Siavahda’s Comments (group member since Jan 10, 2022)

Siavahda’s comments from the The Tarot Sequence 2022 Readalong group.

GREETINGS EVERYONE!

The Q&A for WEEK THREE (The Last Sun: The Swimming Hole to Epilogue) is NOW LIVE! You can post questions from February 26th to 27th, and K.D. will answer! (If he can. If there are spoilers involved, you may receive just a :) for an answer. It happens, we've all been there.)

This week you can FINALLY ask questions raised by The Last Sun as a whole - as well as anything specifically from this week's chapters!

If you don't use Twitter, or just don't want to, you can leave your questions in the comments below here, and we'll post them for you in the Q&A!

https://twitter.com/TTSPromo/status/1...

Hannah wrote: "There's so much about the confrontation with Ashton that raises questions. His interaction with Lord Tower, for one. What did he think he had to negotiate with? And was there something specifically..."

'What did he think he had to negociate with?' is the one that alarms me most. It could just be typical scion arrogance, believing even now he won't suffer the consequences of his actions...but if it wasn't???

Based on what we learn in Hanged Man about the prophecy, my theory is that the 'they' who orchestrated the raid on the Sun Court did so specifically because of Rune, specifically because of that prophecy.

I don't think the fact that there were 9 people there is the secret. I read that, back in chapter one, as the kind of thing that gets lost or changed when a story becomes a rumour. Whatever the secret is, I think it's WAY worse than that.

It was mentioned that silence wards went up around Sun Estate when it was attacked, but it still seems like someone should have noticed something... But the neighbouring estate was Lovers Estate, so we might never find out if we don't get to see Elena again and somebody asks her wtf happened.

Hannah wrote: "And then there's the woman who talks to Rune after he uses exodus, a spell that's implied should kill him, a fate which the woman almost seems to save him from. Who is she and will we see her again?"

The fandom favourites for the answer to this are: his mother; the Empress; or Queenie. Personally, I'm betting on Queenie. (But then, I'm pretty sure Queenie is the Empress, so.)

Hannah wrote: "I mean, if Lord Tower genuinely cares about Rune, why did he not lend him sigils before he went into the Westlands to stop a lich? Why did he wait until he appears at the end, after Rune has displa..."

THIS. This is so confusing. Rune is worth compromising Lord Tower's secret defenses - the wall of bless-fire outside the Pac Bell - but not worth lending sigils when going into the Westlands???

On the other hand, if Lord Tower leant Rune sigils and Rune died in the Westlands, Lord Tower might not be able to get them back. That might be a reasonable reason not to give him any, actually. Whereas by the time Lord Tower shows up, he'd going to be able to reclaim any sigils he lends Rune even if Rune gets killed.

Hannah wrote: "When Rune does what he did to clear the sky, he describes feeling hollow afterwards, like he emptied something he wasn't supposed to. I always assumed it was him using his aspect at a more powerful..."

I'm 99% sure it's not an Aspect thing. Especially since (as far as we know) Aspects are generally not actually weapons - they're scary, but they don't seem to have offensive capabilities. (view spoiler)[In Hanged Man, it's specifically commented upon that Rune's Aspect containing bless-fire makes it useful, and that - having an Aspect that is useful that way - is rare enough to be worth noting.

Which, now I think about it, means Lady Lovers' Aspect was noteworthy too, since hers seemed able to hypnotise people to some degree, and that can definitely be weaponised. (hide spoiler)]

Hannah wrote: "Addam's concern for others, including those other people in his positron dismiss such as the groundskeepers, is one of the reasons I love him."

I suspect it's also one of the reasons Rune loves him. Until Addam, Rune is the only scion we see who gives a damn about bystanders. He almost word for word tells Geof that it's a scion's responsibility to stand between non-scions and danger. Addam's the only other one we see who seems to believe the same!

Which does make me wonder where Rune learned that. Was he able to extrapolate it himself, given that he was put in the position of being unable to protect himself? Or was it taught to him? If so, by who?

Lord Tower certainly doesn't seem to care about bystanders, although I get the impression he would try to limit the splash zone of any attack/manoeuvre just out of professionalism. It's untidy and wasteful to use a canon when a scalpel will do. You know?

Hannah wrote: "And how did Rune ruin Ashton's life the first time which led to Ashton hating him this much? Is it just because Rune found Addam or is there something else?

The only other thing we learn later is..."

I theorise that whoever organised the raid of the Sun Throne then had immense blackmail material on Ashton, and used it. But if that's true, there's still no clues as to how it was used - we know nothing about Ashton's life between the raid and the events of Last Sun. Was he made to do things? Did he learn something that destroyed his world-view of Scions Are Best? What???

My theory is weakened even more when you consider that the 'powerful friends' who helped Ashton out with summoning a lich etc...were probably the same people who took out the Sun Throne. Blackmail works both ways; Ashton definitely could have leveraged favours out of someone that powerful.

(Although a) why wouldn't someone that powerful just crush him like a bug, OR, b) did they deliberately set this up to fail so as to get rid of him?)

I CAN WAIT

I'M PRETTY SURE IT'S GOING TO WRECK ME

SO I CAN DEFINITELY WAIT

All right, let's be real - who else is intensely alarmed by Lord Tower looking at Rune with triumph???

