a thriving world of the past. But he arrived to find Gwen bound to an exiled warrior - banished to Worlorn for the violence of his acts. Now the greatest of all dangers was upon Dirk - for in breaking Gwen's bond, he was now brutally hunted for sport by vicious aliens...a living target trapped in the...Dying of the Light
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
Never got that far. I was getting too far ahead and forgetting everything by the time the video came out. LOL. FYI. There was a copy of this book in one of those Google drive links in the original PJ 1000 Worlds thread.
Why must I always be the isle of crazy alone in an ocean of sensibility? The should to everybody else’s shouldn’t? The I-will to their better-nots?
Yes! But it was over a year ago and I kind of feel like I need a reread before I can intelligently discuss it. I do remember the Littlefinger character (A Kimdissi, IIRC?) who tricks everyone into killing each other b/c he hopes to end up with the woman (Jenny?) in the end.
I remember being amazed, once again, at how GRRM can set you up to think you're rooting for Team A and that Team B is awful only to reveal some additional facts and suddenly you're on Team B. It's really quite impressive, and it gives me hope that he will use this skill to make us realize the Others were the protagonists all along.
I loved the backdrop of the dying planet, of the magnificent cities that are empty and will never be used again, the melancholy feel but still the fight to survive, both for the humans and the animals we meet. IMO this is one of GRRM's best stories; he really fleshes out the world, and the characters, and finishes with a successful attempt at a bittersweet ending. I will try to reread in the coming days so we can really dive into it here!
(Also, have you done And Seven Times Never Kill Man yet? I loved that one too, especially the perfectly executed twist in the end. It opens up some interesting possibilities regarding the COTF that I would love to discuss with the crowd here! )
“In Qohor he is the Black Goat, in Yi Ti the Lion of Night, in Westeros the Stranger. All men must bow to him in the end, no matter if they worship the Seven or the Lord of Light, the Moon Mother or the Drowned God or the Great Shepherd. All mankind belongs to him... else somewhere in the world would be a folk who lived forever. Do you know of any folk who live forever?”
Awesome! I really loved this novel as well. It's so rich in terms of emotions and duty. And the environment is simply amazing. Tons of relevant stuff for asoiaf (the seeds of the khal-bloodrider, knight-squire, relationship/kinship bond are very interesting to me). Will respond in full when I'm back on the computer.
Yes! But it was over a year ago and I kind of feel like I need a reread before I can intelligently discuss it. I do remember the Littlefinger character (A Kimdissi, IIRC?) who tricks everyone into killing each other b/c he hopes to end up with the woman (Jenny?) in the end.
I need a reread as well. I'm fuzzy on the details, but I think you have the names right. And yes! Total LF-character! I never made that connection!
I remember being amazed, once again, at how GRRM can set you up to think you're rooting for Team A and that Team B is awful only to reveal some additional facts and suddenly you're on Team B. It's really quite impressive, and it gives me hope that he will use this skill to make us realize the Others were the protagonists all along.
LOL yes, and gives me hope that Brandon the Builder will end up not being merely a Hero.
I loved the backdrop of the dying planet, of the magnificent cities that are empty and will never be used again, the melancholy feel but still the fight to survive, both for the humans and the animals we meet. IMO this is one of GRRM's best stories; he really fleshes out the world, and the characters, and finishes with a successful attempt at a bittersweet ending. I will try to reread in the coming days so we can really dive into it here!
For reals. The planet is simply amazing. The ring of fire, the empty cities, the people that decided to remain.... all fascinating.
Doom looms nigh, yet rather than deal with that cosmic doom, the story instead veers into deep introspection. GRRM gets insanely heavy on the effects of relationships on others... the intersecting of strands upon strands, the web of hearts in conflict with each other.
Even with being a huge GRRM fan, and coming to expect amazing writing from him, I found Dying of the Light surprisingly deep and immersive.
P.S. I'll get to your post in And Seven Times Never Kill Man! a bit later. I'm in desperate need of a reread, even though I've read it (and listened to Roy Dotrice's reading) several times. I don't remember the ending at all! LOL and I'm afraid to read your post in that thread until I do, because I don't want to be spoiled... even though I should remember it anyway.
