You know, I've been wondering why the oblivion powers of this particular demon seemed so terrifying, yet familiar. It's basically like an unholy crossover between a Weeping Angel and The Silence from Doctor Who. Freaks me out, man.

 

Great, the two creepiest monsters on TV have teamed up and become a feature of my favourite web author's story. This will totally end well for Blake.

 

So. I finished Worm last week and started Pact a couple days ago. Holy fucking shit balls. Reading Pact chapter after chapter makes me want to slit my wrists. Blake has shit after shit shoved on him and there is no break. His life is a ceaseless 'fuck you!' from the universe. I was so glad he got some time with his friends, because I probably would have had multiple psychotic breaks by then.

As usual with Wildbow, I was hesitant about the swift change in setting, but it turned out to be really cool. I have a feeling that the Pauz/Conquest thing is going to end really really badly, and confirm all his enemies fears about him doing stupid fucking things with Demons. Also looking forward to what form his inevitable fight with Jeremy will look like.

I think one of the most unsettling things about this story is that you can't even hate most of the antagonists. Their actions are totally justified and I can see myself reading from their point of view and not questioning the need to fuck Blake.

 

I'm more sympathetic towards Rose. Blake plans for nothing he comes off whiny and sloppy. And so far in every 'battle' where he is actually gone up against something he gets by with noticing, or realizes something at the last moment; it feels very unrealistic. I would appreciate if Blake allowed a more systematic approach for once (it can't hurt!).

 

Latest update changes how we have to look at the previous and the character's decisions and behaviour [especially where it seemed unreasonable or odd]. Three allies were killed and "forgotten" from the story, such that even we don't remember them because from our perspective they never existed.

It's a planned retcon. Don't know what to think about it. I suppose it depends on who the allies were. One was a goblin, but the others? There are good theories out there. I like the idea that it was a couple of the Knights who'd been "forgotten". I'd assumed that they'd been killed earlier, but if they were only killed now and everyone forgot about them seemingly retroactively, then we as the readers wouldn't know.

 

Dickswizzle, iirc. He was a gift from Maggie.

I think I'm enjoying this monster. It seems to be unintelligent, but still far more dangerous than anything they've gone up against so far.

 

If the author took it that far I have to bow down in awe of his cleverness.

 

Yeah, I had read all of the comments, but I'm not sure that this retcon ability extends back that far as a narrative device. I think it only applies/is being applied to this chapter.

In the previous chapter, when Blake and Rose are brainstorming for 3 good ideas ..." “Can we count fire as one idea?” I asked. I held up a pack of matches."

We've been assuming that it was a lighter that was used and then erased from the whole story. While the actual lighting process in this chapter does not specify what Blake is using, it's probably a safe bet to assume that it was the aforementioned matches. If She did eat his matches, and Blake held them up last chapter, then this would mean that the Retcon does not extend back multiple chapters. This means that overall, Blake has indeed been a relatively reliable narrator and Wildbow has decided to let us assume otherwise in the comments.

One thing that may poke a hole in my no-retcon theory is Dickswizzle. What happened to him? Blake had the whistle upon leaving for Toronto, but we haven't seen dickswizz' since. Was he one of the Goblins/allies killed? If he had been eaten why would we know about him in the first place? Maybe I overlooked him losing the whistle? maybe it's a mistake on Wildbow's part? I'm not sure.

Also, didn't Blake have like a paper football with some Goblins stored inside? Same questions apply:is this a lapse by the Author or was it mentioned that he had lost it earlier; if they were eaten, why do we even know about them?

It's still not very clear how the Demons powers work.

 

June, guy in the bottle and Dickswizzle? or maybe three lawyers?

Am I the only one whose amazed by the level of detail and world building that has gone into pact and thought about how the others might have turned out? Especially boil which had the potential to become as epic(world wise) as worm and as how pact is turning out to be.

Edit:An interesting theory from the comments

 

I wonder how long it takes before Blake uses the Barber. He has been barely surviving all this time, with more and more trouble coming for him. And since it has been introduced, I think it is going to appear eventually, perhaps as a last, desperate act of vengeance.

 

He can't use the Barber anymore, since he can't reach the house.

My first reaction to the allies that got eaten was "another group tried to eliminate the demon, Blake accidently fucked up their plans and their totally going to blame him now", but I suppose allies make sense too.

 

I really do not like Conquest. It's literally just his nature to be a jerk.

Also, glad that Wildbow didn't leave us in limbo, wondering who exactly was eaten by Ur.

 

Aww, so much for all the interesting theories. Goblins are everywhere aren't they, I wonder if they'll maintain that relevance later on or they're just functioning as starters.

Nice seeing how Fell's family came into servitude. Is his mother a Duchamp or a Behaim?

 

Sounded like she was an Enchantress, so probably a Duchamp.

 

Well, this could certainly end horribly.

It's gonna be :awesome

 

I've been expecting this moment for a while now. Blake's not good at deception and I get the feeling he never has been, so him opening up to his friends is going to do a lot more to settle him and gain some stability than anything else. That and the fact that he needs some allies that he can trust in every possible way. Preferably ones that can lie for him too.

 

Finally. I always hated the 'keep my loved ones in the dark' trope. I'm glad he's reaching out, and I hope that at least some of them are gonna survive this. Blake needs allies to level the playing field with the Duchamps and Behaims. Blake starts his own Circle and he stands a chance.

 

That was interesting but I'm betting Rose will be pissed at another development that she had no input in at all and as much as I don't like her this time it will be understandable.

Maybe its Blake not trusting her but I really don't trust or like Tiffany, there's just something off about her but I'll be glad of Alexis stuck around she's too me the most interesting of the bunch(though I'm willing to bet none of them survive)

 

Yeah. Tiffany gives me the heebie jeebies. There's just something about her.

In other news, I'm glad that Wildbow is moving past the Blake as a total loner part of the story. I mean it's fun for a bit (just like teenagesuperhero!Taylor), but then the trope loses its appeal. Anyway, it'll be nice to see what happens as a result of this move. Someone's going to die. Or they should. A group of novices against something like Conquest better have consequences.