This is the readalong/discussion thread for the final chapter + epilogue (Endgame to Epilogue) for Week 3! Please limit your comments to the events and characters that appear in those chapters.

Honestly, we never feel ready for this finale, no matter how many times we reread it...

This is the readalong/discussion thread for Chapter 15 - 17 (The Swimming Hole to Siege) for Week 3! Please limit your comments to the events and characters that appear in those chapters.

It's the last week for The Last Sun!!! We've divided the last five chapters into 3 and 2 for the discussion posts, since that seemed appropriate. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

GREETINGS EVERYONE!

The Q&A for WEEK TWO (The Last Sun: Half House Interlude to The Manor) is NOW LIVE! You can post questions from February 19th to 20th, and K.D. will answer! (If he can. If there are spoilers involved, you may receive just a :) for an answer. It happens, we've all been there.)

Please do your best to only ask questions raised by the chapters we read/discussed this week!

As always, if you don't use Twitter, or just don't want to, you can leave your questions in the comments below here, and we'll post them for you in the Q&A!

https://twitter.com/TTSPromo/status/1...

Jessica wrote: "I really love the line in The Enclave [spoilers removed]"

It's one of my favourite lines too XD

Hannah wrote: "I'm curious to know who Rune's godparent was. They seem pretty common so I'm assuming he had one. You would think it would be The Tower as he mentions having a bunch of godchildren and we know he w..."

I think KD mentioned somewhere that Rune didn't have a godparent... In some interview, maybe?

I am embarrassed that it took my husband explaining it before I understood how 'LeperCon' was a play on words.

I'm half-Irish and grew up in Ireland.

*hides head in hands*

Meghan wrote: "(view spoiler)"

(view spoiler)[The more I think about this the more flaily I get. Isn't it kind of an enormous coincidence that the only two Courts taken out in the world war were the Emperor and Empress??? If I wanted to destabilise Atlantean culture, those are the two I'd go for as well - the heads of the snake/s, as it were.

Although in fairness, I'm still not clear on how the Emperor and Empress functioned, if they had Courts of their own or if they were a conjoined power house.

STILL.

THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO COULD KEEP THE ARCANA IN LINE...ARE THE ONLY ONES WRECKED IN THE WAR??? That seems awfully lucky for the Arcana, and anyone else who wanted more power with less oversight...

Maybe the real reason the Empress ran away wasn't grief, but because she realised someone was out to destroy Atlantean leadership, and she was going to be murdered if she didn't disappear. (hide spoiler)]

Meghan wrote: "(view spoiler)"

(view spoiler)[OH MY GODS, HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THAT?! You're right, a TON of Courts have fallen in an incredibly short time frame - the last mention we have of a Court falling, pre-Sun Throne, is the Time Court, I think??? Which sounds like it was a very long time ago, implying that it's extremely rare for Courts to fall.

And yet so many in so short a time! THAT LOOKS LIKE A PATTERN! I mean, surely it can't be coincidence??? Could someone be orchestrating it? Clearing the board of Arcana?

Although you could argue that the Lovers and Hanged Man were both casualties of New Atlantis - they didn't/couldn't adapt to the world post-Atlantean World War. (As opposed to other Courts which also haven't adapted well, but have chosen to withdraw into themselves rather than try.) And it would be hard to orchestrate that? Unless someone was able to manipulate Lady Lovers and Lord Hanged Man into making terrible choices... (hide spoiler)]

Meghan wrote: "Siavahda wrote: "...
1) He was involved. I think this is least likely but it's on the table.
Agree completely with this. It's unlikely he was involved with the take down. Did he know there were pla..."

Meghan, you make an excellent point about all the alliances and dynamics between the older Arcana - Lord Tower might have very good (political) reasons for not moving against the perpetrators... Damn. I don't like that at all!

On the other hand, doesn't Rune say in one of these (week 1) chapters that the Arcanum were collectively outraged by the fall of the Sun Court, because none of them got fat off it? Which suggests that none of the actual Arcana themselves were involved, probably - unless some of them did benefit and just hid those benefits really well... Which Rune might well miss, but Lord Tower would presumably have noticed/learned of...

F wrote: "Siavahda wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Lord Tower used to be the spy master for Atlantis and is still incredibly powerful. I find it hard to believe he doesn't know who was responsible, or at least assume..."

I suspect he might be afraid of the answer. He does, later in Last Sun, admit he doesn't know what he is to Lord Tower, what their relationship is or exactly how, or how much, Lord Tower cares about him.

If I were in Rune's shoes I'm not sure I'd ask either. Besides, how would he know if Lord Tower lied? Which means there's no point in asking, really, if you can't even trust the answer you get.

Hannah wrote: "Lord Tower used to be the spy master for Atlantis and is still incredibly powerful. I find it hard to believe he doesn't know who was responsible, or at least assume of those involved, for what hap..."

The way I see it, there are three options

1) He was involved. I think this is least likely but it's on the table.

2) He discovered at least some of the perpetrators, but for some reason hasn't moved against them yet.

3) He wasn't involved and hasn't been able to find out what happened.

Honestly, option #3 is the scariest to me, because just imagine the resources, power and influence it must take to plan something like the raid on the Sun Court, pull it off, and then hide your tracks so well that Lord Tower never finds you?!