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Akibel Mowar is on his way home from the blacksmith's when he spots it. People are shrieking and fleeing from it, which seems reasonable, as it's a fuckoff huge snake with a mirror for a face. A big mirror.
Kib can't so much flee. He can shriek - he can lurch in the direction of the nearest house and try the door - it's locked. He can amble briskly...
He can break into a run when the snake gains on him and fall flat on his face.
And he can get eaten up.
And it's too bright too bright too bright and he flings his arm over his eyes.
secondchance
secondchance
Well, I think I know when Maitimo's doomed brother dies, now. If it didn't seem to be out of step with their emotional repertoire I'd think they were picking and choosing scenes specifically to avoid telling me what they do that has Fëanáro so extra pissed off at them in fifty Years.
They may not know. If they didn't do anything wrong according to their lights, then 'why is he mad' would make more sense to answer with 'because he's Fëanáro' than with 'because we did something awful'.
When and how does Maitimo's brother die? And how does any of this lead to Maitimo pillaging cities?
When and how does Maitimo's brother die? And how does any of this lead to Maitimo pillaging cities?
secondchance
I don't have details on a 'how', but there was a scene where Maitimo and all his brothers were around except for that one so it seems like a good guess on when; Nerdanel thinks he dies in a fire and it's Fëanáro's fault but doesn't have any more information; I didn't see a fire, but - ugh. I don't know why Maitimo's pillaging cities exactly but I think it has something to do with the fucking shiny rocks.
That's pretty good detective work for the space of a week. I don't suppose Melkor'll be impressed enough to be more forthright with you?
secondchance
Maybe. It's worth a try, anyway. But there is an or another Enemy figure coming up and I do not know if it's him again or if a new one comes out of the woodwork or what.
Great.
If you don't need another set of eyes on that I'm going to try to get my boyfriend to stop sulking, want to help?
secondchance
I think I've pored over this as many times as I can in a row before I wear through my corneas, what's the plan?
So I don't know Maitimo as well as he knows me. But. At a guess. He pulled this off by being good at people, he must have, I cannot conceive of how else so many of them would have followed him. If he can't be sure of his future motives and goals, then accumulating power is a really bad idea. And if he thinks that he'll be in a situation in the future where it's genuinely the right call to lead a massacre, then he is still wronging anyone whose trust he wins today and who he might drag after him. At a guess, the wrong to the people who followed him bothers him as much as the wrong to the people they killed, and it's the people on his side he's seeing every day.
I think the things that will help are things that are definitely worth doing even if he's going to be evil later - so the portal project comes to mind - and - people he need not fear wronging in that way. He is never going to talk either you or I into the things he apparently does. We are in that respect not seduceable.
I think the things that will help are things that are definitely worth doing even if he's going to be evil later - so the portal project comes to mind - and - people he need not fear wronging in that way. He is never going to talk either you or I into the things he apparently does. We are in that respect not seduceable.
I was going to try the opposite, promising Maitimo I'd slaughter cities for him until he gets annoyed enough to shut me up about it, but perhaps there's a way of being unlikely to support massacres that'd get through to him.
'angry' is a good mood on Maitimo, he thinks more strategically and moping and sadness are not strategic. I expect it'd be in a good way.
secondchance
I can suggest it, then. I think I will be very good at atrocious Governor. It's not that horrendous things don't occur to me, I just don't actually do them.
Since in Valinor horrendous things mostly don't actually occur to us, that should be enlightening.
...you're not worried about giving him ideas?
...you're not worried about giving him ideas?
secondchance
No? I am pretty sure that the problem prophesied is definitely not 'unexpected human appeared, deployed imaginary bioweapons'. The problem is that somewhere between now and later a bunch of shit goes down and it results in copious warfare.
I mean, if as prophesied Maitimo ends up running around massacring people, we don't want him to be good at it.
secondchance
...I'm not actually sure of that. If we can't stop him massacring people then by much the same logic he might choose to take over an inevitable war it might be better for him to be efficient at it.
secondchance
The presence of the shiny rocks seems suggestive in retrospect, actually, although I don't know what they're for besides counterfactually restoring light to the world when everything's gone dark.
secondchance
"I," says Kib, "need a break from trying to correlate prophecies, but if you really want me to go away instead of playing Governor-with-atrocities to see what happens I can probably find something else to do with myself."