Annotated 50-18
The team may not go by the name “Peacemakers” any more, but they still have that impulse, especially when they’re celebrating the end of war for the foreseeable future. “Hey, none of us (except Syr’Nj) had a problem with Bandit…shouldn’t we go buy her a drink or something?”
Not going on this trip are Byron and Syr’Nj (whose presence would’ve been like a waving red flag to a bull, even if Syr’Nj could come to Bandit with love and forgiveness), Best (who never met her), Sundar (who saw her to the hospital after their team-up), and Fr’Nj. Fr’Nj, as the most peacemakery of all, seems like an odd exception, but I think she’d intuit that any ‘Nj would be too close to Syr’Nj for Bandit’s comfort.
And she may’ve intuited how this would go anyway. Readers loved to debate this one, but I think the main issue’s pretty simple: Bandit is against Byron being alive, and she does not want the friendship of those who feel differently. (She only got along with Sundar because he didn’t think to mention it.) That’s a hard line for her to take, but after she got murdered by one of his berserks and lost a whole town to another, I can’t find it in my heart to blame her for it. Scipio, like Fr’Nj before him, gets a small “saying-what-needs-to-be-said” role in the story just as it needs him for that. Sorry, guys, there’s no way past this one.
FB: You know how it is: just when you think you might be able to get through the reunion, somebody brings up berserker resurrection.
Maybe I’m an optimistic fool whose mistakes have burned a few bridges… but part of me hopes that mayhaps in the coming years, that hard line will soften and bend. Byron will never berserk again (the final fight implying antidote or no), nor will anyone else with Syr’Nj’s medication. Meanwhile, word of Byron’s role in the integration and rebuilding of… Gastonia? Is it still Gastonia? Anyways, that’s going to spread far and wide. As will the work of her former friends and colleagues.
Bandit isn’t necessarily wrong to take such a hard line stance regarding her traumas, which includes literal (near?) death. But the years will come and go, peace will be the norm, and all involved parties will be doing good in various forms. They’ll all be famous- or infamous, in Bandit’s case- and hear about one another in some capacity. And above all, Byron’s berserking was never his fault, nor was the town incident. I think it’s been said that on some level, even Bandit is aware of that. Close friendship may be out the window, but… maybe in the coming years, there can at least be acceptance and a quiet burying of the hatchet.
But maybe that’s just the optimist in me who likes these kinds of things to have a happy ending, even if it turns out to be a distant one.
Even if Syr and Byron do great for a lifetime, I don’t think there’s a possibility for a true reconciliation. The best I could expect would be many years down the lane, perhaps on Byron’s deathbed, a “maybe it was not a bad thing you lived, after all” with a wry smile and then a nod of the head to Syr.
There might be more hope for the others. Frigg is not one to keep grudges so I’d expect that after many verbal spats (and possibly a physical one or two) they might not be friends but not enemies either. Gravvy might even get a private apology after a while. As for E-Merl and Scipio, I don’t think she can remain mad at them for long; they will just have to keep an unspoken agreement of not bringing up Byron or Syr. Same for Sundar, who might get an earful for not having mentioned that Byron was alive but that will be it.
The problem is Byron burying the hatchet in the first place.
Amazing
You know, I was always bothered by the way Syr’Nj handled Bandit. Like… did she choose to imprison *everyone* who killed a Berserker that day? Or just the person who killed the one she liked?
Putting aside whether Bandit is justified in believing Byron should die and stay dead, Sur’Nj’s actions show a level of spiteful injustice that never sat well with me.
I am unsure, but I think at that point she was still waiting for trial. Disobeying orders and probably her unrepentant celebration of her “murder” probably warranted some investigating of how the “murder” went down.
I would guess that she did imprison everyone in the Peacekeepers who responded to her orders with, “No, you’ll have to kill me first,” needed to be drugged to get out of her way, and loudly announced that they would make the same decision again.