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
LOL yes, and gives me hope that Brandon the Builder will end up not being merely a Hero.
Me too! Along with any other sympathetic characters, i.e. Starks. I am even starting to question the weirnet (though I wrote quite a bit on that in the thread for Seven Times never kill Man, so I won't get into it here).
For reals. The planet is simply amazing. The ring of fire, the empty cities, the people that decided to remain.... all fascinating.
Doom looms nigh, yet rather than deal with that cosmic doom, the story instead veers into deep introspection. GRRM gets insanely heavy on the effects of relationships on others... the intersecting of strands upon strands, the web of hearts in conflict with each other.
Even with being a huge GRRM fan, and coming to expect amazing writing from him, I found Dying of the Light surprisingly deep and immersive.
To be honest, I didn't love all of the 1000 Worlds stories- some were definitely better than others, and for some (i.e. The Hero) I felt like I could see the end coming (probably due to having dissected GRRM's other works in great detail, lol). But this one, along with And Seven Times Never Kill Man, were my favorites by far. Dying of the Light for its world, emotions and characters (which is impressive in itself, given that I read all 1000 Worlds stories primarily to look for Ice&Fire parallels, and this one doesn't have that many), and ASTNKM for its very strong Ice&Fire/COTF parallels.
Still working on my reread, but hopefully I"ll be able to dive in sometime soon...
P.S. I'll get to your post in And Seven Times Never Kill Man! a bit later. I'm in desperate need of a reread, even though I've read it (and listened to Roy Dotrice's reading) several times. I don't remember the ending at all! LOL and I'm afraid to read your post in that thread until I do, because I don't want to be spoiled... even though I should remember it anyway.
Haha, take your time. Definitely reread before reading my post, otherwise it will spoil everything- especially that ending, which is the crowning glory of the story.
Oh and sorry for neglecting our Westworld conversation; I will get back to it eventually, I'm sure, but I've come across some other threads that are too cool not to post in (like this one!), so I got distracted.
“In Qohor he is the Black Goat, in Yi Ti the Lion of Night, in Westeros the Stranger. All men must bow to him in the end, no matter if they worship the Seven or the Lord of Light, the Moon Mother or the Drowned God or the Great Shepherd. All mankind belongs to him... else somewhere in the world would be a folk who lived forever. Do you know of any folk who live forever?”
First, a brief review of the main characters: Arkin Ruark is the LF character; he is from Kimdiss, and the Kimdissi are known as "pacifists" who get their enemies to fight each other through trickery. In general, they are not to be trusted. He is short, chubby, with very light-blond hair. He works with Gwen; they are both ecologists. [I get a tiny bit of a Howland Reed vibe from him as well, probably b/c he is short and his people are known for treachery. And he has a crush on the female lead. Which makes me wonder- have we considered the possibility that Howland wanted Lyanna for himself? Could he have been involved in spreading misinformation about her abduction, leading to a confrontation between the two other men who desired her?)
Gwen Delvano, aka Jenny, dumped Dirk T'Larien seven years earlier after a long, serious relationship. She is an ecologist who got her degree on Avalon, then spent most of the seven years on High Kavalaan before being assigned to Worlorn, the rogue planet. She is described as having black, straight hair and green eyes. At the start of the story, she is betheyn (heldwife) to Jaan Vikary from High Kavalaan.
Dirk was living alone on the planet Braque when he received Gwenn's whisper jewel, summoning him to her. He was living an empty life in a depressing location near a canal. He has brown/gray and curly hair that he wears long, and is so thin he is "almost gaunt". It is never revealed what exactly he does for a living.
Jaantony Riv Wolf High-Ironjade Vikary, aka Jaan Vikary, is Gwen's "husband". Garse Janacek is his teyn, and Gwen his betheyn. Jaan and Garse are both from the Ironjade clan on High Kavalaan, the most progressive of the holdfasts. Jaan is tall, lean and well-muscled, with high cheekbones and a square jaw. He has long black hair like Gwen. He is a historian, whose goal is to figure out the facts behind Kavalar myths and legends. His thesis revealed a lot of unpleasant truths about the origins of the Kavalar culture, in which women are locked in caves and shared among the men of the holdfast. Garse is also tall but more slender than Jaan, and several years younger. He has intense blue eyes and a red beard. He and Gwen have a rather hostile relationship.
