Reader Question about Vethe

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

If you haven’t finished the Flame and Blade series, TURN AROUND AND SHOW YOURSELF THE DOOR!

This reader question involves massive spoilers for the last book in the F&B series. Finish the series first, then come back here.

You’ve been warned!

The question: I’ve always wondered what made Vethe’s cure work. I don’t think it was confirmed in the books, but I could be wrong. I’ve theorized that the summoned demon sympathized with Vethe because he sacrificed himself to save someone he loved and not for the power. Could I be correct? Or was it really just the alcohol?

The answer:

*Pours self cup of tea*

*Sits down on the front porch*

*Pats the bench next to me, inviting you to come on in*

You know, writing’s a funny thing. Some writers, like Tolkien, know absolutely everything about their world. Tolkien invented multiple languages for his world, including new alphabets. Have you seen the appendix at the end of The Return of the King? That dude has dwarven genealogy for days.

I am not that kind of writer.

I’m a pantser, or a discovery writer. For me, as Stephen King put it, writing is like driving at night in heavy fog. I can see what’s just ahead of me, and I have a vague sense of where I’m going, but that big plot twist is frequently just as surprising to me as it is to you.

This is true of bigger questions about my books too. I’m trying to be more deliberate with things like theme, but usually, I don’t really know what a book is about until it’s written (and, sometimes, it’s only years later that I’ll make the connection between, say, the fact that so many of my characters have scars and the huge scar I’ve had on my back since I was a kid).

So this question really made me think!

When I wrote the F&B books, I didn’t question Henrix’s explanation for Vethe’s mage fever cure. Henrix thought Vethe survived the demon blood transfer because Vethe was such a heavy drinker, just like Henrix used to be. Vethe thought that was a good enough explanation, and boom, it was on to the next adventure.

But I’ve been spending a week or so thinking this over, and here’s the thing. Henrix and Vethe have no idea why the cure worked, and they also tend to undervalue their own self-worth. It would never occur to either of them that the demons would have willingly helped to save their lives.

But I think they’re wrong.

Both of them sacrificed themselves to save someone they loved (for Henrix it was Hylene, for Vethe it was Lyria). They weren’t thinking about gaining power or fame, like the other assholes Henrix and Hylene tried to save. They weren’t thinking about themselves at all.

And that intention mattered. The demons share a collective consciousness, so they’re able to sense the intentions of the wildmages dying from mage fever. If the intentions were power, fame, and conquest, well, the demon blood wouldn’t want any part of that. But sacrifice, community, and love? That’s a language the demons can understand.

So, yes, you’re right!

Thanks so much for asking! It was fun to revisit this series and to think a little more about it.

Got a question for me? Click here to ask it!