A Goodreads user asked this question about
Heartless:
*major Heartless spoilers, do not continue if you haven't finished*?
Innastholiel
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[At first I thought Peter was aiming for Catherine, but Jest threw himself between them to protect her. However, reading that passage again, I think this is what happened:
1. Catherine kills Peter’s wife/the Jabberwock.
2. Peter is overcome with grief, and turns to Catherine, axe in hand.
3. Raven is coming closer, so Peter is unsure if he can get away with killing Catherine without dying himself.
4. In a split-second decision (or so I assume), he turns away from Catherine and kills Jest instead, therefore doing to Catherine what Catherine had done to him: He took her love away. Eye-for-an-eye type of thing.
5. Peter runs away, so that Catherine can’t immediately take revenge on him.
I can’t give you the exact page number, as I only have the ebook, but it’s near the end of Chapter 47, if that helps. Also, this is the whole passage, more or less (important bits bolded):
I agree, it’s a bit vague. The important thing is that Jest is dead and Peter killed him, and that’s why Catherine gave her heart away and became cruel and ruthless.
As for how they’re all standing in relation to each other, I’m guessing Jest never moved too far away from Peter. There was that whole bit about how Jest and Peter were fighting, and then Raven gets there, and Catherine sends him to help Mary-Ann, so as to prevent the Sisters’ prophecy about Raven becoming a murderer from coming true. (Which, incidentally, doesn’t even make sense, because Raven was the White Queen’s executioner, and therefore already a murderer, right?)
Then Hatta joins them, and Peter is (righteously, I suppose) outraged, because Peter’s wife being the Jabberwock is Hatta’s fault in the first place. But I don’t think it ever says that Peter moves towards Hatta, and therefore away from Jest. I think maybe Jest was staying close to him in hopes of disarming Peter, if there ever came a moment when he was distracted enough. And then Catherine kills the Jabberwock and we’re back at what I wrote above. I imagine Jest stayed close to Peter after that because he was trying to protect Catherine, and the best way to do that would have been to stay close to Peter, trying to disarm him if the right moment ever came. So my best guess is that the configuration looked something like this:
I have no idea where Hatta is supposed to be, though. Probably somewhere between Catherine and Raven, or something. I doubt he was anywhere close to Peter, because Peter would have likely killed Hatta instead, if that were the case.
I’m honestly too lazy too look for the exact quotes for all that, because this whole scene spans several pages, but it’s all in Chapter 47, if you wanna go read through it again. (hide spoiler)]
1. Catherine kills Peter’s wife/the Jabberwock.
2. Peter is overcome with grief, and turns to Catherine, axe in hand.
3. Raven is coming closer, so Peter is unsure if he can get away with killing Catherine without dying himself.
4. In a split-second decision (or so I assume), he turns away from Catherine and kills Jest instead, therefore doing to Catherine what Catherine had done to him: He took her love away. Eye-for-an-eye type of thing.
5. Peter runs away, so that Catherine can’t immediately take revenge on him.
I can’t give you the exact page number, as I only have the ebook, but it’s near the end of Chapter 47, if that helps. Also, this is the whole passage, more or less (important bits bolded):
“The Jabberwock’s head disconnected from her slithering neck. […]
Peter’s face slackened.
Cath stared at the sword edged with blood, her heart thud-thumping inside her chest. Stunned. Horrified. Relieved.
She had slain the Jabberwock. […]
In the stillness, Cath forced herself to look at Peter. His arms slumped. His face was twisted with anguish as he stared at the dead monster.
Cath’s heart filled with unexpected sympathy. There was devastation written on the plains of his face. Agony flooding his eyes. He was a breath away from collapsing into the dirt and weeping over the body of the beast he had loved.
But the moment passed and he stayed standing. His upper lip curled. His eyes sparked.
He looked at Catherine.
With disgust. With murder.
She gulped and adjusted her hold on the sword.
Peter adjusted his hold on the axe.
He moved towards her. One step. Two. His muscles undulating, his body strung with tension.
‘Please,’ Cath whispered. ‘This can end now. Just let us go.’
To her surprise, Peter did hesitate. His attention caught on something in the distance and Cath dared a glance over her shoulder.
Raven was there, stalking towards them. Mary Ann, too, but she was an afterthought to Raven’s ominous approach. […]
Cath turned back and Peter’s expression had changed again. Now there was fear and a shadow of indecision.
He looked once more at Catherine with a hatred so pure and transparent it sent a shock of terror through her. She could see his desperation. She sensed his resolve.
With a guttural scream, Peter turned and swung the axe.
It was over and done before Cath knew what was happening. In between the space of a gasp and a scream, there was the sound of blood splattering across the ground. Like ink from a broken quill.
Like a drawing made on stone.
Before she could make sense of it, Peter was running away. […]
It was . . .
Jest.
Mutilated. Severed. Dead.”
I agree, it’s a bit vague. The important thing is that Jest is dead and Peter killed him, and that’s why Catherine gave her heart away and became cruel and ruthless.
As for how they’re all standing in relation to each other, I’m guessing Jest never moved too far away from Peter. There was that whole bit about how Jest and Peter were fighting, and then Raven gets there, and Catherine sends him to help Mary-Ann, so as to prevent the Sisters’ prophecy about Raven becoming a murderer from coming true. (Which, incidentally, doesn’t even make sense, because Raven was the White Queen’s executioner, and therefore already a murderer, right?)
Then Hatta joins them, and Peter is (righteously, I suppose) outraged, because Peter’s wife being the Jabberwock is Hatta’s fault in the first place. But I don’t think it ever says that Peter moves towards Hatta, and therefore away from Jest. I think maybe Jest was staying close to him in hopes of disarming Peter, if there ever came a moment when he was distracted enough. And then Catherine kills the Jabberwock and we’re back at what I wrote above. I imagine Jest stayed close to Peter after that because he was trying to protect Catherine, and the best way to do that would have been to stay close to Peter, trying to disarm him if the right moment ever came. So my best guess is that the configuration looked something like this:
I have no idea where Hatta is supposed to be, though. Probably somewhere between Catherine and Raven, or something. I doubt he was anywhere close to Peter, because Peter would have likely killed Hatta instead, if that were the case.
I’m honestly too lazy too look for the exact quotes for all that, because this whole scene spans several pages, but it’s all in Chapter 47, if you wanna go read through it again. (hide spoiler)]
by
Marissa Meyer (Goodreads Author)
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