Ok, with that established, let's dive in. I basically copied over passages I found interesting while doing my reread, and will share them here for general discussion. Keep in mind this is more of a book review highlighting things I liked, not a promotion of any specific theory (though you'll see that one parallel in particular stood out to me).
We begin with Dirk's first breakfast on Worlorn, in the Kavalar city of Larteyn. Present are Dirk, Gwen, Jaan and Garse, and the discussion is on whether Prometheans are true humans.
"Of course," Dirk said. "They are. Settled by the Earth Imperials way back during the war. The modern Prometheans are only the descendants of the old Ecological Warfare Corps."
"In truth," Janacek said, "yet I would disagree with your conclusion. They have manipulated their own genes to such a degree that they have lost the right to call themselves men at all, in my opinion. Dragonfly men, undersea men, men who breathe poison, men who see in the dark like Hruun, men with four arms, hermaphrodites, soldiers without stomachs, breeding sows without sentience-these creatures are not men. Or not-men, more precisely."
"No," Dirk said. "I've heard the term not-man. It's common parlance on a lot of worlds, but it means human stock that's been mutated so it can no longer interbreed with the basic. The Prometheans have been careful to avoid that. The leaders-they're fairly normal themselves, you know, only minor alterations for longevity and such-well, the leaders regularly swoop down on Rhiannon and Thisrock, raiding, you know. For ordinary Earth-normal humans-"
Here we have a description of men who have been genetically modified to be more suitable for certain tasks or for certain environments- sometimes at the cost of no longer being able to mate with normal humans. This certainly reminds me of Ice&Fire characters with unusual skills, such as the crannogmen breathing mud and the Targaryens having trouble breeding in general. That being said, I hesitate to say this is evidence for a sci fi origin of the different races on Planetos. I doubt we will ever learn their origins, but this shows that GRRM has certainly toyed with the idea of borderline-humans before.
Gwen grinned at him. "Garse is annoyed because it looks as though the black banshee is heading toward extinction," she told Dirk. "It's a shame, really. On High Kavalaan itself they've been hunted to the point where the species is clearly endangered, and it had been hoped that the specimens turned loose here twenty years ago would establish themselves and multiply, so they could be recaptured and taken back to High Kavalaan before the cold came. It hasn't worked out that way. The banshee is a fearful predator, but at home it can't compete with man, and on Worlorn it has had its niche appropriated by an infestation of tree-spooks from Kimdiss."
"Most Kavalars think of the banshee only as a plague and a menace," Jaan Vikary explained. "In its natural habitat it is a frequent man-killer, and the hunters of Braith and Redsteel and the Shanagate Holding think of banshee as the ultimate game, with a single exception. Ironjade has always been different. There is an ancient myth, of the time Kay Iron-Smith and his teyn Roland Wolf-Jade were fighting alone against an army of demons in the Lameraan Hills. Kay had fallen, and Roland, standing over him, was weakening by the moment, when from over the hills the banshees came, many of them flying together, black and thick enough to block out the sun. They fell hungrily onto the demon army and consumed them, one and all, leaving Kay and Roland alive. Later, when that teyn-and-teyn found their cave of women and established the first Ironjade holdfast, the banshee became their brother-beast and sigil. No Ironjade has ever killed a banshee, and legend says that whenever a man of Ironjade is in danger of his life, a banshee will appear to guide and protect him."
It very much appears that the banshee is the Kavalar counterpart to the direwolf in Westeros, no? In which case the Ironjades would parallel the Starks, which partly fits, but only partly. There is the obsession with honor, the inability to see through the tricks of outworlders, and the spirit animal. It's not nearly as good of a fit though as the direwolf is for the banshee.
