posted
I just finished rereading Hart's Hope. Spoilers follow, naturally.
I'm a father now and so the parts where children die at the hands of their mother are awful, just horrible. Especially Youth, because so much is made of how much Orem loved him. It's one of the more awful things I've ever read in fiction.
And I realized, Youth didn't have to die at all. Orem's power as a sink was greater than the Queen's, because he could undo her Sight faster than she could rebuild it.
The Flower Princess tells Palicroval that if he had not delayed, he could have taken the city and Beauty could not have stopped him, because her power was waning and Orem had cost her too much of it.
That means that Youth never had to die. The plan of the Sweet Sisters and the Queen's companions was to put Orem's power into Youth, so the Queen's power would sink away, and she would die.
But if their goal is to kill the Queen, then they could have done that at any time!
Orem's great advantage was that she sees not that she sees not. When he first marries Beauty, he restores the companions' memories to them and they know his power and what he can do, they know they could talk freely. They also know that they have 24 months before Youth will die; he is in the womb 12 months and dies when he is a year old.
That is plenty of time to kill the Queen.
Consider: one-year's battle between Orem and Beauty leave her weakened enough that Palicroval could, with force of arms and wizards, conquer her.
If the companions, with their much greater knowledge of what is to come, had told Orem what was going to happen, he could have started his rebellion a full year sooner! That would have been ample.
Or, alternatively, just have Zymas get a sword, have Orem *hide* somewhere safe, and wipe her power away while Craven is in the same room with her. She won't have time to react or call the guards, and Zymas, restored to youth, chops her head off.
Once Orem is revealed to the companions as a Sink, and once they told him "She's going to kill your child, you know" he would have been onboard with the plan.
Instead they actually gamble that the whole ceremony thing will work. What if the Queen had not released Orem from prison? What if he'd been executed? All would have been lost. Why take that chance? Before the Queen knew of his power, he had the advantage.
Instead they know all along that the child will die. They just don't care. They actually consider it *Orem's fault* for loving the child, as if he could help it.
But even without caring about the child, it was a bigger gamble that she'd permit Orem to perform the rites, than just to use Orem's power to make her killable.
And, of course, their whole plan nearly failed, because Sleeve didn't realize the power transfer only works when the child feeds from the parent. It's only their fortune that the child tasted Orem's tear.
So, if Orem had never loved the child, as he was counseled to do, then the rite wouldn't have worked, he'd remain a bound sink, and the Queen's power would be renewed for hundreds more years.
Great plan, O Queen's Companions.
The other thing that bothered me is Palicroval wanting to kill Orem for "usurping the throne." Granted, he's a major scumbag (sorry, but no one rapes a 12-year-old without being a major scumbag), but you'd think he'd have learned something in 300 years.
Okay, maybe until he reads the Flower Princesses' letter to him, he doesn't know that it's even his son, or anything that happened.
But the Flower Princess is a real piece of work. She pleads for Orem's life, but is loyal to Palicroval, even though it's his child-rape that brought her 300 years of misery, even though he was unfaithful to her with Asineth and Bloom, and even though he seeks to kill his son, who saved him from 300 years of torture. She actually tells him she will love him either way he decides. If he decides to kill Orem, he will see a blessing that he may do so swiftly!
What a pal, Flower Princess!
Youth didn't have to die. It must eat Orem up inside to realize that if killing Beauty was the goal, he could have done it and saved his son, if only he'd understood the plan sooner. But those who knew, didn't tell him.
If I were him, I'd want revenge.
Posts: 454 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