Try turning it around. Don’t think about what Syr’Nj could have done differently (for the moment, since so much has already been said about that). What could Bandit have done differently? She could have said, “Look, your potion’s not working!” or “all these people died because of him!” or asked, “What are you going to do?” Especially since Syr’Nj shot Berserk Byron with three darts on sight. Instead, she broadcasted that she had no respect for Syn’Nj’s judgment at all and assumed she would do the wrong thing. There was no way Syn’Nj could not have her discharged after that, not even if Syr’Nj had come to the conclusion that everything Bandit had done was correct and necessary.
If you’re choking on imprisonment while waiting for trial, well. Now we can talk about what else Syr’Nj could have done–since I’m seeing “leave her sedated in the town the berserkers destroyed, maybe she’ll live to wake up” and “turn a kleptomaniac ex-Peacekeeper who actively and aggressively doesn’t care what Syn’Nj says loose in the sky elf city where the sky elves will hold Syr’Nj responsible for her actions,” as the only two options, and although Bandit would probably have just done what she did when she escaped and looked for a portal back to Gastonia, I’m not surprised that’s a risk Syr’Nj didn’t want to take. She certainly did have Braggadocio imprisoned, and he wasn’t even accused of a crime; he was just a cannibalism risk.
(Opinions likely differ on whether Byron would have been in one of those cages, or even a far more restricting and less comfortable containment suit in a lab if Syr’Nj has those in the sky elf city, had he lived; you can probably guess from this which side I come down on.)
I do believe that the takeaway is “they are both wrong but they are both justified in feeling that way”. That’s why there cannot be a mending and T & Flo did well recognizing that instead of going for the sugary feel-good reconciliation.
a) Has Penk grown? Since when? He seems considerably bigger than Sir Groff and Byron. Maybe we didn’t ever get a good comparison, but I’d reckon Sir Groff to be about Auraugu’s size and he’s not smaller than Penk.
b) Who will take Gravedust’s spot when all Savasi move to the Solates Mountains? Won’t they need a representative in the Council?
Gravy will likely commute by magic portal as needed.
It’s not like the council is a parliament in contiguous session.
The fact that he’s standing and everyone else is sitting down makes him look bigger in relation.
He’s considerably taller than them. If they were the same size, their eyes would be around the level of his chest. So I have to conclude that Penk has grown in size, probably as a result of the battle. Let’s not forget that videogame tropes are at play in this environment. Or maybe Tectonicus channeled some of his last energy towards Penk.
Maybe the fireseye was interfering with his troll growth/regrowth factor somehow?
And now that Tectotronic isn’t around, he’s growing to full troll size in a hurry?
Harky was way bigger and he was *also* a carrier of the Fireseye. I don’t think the Fireseye impacts Troll growth in a negative way.
Trolls heals extremely quickly. They can even re-grow limbs. Clearly Troll growth can not be expected to follow the same route as other humanoids who grow until adulthood and then stop growing.
We have seen two clear cases of Troll growth, both involving Penk.
1) Penk got a growth burst from going into the volcano
2) Penk got a growth burst from the last battle.
I would postulate that when Trolls re-grow, they grow larger. This might be an evolutionary adapatation to make sure that while Trolls don’t waste resources by growing growing extremely large in surroundings where it has no additional value, they can always grow as large as needed through trial and error.
Penk probably sustained a lot of damage in the last battle, resulting in him now being larger then before. Harky was way bigger when they fought because at that time Harky had sustained more damage in his life. Now they would probably be of more equal height.
Harky was also way older.
Slowed growth doesn’t meant stopped growth.
And, slowed growth might be beneficial to trolls.
They seem pretty high-strung, mostly. Perhaps having their maturation stretched out makes for a more strategic worldview?
We’ll soon see that most members of Penk’s Council are commuting in by portal, so the mechanisms for Gravedust to continue as both councilor and Savasi leader are already in place.
My two cents:
Normally, I would stand with Syr’Nj and Byron without even thinking. I personally don’t care in the least about people that think pigheadedness and resentment are virtues. Vindictiveness with an excuse note is still a big character flaw in my book. Having said that…
SirSoliloquy is right: Syr’Nj reaction to Bandit’s hatred, although kind of understandable, was nonetheless reprehensible and pretty hard to forgive. And Byron’s exceptional privilege of being deemed worthy of not one, but two resurrections, is sure to rub a former victim of his the wrong way.