"Jaan's chosen name, Vikary, is a bit unusual in several respects. It sounds like an Old Earth hand-me-down, but it isn't. From all accounts Jaan was an odd child-dreamy, very moody, much too introspective. He liked to listen to the eyn-kethi sing and tell stories when he was very little, which is bad for a Kavalar boy. The eyn-kethi are the breeding women, the perpetual mothers of the holdfast, and a normal child is not supposed to associate with them any more than he has to. When Jaan was older he spent all his time alone, exploring caves and abandoned mines in the mountains. Safely away from his holdfast-brothers. I don't blame him. He was always an object of torment, essentially friendless, until he met Garse. Who is notably younger, but still wound up as Jaan's protector through the later stages of his childhood. Eventually that all changed. When Jaan approached the age when he would be subject to the code duello, he turned his attention to weaponry and mastered it very quickly. He is really a fantastic study; today he is terribly fast and considered deadly, better even than Garse, whose skill is mainly instinctual.
Rhaegar, anyone?
Gwen nodded. "The spooks are a pest on Kimdiss, but here they've really found their element. They blend perfectly with the chokers, and they can move through the tangles faster than anything I've ever seen. We studied them pretty thoroughly. They're cleaning out the forests. In time, they would kill off all the game and starve themselves to death, but they won't have time. The shield will fail before that, and the cold will come."
I put this here because these guys will become important later. Note that they are rodent-like predators who hunt in packs and can take down prey much larger than themselves. They are not usually considered a threat to an adult human.
This is from a conversation between Dirk and Arkin Ruark, the Kimdissi, who is telling him why he disapproves of Gwen's bond with Jaan Vikary:
Dirk hesitated. "He doesn't love her, then?" "As you love your property, so a highbond and his betheyn. It is a tight bond, jade-and-silver, never to be broken, but it is a bond of obligation and possession. No love. That is elsewhere, if the Kavalars have it at all, to be found in chosen-brother, the shield and soulmate and lover and warrior twin, the ever-loyal bringer-of-pleasure and taker-of-blows and lifter-of-pain, the lifetime strongbond."
"Teyn," Dirk said, a little numbly, his mind racing ahead.
Here we are introduced to the idea of two men sharing a very close bond, much closer than that of a man and a woman. It is still possible to also have a woman, a betheyn, but if so she is shared between the teyns. Over and over, using many examples of such "couples", GRRM emphasizes the strong man-to-man bond. Takeaway point: GRRM values "bromance" type relationships, and in this case raises them to the level of a true love. Make of that what you will. (cough, Rhaegar & Arthur, cough)
Here Dirk has just drunk some wine that Ruark gave him:
He raised a hand to his forehead. Beneath the dangling locks of gray-brown hair his brow was beaded with sweat. Ruark stood suddenly, alarm across his face. "Oh," the Kimdissi said, "the wine has made you sick! Utter fool I am! My fault. Outworld wine and Avalon stomach, yes. Food will help, you know. Food." He scurried off, brushing the potted plant as he went so the black spears bobbed and danced behind him.
Dirk sat very still. Far off in the distance he heard a clatter of plates and pots but paid it no mind. Still sweating, bis forehead was furrowed in thought, thought that was strangely difficult. Logic seemed to elude him, and the clearest things faded even as he grabbed hold of them. He trembled while dead dreams woke to new life, while the choker-woods withered in his mind and the Wheel burned hot and fiery above the new-flowering noonday woods of Worlorn. He could make it happen, force it, wake it, put an end to the long sunset, and have Jenny, his Guinevere, forever by his side. Yes. Yes!
This drink can put some pretty crazy ideas in a man's head! Dirk is feeling extremely overconfident, thinking he can force life back into the dying planet. Remember, the planet is drifting away from its suns - there is NO WAY it can be saved, unless one could alter its path. I had put this here b/c I will come back to it later.
"High Kavalaan has been a violent world," he said. "It is the oldest outworld except for the Forgotten Colony, and all its long histories are histories of struggle. Sadly, those histories are also largely fabrication and legend, full of ethnocentric lies. Yet these tales were believed right up until the time that the starships came again, following the interregnum.
Histories that can't be trusted... where have we seen this before?
"Those legends are quite extensive, and many are enlightening. There is the tale of the disobedient kethi, as an instance. The first Ironjade knew that the only fit home for a man was deep under rock, a fastness in stone, a cave or a mine. Yet those who came later did not believe; the plains looked open and inviting to their naive eyes. So they went out, with eyn-kethi and children, and erected tall cities. That was their folly. Fires fell from the sky to destroy them, melting and twisting the towers they had thrown up, burning the city men, sending the survivors fleeing underground in terror to where the flames could not reach.And when their eyn-kethl gave them births, the children were demons, not men at all. Sometimes they ate their way free of the womb."
