HUZZAH! The only thing I want to know is who the buff guy with Airbender tattoos is behind Katara. Beyond that, no one should be surprised that the original Team Avatar has new voice actors. Tis called "growing up" folks, which mean voices change and deepen.
The world has changed, for Char and Neill have ridden Paxala the crimson red. It takes friendship, the Bond, to ride a mighty Dragon. Yet still the world is ruled by tyrants, humans by three Princes and dragons by he who is called the Dragon God. So what does he want with a human crown enough to let dragons chose riders? Nothing good and much magical most likely, and I never cared much for arranged marriages even to prevent war. So Char and Pax will have to bring down two tyrants if they are to fly free and not be relegated to the roles others would put upon them. Tis time, I think, to uncover the secret past of dragons before casting it aside to blaze (with literal dragon fire, of course) a brighter future. Fortunately Char has Neill Torvald to help.
Treachery and deception, bigotry and death, magic and war rage within and without the Draconis Monastery upon the slopes of Mount Hammal, home of dragons. Yet there also blossoms unlikely friendships that become oaths, and a bond the likes of which has never been seen yet will change the world forever – for now, for the first time, humans have ridden a mighty dragon. Yet Neill Torvald, Char Nefrette, and Paxala the crimson red are a long way from out of fire yet, as war still looms alongside whatever a certain Abbot cooks up. To say nothing of he who is called the Dragon God...
Morality, Liberty, Utility.
I just finished playing Triangle Strategy, a game that famously tests the one's convictions. For while multiple endings, including bad ones, have become common in tactical role-playing games, Triangle Strategy takes it a step further by not giving the player total control either. Like life, there is not one but many paths through the story based entirely upon one's choices, yet when the time has come to make a choice it is not Lord Serenoa Wolffort who makes it but rather democratically by all his closest friends casting votes upon the Scales of Conviction. Serenoa may speak with his friends, using the knowledge he has gained and the strength of his convictions to influence their vote, but in the end the path that receives the most votes is the one taken regardless of the player's preferences.
Which is one of the two key things that makes Triangle Strategy notably different from other RPG: it is not simply battlefield tactics but also personal ones, as you must know your friends well in order to convince them to vote to follow the path you desire. So be sure to save the game before trying convince, else otherwise you may find yourself walking an undesired path and dooming the land of Norzelia in the process. Truly dooming. In the game Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, Lippti says: "Countless possibilities fade into the darkness. Yet there exists a razor-thin path of light." Such is even more true here, for Triangle Strategy's three main endings are all bad ones. Yet there exists a Fourth Path, a Golden Route, a True Ending in gamer lingo: one that can only be reached by making a very specific certain set of choices.
Most say that the True
Ending is too hard to achieve on the first play-through, but I did not
accept that. I will never accept a bad ending nor have ever led
characters, my friends, into one and was not about to start. Nor did I,
for I am happy to say that on this my first play-through I successfully
unlocked and completed the True Ending of Triangle Strategy! The
key is proper unit deployment, and yes, spend a little time leveling up
on training maps, but it was hardly intense grinding. You can unlock
the hidden fourth ending during the Chapter 17: If Griefs Could Passions Move
and you will have to split up your forces into three units which,
moving forward, cannot be altered so save a backup file and choose
wisely because a single mistake can doom you. I will not spoil much, but
suffice to say that putting Anna and Hughette in Benedict's Unit to
defend Castle Wolffort is critical, as is putting Ezana, Narve,
Archibald, and Erador in Frederica's. You will have three hard-fought
battles to win, plus a couple more afterwards, but the result is so very
worth it. You save Norzelia from descending into varying levels of
dystopia.
Farewell and eternal happiness to you Serenoa Wolffort & Frederica Aesfrost, Roland Glenbrook, Benedict Pascal, Hughette Bucklar, Geela Breisse, Anna Pascal, Erador Ballentine, Corentin Jenner, Symon Wolffort, Narve Oparyn, Hossabara Freyya, Julio Wrightman, Lionel Khapita, Piccoletta, Jens Macher, Ezana Qlinka, Medina Alliam, Archibald Genoe, Groma Jurgina, Flanagan Grutte, Jerrom Laesmi, Milo Yuelle, Avlora, Svarog Aesfrost, and Lyla Viscraft. Let the future of Norzelia be led by the brightness of your convictions.
Frederica: "I shall think of the new era before us as I walk beside you on the path we have chosen—together."
Serenoa: "So long as you are at my side, I can continue on, however far. Let us work together to ensure the path we have chosen is the right one."
Frederica: "But of course. That is the way of House Wolffort."
