Annotated 40-14
An earlier draft called for Syr’Nj’s finishing move here to be the appearance of Archmage Caneghem. Caneghem would be moved out of his usual neutrality by the ripples in the astral plane HR’s presence created. And he would still be HR’s superior in sorcery, albeit the two would be close enough in power to make it a fight.
If Syr’Nj and Caneghem working together shortly after he was revealed to be an Altruist seems weird to you, well, I think we thought that’d make it surprising…but that’s part of the reason we ended up not doing it. Like, I could see it happening because the health of the mystisphere outweighs everything. But it’d be super awkward to explain in mid-battle, and Hollister and Clair’s presence would make it even more so.
Besides, HR proving vulnerable to Syr’Nj’s basic toolset because he forgot to give himself much of an “immunity to drugs” power is way funnier. And it’s closer to the point. HR keeps failing to deal with the Five partly because he keeps failing to treat them as real.
“I’m not going to let pride get in my way” is one of those bits of dialogue designed to make a character a bit more likable and respectable, and it works…but there’s also irony to it. In the end, HR is nothing but pride.
He looks like Pride too. By that I mean the homunculus Pride from Fullmetal Alchemist.
No alt-text.
Alt text on first publication was “Drugs: The cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.”
Sorry for taking this long to fix that!
I think I wouldn’t have had a problem with Caneghem joining the battle, unless his appearance felt contrived.
I never got the full “Altruist” vibe from him. He’s openly annoyed with the behaviour of the other members of the house, has repeatedly given Syr’Nj warnings and shown direct sympathy with Reynolds. The impression I get from him is that he thinks he was persuaded to get involved because there may be some value in it, quickly got annoyed but stays because it’s probably better to keep tabs on those stupid greedy humans. And he’s good enough at politics that he thinks the danger to himself should be minimal.
He can’t have especially strong ethical convictions and is willing to make “sacrifices”, but he also doesn’t seem to care much about “Altruist ideals” or whatever the others believe/pretend they’re trying to achieve — so I’d be happily willing to accept that he would break with them whenever a good opportunity presents itself.
I would bet your analysis is pretty close, but there’s a factor it doesn’t mention. Caneghem isn’t just there for his own purposes, he’s there as a leader of, and an ambassador for, the Sky Elves. Add to that the very strong implication, from the confrontation between Jarvis and Syr’Nj, that he personally and the Sky Elves in general were “politely” threatened the same way Syr’Nj was. It seems pretty clear from his occasional olive branches to Syr’Nj and Reynolds that Caneghem was not merely keeping tabs on the other conspirators, he was subtly sabotaging their plans to neuter their threats against his people. To do that he had to be all in, at least until the day came when he could break off and leave.
So while I more-or-less agree with you about Caneghem’s loyalties and motives, I also have to agree with Phil’s notes. For him to suddenly appear to break with the Altruists to help Syr’Nj, even in a matter as serious as this, would have been pretty weird. He’s fully part of the conspiracy at this point, albeit as a hidden spoiler rather than an actual loyal member, and he needs to keep up appearances.
Yes, that makes complete sense, and I did not think too much about the rest of his country :)
I assumed they’re far enough away that he wouldn’t worry about just up and leaving if he had to.
But then, the fact that they’re not actually *that* removed from the rest of the world. And Gnomes, too, are building things that can fly, I suppose international diplomacy does play an important role there.
It is true that breaking from the Altruists might be an issue but we should remember that this is not an Altruist ambush, but rather an Iwatani one. So him coming to help against a Cultist threat so near to their capital would actually be totally fine with 90% of the Altruists, ESPECIALLY if it meant a potential berserker outbreak so close to where they all live in a massively populated city. Helping Syringe would definitely be… problematic but he could argue that he himself fully intended to take care of her once the battle was done and blame the cultists, but unfortunately for him two other mages she had brought with her unbeknownst to him would have born witness to the deed. Thus he manages to maintain a good footing with the Altruists while watching one of those that could potentially put an end to their schemes.
The only real problem I have with ole stuffy pants stepping in is that while he does genuinely care way more then he lets on about his fellow non-human members of the council he also very much does not afford himself the room to act on those feelings beyond a few cryptic warnings, nor does he necessarily believe he is even right to care about them over his own people, or believe in their beliefs. The only reason he himself would want to step in is largely the same… Cultists are bad for all business and notoriously good at portal magic, aka a threat to his people.
I figure he’s there to ensure Gastonia is pointed at something else than the sky elves, and also that Gastonia has no particular need to “deal” with his own city.
In the end, (headcanon) he sees Gastonia as kindred spirits (both steal from other countries, just the Sky Elves don’t like to know who they’re stealing from, and certainly don’t want to get their hands dirty doing it).
I don’t know if not letting pride get in your way makes him more likable, but at least smarter/wiser than your bog standard megalomaniacal, narcissistic bad guy.
HR kinda reminds me of Ash from Army of Darkness … although it was cool when Ash did it, it’s also a little condescending to speak like S-Mart guy in front of medieval/fantasy people. HR doing this routine is pure condescension. He can’t even be bothered to stay in character.
Even his talk about not letting pride get in the way sounds a little like it’s mainly addressed at himself, because he already did let pride get in the way, big time. Had Syr’Nj fired a second shot while he was busy complaining about the first one, that might have done it.
HR continues to show himself as the childish narcissist he wishes he weren’t. As said, he somehow sees all this as the gateway to a new existence with him as god, but also cannot treat the beings and situations here as worthy of respect. When thwarted he turns flippant and snarky, instead of more wary and considerate of the strength of his opponents.
Dude’s one of those dumbass smart people who stop thinking once they’ve got it all “figured out”.