Two major parallels here! The first is the establishment of an underground culture due to a fire threat from above. Very Ice&Fire. Then, second, there are the misshapen babies we know from the Targaryen histories. We know GRRM likes to have at least a general scientific explanation for things (i.e. dragons have two legs b/c in nature that's what they would have); I like the idea of Targs having genetic issues not only from inbreeding but previous radiation exposure of some sort (magical is fine too, it would be the same idea).
"Dirk," Gwen said dryly, "the histories of the four surviving holdfast-coalitions differ in many respects, but there are two great events on which they agree. Those are the milestones of Kavalar myth. All of them have a version of that last story-the burning of the cities. It is called the Time of Fire and Demons. A later story, the Sorrowing Plague, is also repeated virtually word for word in every holdfast."
This is also something we have seen before: the same myth appearing in many cultures, and that's how we know it must have really happened. We have to look for the core of the myths to see the common element (i.e. a special hero ended the LN, regardless of his name or the method by which he - or she, in the case of the monkey woman - actually did it).
Here Dirk is reading Jaan Vikary's thesis on scientific/historical reasons for their various myths:
Vikary supplied theories on theories, attempted to explain everything. He even explained the mockmen, more or less. He argued that during the Time of Fire and Demons some survivors from the cities had reached the mining camps and sought shelter. Once taken in, however, they proved dangerous. Some were victims of radiation sickness; they died slowly and horribly, and possibly passed the poison on to those who nursed them. Others, seemingly healthy, lived and became part of the proto-holdfast, until they married and produced children. Then the taint of radiation showed up.
Again this makes me think of the Targaryens, and their troubles with extremely malformed babies that are either miscarriages or stillbirths. Inbreeding doesn't really explain it, as Dany's child was by Drogo who was about as unrelated to a Targaryen as one could possibly be.
Janacek laughed. "It goes beyond our own history," he said. "Kimdiss has fought no wars, but the world has bloody hands. When Tober-in-the-Veil attacked Wolfheim, the manipulators supplied both sides. When civil war flared on ai-Emerel between the urbanites whose universe is a single building and the disaffected star-seekers who urged a broader horizon, Kimdiss was deeply involved, giving the urbanites the means to win conclusively." He grinned. "In truth, t'Larien, there are even tales of Kimdissi plots within the Tempter's Veil. It is said it was Kimdissi agents who set the Steel Angels and the Altered Men of Prometheus against each other, who deposed the Fourth Cuchulainn of Tara because he refused to trade with them, who interfered on Braque to keep technology stillborn beneath the weight of the Braqui priests. Do you know the ancient religion of Kimdiss?"
"No."
"You would approve," Janacek said. "It is a peaceful and civilized creed, exceedingly complex. You can use it to justify anything except personal violence. Yet their great prophet, the Son of the Dreamer-accepted as a myth-figure, but they continue to revere him-he said once, 'Remember, your enemy has an enemy.' Indeed he does. That is the heart of Kimdissi wisdom."
Two things here. First, the Kimdissi are the behind-the-scenes pullers of the strings like Varys or LF. Second, we get an example of religion being used to keep a civilization in a primitive state. This also happens in GRRM's story And Seven Times Never Kill Man, though by different means (actual mind control vs traditional brainwashing). I am getting more and more suspicious of those weirwoods...
Dirk lifted his own weapon. "You'll never find him in the forest," he said. "The chokers provide too much cover."
"I would find him," Janacek said, his voice a little ragged and more than a little wild. "Remember our bond, t'Larien. Iron-and-fire."
(...)
Dirk stared, then touched it lightly with a finger, so that it moved slightly in Janacek's palm. "It feels… cold," he said.