"Vast, immersive, and brimming with prophecy and peril, The Dragonkin Legacy Omnibus delivers a sweeping epic of rediscovered magic, searing battles, and unforgettable heroes, perfect for fantasy lovers who crave richly layered worldbuilding, high-stakes adventure, and the thrill of an ancient song rising again to decide humanity’s fate." – NewInBooks
Given how long I have been doing this mostly humble blog, it feels wrong that I should post a great piece then we never see it again. So here is a re-post of one of my most popular (relatively speaking) posts:
British academic, critic and novelist Adam Roberts describes the Grimdark sub-genre
as one "where nobody is honourable and Might is Right," and as "the
standard way of referring to fantasies that turn their backs on the more
uplifting, visions of idealized medievaliana, and instead stress how
nasty, brutish, short and dark life back then 'really' was." He
critically notes, however, that Grimdark has little to do with
re-imagining an actual historic reality and more with conveying the
sense that our own world is a "cynical, disillusioned, ultra-violent
place."
Of course, one who has read my opinion of GRRM the Anti-Tolkien already knows that I wholeheartedly agree with this. However, this post is not just another long rant regarding A Song of Ice and Fire but, rather, an attack on the cynicism that fuels it and which goes beyond George R.R. Martin. A cynicism which amounts to another concept known as the Treason of the Intellectuals, in
which academics accept and espouse cynicism because – in a nutshell –
they believe that Power and Politics will near-always emerge triumphant
over morality. Hence the best, wisest, course of action is to embrace
this truth and put forth one's intellectualism to working with thus
shaping the policies of the Powerful until they resemble/accomplish the
political agenda of the academics.
Permit me to offer a quote from the J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings:
"A
new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not
avail us at all. There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor. This
then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power.
It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at
hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the
Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as
you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to
control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our
hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high
and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we
have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped
by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any
real change in our designs, only in our means."
Sound
familiar? If not, then recall these words as the ones spoken by Saruman
to Gandalf when trying to convince him to join him in an alliance with
Sauron. What is striking, however, is how neatly the Treason of Isengard
matches the description of the Treason
of the Intellectuals. Saruman and Gandalf had been sent to Middle-earth
with the purpose of overthrowing Sauron, something that Saruman clearly
still intends to accomplish, except that rather than fighting Mordor he
now means to become Sauron's ally so as slowly twist and replace him on
his dark throne.
Naturally
Saruman is an very extreme case, as it would be far from fair to call
cynical intellectuals ambitious agents of clear evil. Yet the crux of
the matter is that, like Saruman, those academics who engage in
intellectual treason believe that fighting Power and Politics with human determination and basic
morality is a fool's errand and thus join the other side if they see
any hope in altering it from within to suit their visions. In short, it
is the temptation to accommodate oneself to the nature of the times, as
Niccolò Machiavelli would have put it, and to ally – cautiously but definitely – with the Power that is rather than the principles that were.
Saruman's mad vision may have been to replace the Lord of Mordor as the
tyrant of Middle-earth, but, as can be seen, when striped down to their
essential organs there is very little separating Treason of Isengard from the Treason of the Intellectuals.
Which, to bring this post to a full circle, is one of many reasons why I am the Enemy of the Grimdark. Because A Song of Ice and Fire
and the genre as the whole offers a cold and cynical view of humanity
coupled with the apparent lesson that the honorable and compassionate
usually end with their heads upon a stake. It teaches that treachery is
profitable; that morals do not pay and are near powerless to effect the
wider world.
"Our
knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We
think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need
humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without
these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost." - Charlie Chaplin
"Cynicism
masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because
cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed
blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt
us or disappoint us." - Stephen Colbert
The
cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to
see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to
light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts
all human actions into two classes — openly bad and secretly bad. - Henry Ward Beecher
"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future." - Sydney J. Harris
"The
problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics
whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can
dream of things that never were...and ask why not." - John F. Kennedy
"Cynicism isn't smarter, it's only safer. There's nothing fluffy about optimism." - Jewel Kitcher
"The greater part of the truth is always hidden, in regions out of the reach of cynicism." - J. R. R. Tolkien
My father and I just finished rereading The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip.
Definitely a different and more enriching experience in the reread, as this time we caught the names Nemos Moore and Queen Hydria much earlier on, thus able to more properly piece the tale together. For McKillip, ever a word-jeweler as opposed to wordsmith, makes you work for it – weaving this strange yet deeply grounded tale by the sea. One of a wicked sorcerer and a terrible cook, a bookish merchant's daughter and innkeeper's son, a set silly of snobbish siblings and an Aunt, a dying Lady and a maid who can open a broom closet and find a different house filled with knights and one Princess Ysabo. All connected by a bell that rings across worlds, calling for an ancient wrong to be righted.
Congratulations to Judd and Gwyneth, Ridley and Miranda,
and excellent work to all the rest as well: Emma and Hesper Wood, Ysabo
and Queen Hydria. You all showed that some stories, some book pages, can
be all too real.
Sweet water and light laughter till next we meet, my friends.
“The odd thing about people who had many books was how they always wanted more.” – Judd Cauley
