I quite liked the idea of Death Knight as well, but I do think this is a nice way to sidestep the limitations of Squire. And it would be interesting to see just how good a non-Named can be, and get proof of people saying they don't follow the Squire but follow Catherine.

And I'd love it if Chider suddenly realises that the Squire name is permanently damaged and throws a strop over it.

 

So, what the fuck? Is it a trap, or is

Spoiler

the name actually repaired?

This seems like a classic heiress trap, but I don't know how. Heiress could control Chider, so can she now control Catherine maybe?

 

I don't really like this so I'm hoping for another twist.

Spoiler

It almost feels like there was a chapter missing with the name being stolen; it basically happened between chapters and then she got it back at the end? And this kind of undermines the whole "actual setback" that butchering her name accomplished, which was all of a few chapters ago. Unless it's a fakeout for her getting a new name I think there's a serious pacing problem going on.

 

It got stolen at the end of the previous chapter. Go reread the last few paragraphs. There's likely to be some new twist to it since the fact that it suddenly got repaired makes no sense.

 

When Masego hacked away at her soul to cure her of the demon's corruption, he damaged Catherine's connection to the Name of Squire, but not the Name itself. She lost an aspect, but the Name was perfectly healthy for the sake of future Squires. The metaphor used was that Masego damaged the tap, but the well stayed intact.

So when Chider claimed the Name of Squire for herself, she got a new, undamaged, connection. Hence why Chider (nearly) got a different aspect from Cat. And when Cat reclaimed it, she too got a new and different connection. The tradeoff, as discussed in the chapter, is that the new connection isn't broken in, so to speak. Cat knows all the tricks and whatnot, but she has to reopen the channels to her Name's power. For example, she has to re-unlock her aspects, she may not be able to Speak, and so on. Should go quicker, because she's not new to being Named, or even this Name, but it is a (temporary) setback.

This is Heiress' assumed plan. Heiress doesn't know that Cat lost an aspect and damaged her connection. She doesn't know that this is, in the long-term, a power-up. In Heiress' mind, this is a short-term weakening so that Heiress can more easily get rid of her. And to be fair, that part is successful, but to quote Cat "It's about time one of her plots backfired".

New money to bet is on what Cat's new aspects will be. Obviously we're gonna see one manifest in the upcoming battle.

 

To be honest I'm a bit disappointed. Back when Apprentice ripped out Seek, he said that "The Name of Squire is permanently crippled". Now I know that apprentice isn't omniscient, but it does sort of weaken the loss.

I'd prefer it if the reason it all feels new and three aspects is because she has a new Name and can't differentiate it from Squire.

 

I get what you're saying but if Apprentice/Warlock had the ability to permanently cripple names there wouldn't be any Hero Names left.

 

Well, there'd certainly be a rad Healer.

 

Yeah, but that links back to the various fundamental differences between Heroes and Villains- e.g. Heroes can fight Devils without fear of corruption because they are Heroes, and so the only reason the crippling is possible is because of the corruption by the Devil, which can only happen to Villains.

That last paragraph was a bit confused, but hopefully you get the gist.

As well as that Heroes would be somehow immune to it, in the same way as the Lone Swordsman bullshits his way through his most recent fight by being a Hero.

 

If you could quote me where that was said I'd appreciate it. The way I read it was that the Devil corruption and Apprentice severing the Seek aspect were two unrelated things. As in the severing could, theoretically, be done on a Name at any point.

 

The reason why they haven't done that to all of the Hero names is pretty easy.

Doing so requires a ritual that takes awhile and the Hero willing or incapacitated. It is a scenario ripe for a daring escape and is exactly the kind of villain overreach that would get a Named killed. That said it must be something that has happened before otherwise Apprentice wouldn't know how to do it. Even then it is more likely to have been pulled off against another Villian rather than a Hero

 

That's why the Warlock would get the Apprentice to do it. A villainous overreach that permanently weakens the side of Good in a complicated ritual is a textbook Empire practice. Or would be. Seeing as its not in use it must not be worth the time and the only reason it's not worth the time is that its not permanent.

 

Actually, yeah, that's making shit up on my part. I was thinking that Heroes are magically protected from certain things in a bullshit manner and I could see the severing of the aspect being similar to the protection against corruption. Then I linked to together in my head and wrote some bullshit.

 

Oh shit.

/tenchar

 

Interesting, very interesting. Take seems way overpowered and too powerful to keep, so I'm not sure whether it only works this way outside Creation or Cat is just about to lose hard to Heiress and lose the Aspect.

Also, I'm not sure at all of her name now. I'm not sure if she used Take to claim the Name Queen of Callow, or she's Squire again but with new Aspects, or she's a completely different name and just thinks she's the Squire again. Although based on Heiress' reaction she had to be the Squire before taking the sword.

 

No I think the Name Queen of Callow was what the angels were offering her. With it she could have led a crusade to Ater. She rejected that and used Take to get resurrected (only angelic magic can restore life). What I wonder about is the end with the Lone Swordsman. Did she use Take to take his power Rise to heal herself?

To be honest the whole chapter is a bit confusing, especially the whole Claim, Enemy and Kingdom part.
I wonder if she got the claim from Heiress stating that her master is Black who de facto rules Callow. And, the kingdom through the Lone Swordsman reiterating that this was Callowan ground. Because it seemed like she needed them to say those things. Well can't wait for next week.

Also don't forget there was a bonus chapter this week.

 

The angels offered her the res, but on the condition she claims the name Queen of Callow and rises up in a Crusade. Cat declined. She believed she was still owed a resurrection, but was denied it, so she took it, by taking Rise from the Swordsman. Probably not permanently. The new aspect is hella fitting.

 

I think she used Take to take angelic power for the resurrection (from undead to living), but then she took Rise from TLS to heal (since TLS stuck a sword into her) else she'd just die again.

 

Actually, she takes the initial resurrection power directly from the angels. Her heart starts beating before she returns to the island chapel.

 

So I'm going through a reread, and noticed something relevant to the current conflict. Chapter 10 of Book 2 mentions there's two elves headed there searching for something, and from the description given elves tend to be terrifying, and nominally Good, so they'll probably be a problem before the arc wraps up. Might be the hook to what comes after the rebellion.