Janacek frowned. "No," he said. "It burns, rather, as fire always does." The glowstone vanished back into his pocket. "There are stories, t'Larien, poems in Old Kavalar, tales they tell the children in the holdfast creche. Even the eyn-kethi know the stories. They tell them in their women's voices, but Jaan Vikary tells them better. Ask him sometime. Of the things teyn has done for teyn. He will answer you with great magics and greater heroisms, the old impossible glories. I am no storyteller or I would tell you myself. Perhaps then you could understand a bit of what it means, to stand teyn to a man and wear an iron bond."
1: The glowstone feels cold to Dirk but hot to its owner Janacek. Just like Dany's eggs feel warm to her but not to Jorah.
2: It almost seems as though the glowstones amplify the natural bond between teyns. The parallel is drawn with the whisperjewel, which reminds Dirk of his feelings for Gwen, who has the counterpart. Perhaps these glowstones are also more than just stones?
Regarding the whisperjewels, they are an interesting example of an item that can only perform its "function" if the right person is holding it. A bit like Dany's eggs, perhaps, and perhaps also a bit like Dawn.
Now back to the Kimdissi wine for a moment, and how it temporarily made Dirk think he could make Worlorn come back to life. Here is a conversation between Garse, seeking to join the Braithe hunt for Jaan (he really wants to help Jaan, or course) and the Braithe hunters:
"You see, Ironjade," Pyr said, "you call us false names."
"I did not know," Janacek said, a bit slowly.
"Call us truly. We are no Braiths."
The Ironjade's eyes seemed dark and hooded. His arms were still crossed. He looked at Lorimaar. "You have made a new holdfast," he said.
"There is precedent," Roseph said. "Redsteel was birthed by those who broke from Glowstone Mountain, and Braith itself grew out of Bronzefist."
"I am Lorimaar Reln Winterfox high-Larteyn Arkellor," Lorimaar said in his hard, pain-filled voice.
"Honor to your holdfast," Janacek answered, holding himself stiffly, "honor to your teyn."
"We are all Larteyns," Roseph said.
Pyr laughed. "We are the highbond council of Larteyn, and we keep the old codes," he said.
In the silence that followed, Janacek's eyes went from one face to the next. Dirk, still helpless and kneeling in the sand, watched bis head move, turning from one to the other. "You have named yourself Larteyns," Janacek said at last, "and so you are Larteyns. All the old wisdoms agree on that much. Yet I remind you that all the things you speak of, the men and teachings and the holdfasts you invoke, all these things are dead. Bronzefist and Taal were destroyed in highwars before any of you were born, and the Deep Coal Dwellings were flooded and empty even during the Time of Fire and Demons."
"Their wisdoms live in Larteyn," Saanel said.
"You are only six," Janacek said, "and Worlorn is dying."
"Under us it will thrive again," Roseph said. "News will go back to High Kavalaan and others will come. Our sons will be born here, to hunt these choker-woods."
"As you will," said Janacek. "It is no matter to me. Ironjade has no grievance with Larteyn. I come to you openly and ask to join your hunt." His hand dropped to Dirk's shoulder. "And I bring you a blood-gift."
The first time I read this, I simply assumed that the Braithe's had lost their minds after living too long on the dying planet. But the second time around, I realized that these delusions of somehow keeping the planet alive are exactly like Dirk's thoughts after drinking Ruark's wine and talking to him about Gwen. Now, we are never told explicitly that Ruark gave wine to the Braithes, but he did make a deal with them to keep himself safe in exchange for information on his "friends". It's certainly suspicious, isn't it, that these men are suddenly completely delusional, thinking their sons will be hunting on a planet that has less than 10 years before the shields fail and everything freezes over...
Here comes the passage that makes this story so unbelievably heartbreaking. By this point, GRRM has succeeded in making us care about these characters; especially Garse had really grown on me and I felt like I had an appreciation of the depth of the bond between him and Jaan. As a reminder, Garse had been looking for Jaan, wanting to help him despite Jaan dishonoring both of them earlier, but Jaan shot him down b/c Arkin Ruark had told him that Garse had betrayed him and was coming to kill him and Gwen. Dirk has just arrived to see Jaan carry Garse's chewed up body out of a nest of tree spooks, who quickly swarmed and killed him after he fell and broke his legs. Jaan is feeling very guilty; he has just told Dirk what Ruark had said. Dirk knows this is a lie; he and Garse were both on Jaan's side. Jaan thinks Garse removed his glowstones but in reality, he did it only so that he could "join" the hunt and help Jaan out. He was loyal to the end. He even secretly kept one glowstone, which Dirk has just picked up (without Jaan seeing).