I can’t say I don’t see Bandit’s point, but I can say I still don’t agree with her. If her mind is made up that’s one thing, but if she also demands her friends to choose between her and Byron, then she lost my support.
Yes! Look, dude, listen.
Listen, listen. Hold on. All those arguments everyone is making are good, yes but, listen.
Just
Listen:
Gravedust. You just don’t lash out at Gravedust. Man.
Not Gravedust… ; _ ;
What would Gravedust do, though, if he were lashed out against?
Not hate back, that’s for sure, nor would he want people to have a hatefest in his name.
Always ask WWGD, especially if you’re angy.
Evidence will hold that unless one possible answer is “Bash the fash”, he would be pretty mellow.
Well, Syr’Nj could have sent a message, too, couldn’t she? She’s a really good diplomat, but she chooses to make no attempt at reconciliation.
Some of Bandit’s stance also comes from the fact that she has experienced the same kind of attitude directed at herself, by Syr’Nj. We haven’t really seen what kind of tone her last previous encounter with the Peacemakers (Scipio and Fr’Nj) took (ch 37, p 25), nor whether Scipio or Fr’Nj ever told Syr’Nj about it (and how *that* exchange went…), but from Bandit’s view, it is quite plausible to assume that most of the others are following Syr’Nj and feel maybe a little bad about Bandit sometimes, but would never defend Bandit in front of Syr’Nj — and Syr’Nj ended the good life Bandit had found for herself, and got rewarded.
I find Bandit’s reaction totally understandable: She is still made to feel like her former mates only dare to care about her when Syr’Nj isn’t looking — someone should have words with Syr’Nj about this. I bet Byron would put up less resistance to becoming friends with Bandit again than Syr’Nj would.
Perhaps wood elves are “slow to anger, slower still to forgiveness”? A bit like Ents.
I would’ve loved to see how that exchange with Frigg went, seeing she’s firing off on the third panel. For all her lack of eloquence, Frigg doesn’t lose a verbal duel (easily). Or a physical one.
Or lose in general other than her patience, really.
Wouldn’t Bandit have known about Byron being alive long ago, what with him being in the House now, and having killed HR and all that stuff?
I think bringing Gravedust might have been a much better idea than bringing Frigg to the first encounter with Bandit. Bandit might get angry at Gravy but he knows how to respond in a way that doesn’t fire her up any more, and eventually Bandit might come to respect him again. Frigg may or may not know how to avoid escalation, but she would never apply that knowledge before she’s exhausted all alternatives…
Your first paragraph did strike me as a possible hole in the story when I looked at it again. I think the most logical way to read it, though, is that Bandit was recovering from Taro’s stabbing and only got out of bed for the first time not long before this meeting took place. (The fact that she needs both a cane and Tobias’ arm supports this theory.) In hospital, her only sources of news would be doctors and her posse, who would perhaps not bring up upsetting news while she was in critical condition. (Tobias at least would know why the news was upsetting.) Still, Scipio is correct that she would have found out very quickly, regardless.
E-Merl and Scipio, on their own, might’ve gotten a less openly hostile reception. Bandit kind of owes E-Merl and definitely owes Scipio for her escape, and some part of her still thinks of those two as her people. They were her recruits, after all. But once it became clear that they weren’t going to join her on the Byron and Syr’Nj hate train, there wouldn’t be much practical difference.
It’s not really a problem I think, because all this is after the facts.
The facts are Byron was dead, and now he’s not.
When Bandit found out, whenever that was, she set to finding out how.
And was very disappointed in Gravedust, for choosing the friend he remembered over the memory of those fallen to Zerkdom.
In a very drawn-from-personal-anecdotes way, I can actually more easily envision some manner of peace between Bandit and Byron many years out in the future more easily than I can Bandit and Syr’Nj.
Philosophies may grow and change, and forgiveness can come from unexpected (and unsought) corners. But certain types of betrayal have a way of leaving wounds that permanently fester.
Bandit never won any points for wanting to violently murder a victim of a terrible tragedy.