The glowstone was a hard nugget of indecision within Dirk's fist. He looked down once more at Garse Janacek, whose garments had faded to the colors of old blood and rotting moss, and then up at Jaan Vikary, so very close to breaking, who stood pale-faced with his massive shoulders twitching. Give a thing a name, Dirk thought; and now he must give a name to Jaantony high-Ironjade.
He slid his fist into the darkness of his pocket. "You had to do it," he lied. "He would have killed you, and Gwen later. He said so. I'm glad that Arkin got to you with a warning."
The words seemed to steady Vikary. He nodded wordlessly.
Dirk decides to smear Garse's name and reputation after death in order to spare Jaan additional suffering. It is a lie that is kindly meant, yet still he hates saying it. Garse was as loyal as any teyn, but now Jaan will forever remember him as having betrayed him, hunted him like an animal. Jaan will never know how much Garse loved him. Dirk will have to carry this knowledge with him for the rest of his life, and it will eat away at him. Looking back on this in 15 years, it will still make him sad, and he will surely feel some guilt/shame for the lie. Now what if, in the future, he learns that Jaan never found happiness, that he was bitter and trusted no one and was drinking himself to an early grave? Wouldn't he feel even more terrible, and maybe even start having dreams about the events of the past? But I digress...
A little later; Dirk and Jaan are still on their way to the suicide city, through the wilderness, and Dirk has reached the top of a cliff ahead of Jaan:
He [Dirk] had just ascended past the topmost boughs of the chokers when he heard the banshee cry out briefly, not so far away. His eyes swept about, searching for the great predator. The small clearing where they had left Janacek was easily visible from above, a patch of twilight close at hand. But Dirk could not see the body; the center of the clearing was a living mass of struggling yellow bodies. As he watched, other tiny shapes flitted from the nearby woods to join the feast in progress.
The banshee came out of nowhere and hung motionless above the fight, wailing its terrible long wail, but the tree-spooks continued their mad scramble, paying no mind to the noise, chittering and clawing at each other. The banshee fell. Its shadow covered them, its great wings rippled and folded, and it dropped; and then it was alone, spooks and corpse alike wrapped within its hungry grasp. Dirk felt strangely heartened.
But only for an instant. While the banshee lay inert, a sharp squeak sounded suddenly, and Dirk saw a quick small blur dart down and land atop it. Another followed. And another. And a dozen, all at once. He blinked and it seemed as if the spooks had doubled. The banshee unfolded its vast triangular wings again, and they fluttered weakly, feebly, but it did not lift. The pests were all over it, biting at it, clawing at it, weighing it down and tearing it apart. Pinned to the earth, it could not even sound its anguished cry. It died silently, its meal still trapped beneath it.
By the time Dirk climbed off of his sky-scoot at the top of the ridge, the clearing was a mass of heaving yellow once again, just as he had first glimpsed it, and there was no sign that the banshee had ever been there at all.
This scene stood out to me the first time I read it, but the second time around I picked up on the symbolism. The honorable Kavalar lies dead as a result of Kimdissi lies. The majestic banshee, spirit animal of his Ironjade holdfast, killed by the Kimdissi tree spooks.
Here Dirk and Jaan have reached Gwen, and Jaan has just told her he killed his teyn:
"Garse?" she said, startled. She frowned.
"He turned me over to the Braiths," Dirk said quickly. His eyes touched Gwen's. "And he was hunting Jaan, running at Lorimaar's side. It had to be done."
She glanced from Dirk back to Jaan. "This is the truth? Arkin told me something of the sort. I didn't believe him."
Dirk sticks to his lie, that Jaan had no choice (which in Jaan's case of course is what he truly believed). But Gwen has a hard time believing the betrayal; it is out of character for Garse and she picks up on this. Take home message: When you see someone act completely out of character, question the truth of the tale. Honorable men don't suddenly forsake everything they care about (cough, Rhaegar, cough).
A little later, Jaan has laid down to sleep and Gwen, who knows the truth now, is talking to Dirk alone:
Dirk went outside. Jaan lay nearby, his head up against a tree, staring blindly off at the distant fire. They walked away from him, into the darkness of the chokers. Finally Gwen paused and swung around to face him. "Jaan must never know," she said.
Jaan must never know. Promise me, Dirk...
Gwen and Dirk discussing what to do with Ruark:
"What do we do with him now?"
"Free him," she said. "For the present. Jaan must never suspect the truth of what he did. It would destroy him, Dirk. So Arkin Ruark has to be our friend again. You see?"
Dirk reluctantly agrees to uphold the facade. He must pretend to still like Ruark so that Jaan won't realize that he killed his loyal teyn. An honorable man would not enjoy carrying this lie with him forever. He would hate framing an honorable dead person. But he would also realize that the truth would destroy his friend, so he promises not to tell.
I realize that in order for this parallel to fit properly, Arkin Ruark would probably need to be Howland Reed, not Littlefinger. But I am ok with this scenario; a Dark Howland seems like a cool idea.
Jaan had a weary fatalism about him now, though he might still go through the motions.
It was Janacek's death, Dirk told himself-and more, the circumstances of that death. Had Garse died more normally, Vikary would be an avenger more angry and impassioned and invincible than Myrik and Bretan combined. As it was, however, Jaan was convinced that his teyn had betrayed him, had hunted him like a beast or a mockman, and the conviction was destroying him. More than once, sitting with the Ironjade in the small watchroom, Dirk felt the urge to tell him the truth, to rush up to him and shout No, no! Garse was innocent, Garse loved you, Garse would have died for you! Yet he said nothing. If Vikary was dying this way, consumed by his melancholy and his sense of betrayal and his ultimate loss of faith, then how much quicker would the truth kill him.
This is probably how Ned feels around Robert, all the time. He wants to tell him the truth (whatever that is, but I assume it involves Rhaegar being completely innocent, probably even trying to help Lyanna somehow) but knows it would destroy him. The human heart in conflict with itself.
As for Jaan and his weary fatalism... this reminds me most of all of SAD, who of course would be Rhaegar's teyn if the story took place in this world instead of Planetos. (I am NOT suggesting that SAD had anything to do with Rhaegar's death. I don't think it's a perfect parallel story, but bits and pieces seem to fit).
Later, back in Larteyn:
Ruark soon fell silent. But later on that same morning, after he had picked up his laser and sat for a few hours staring at the wall, the Kimdissi turned to Dirk once again. "I was her lover too, you know," he said. "She didn't tell you that, I know, I know, but it is the truth, the utter truth. On Avalon, long before she ever met Jaantony and took her damn jade-and-silver, the night you sent her that whisperjewel. She was so drunk, you know. We talked and we talked, and she drank, and later on she took me to bed, and the next day she didn't even remember, you know that, she didn't even remember. But that doesn't matter, it is the truth, I was her lover too." He trembled. "I never told her, t'Larien, or tried to make it come again. I am not such a fool like you are, and I know what I am, and it was only a thing of that moment. Yet it existed, that moment, and I taught her a lot and I was her friend, and I am very good at my work, yes I am." He stopped and caught his breath and then silently left the tower, although there was still an hour to go before Gwen was scheduled to relieve him.
Another LF parallel... Although again, it could also be a Lyanna/Howland parallel. I am more and more open to the possibility of Howland not being a protagonist in this story, and in fact being the Kimdissi of Robert's Rebellion. I didn't quote a lot of this, but Ruark repeatedly says he did what he did for Gwen, that she was trapped by the Ironjades and he manipulated everyone in an effort to free her. He sees himself as a good guy. What if Howland saw himself as the one to free Lyanna from her own marriage bond?
Ok that's all for now. Thoughts? Opinions? I really love this story and am looking forward to discussing it!!
“In Qohor he is the Black Goat, in Yi Ti the Lion of Night, in Westeros the Stranger. All men must bow to him in the end, no matter if they worship the Seven or the Lord of Light, the Moon Mother or the Drowned God or the Great Shepherd. All mankind belongs to him... else somewhere in the world would be a folk who lived forever. Do you know of any folk who live forever?”