...two physicians to take care of thousands of people? What kind of superhuman creatures does Douglass think physicians are? Even with a lot of people killed in the storm, it's still practically impossible for just two physicians, even if they worked around the clock with absolutely no sleep.
SCSF: Even in normal circumstances, two physicians is much too little for an entire army! Could they truly not have gotten any more?
Another option would have been to simply leave the bodies behind, which would have been just awful. (I'm not sure about cremation; does it exist in this world?) Axis is doing a good thing by at least giving them a resting place. You get a crumb of a cookie, Axis, but no more than that thanks to most of your behavior before now.
No idea about cremation, but he is indeed slightly decent.
I'm starting to think that five goblins in a trench coat would be a better disguise than what these two have. How has no one figured out that they're not human yet? Are they really just that imperceptive?
Because Douglass wants to draw out the ~mystery~, I guess.
Two reasons for why I can't actually blame his aggression here. One, he could be transferring his grief of losing so many men, turning it into anger and focusing it on someone else. Two, he might blame the two of them for having lost so many, since they obviously knew what was going on with the storm, and didn't tell him until it was too late.
Indeed... I guess I just am not inclined to be charitable to him.
Oh, sure, technically. But if the truth was a novel, you've barely given him a page of it. It's easy to say that you've only ever told him the truth when you tell him practically nothing.
(nods) And I do not get that. Why bother to keep him in the dark when he is supposed to be so important??
One might even say that the cloud head is worse, because he can do all kinds of damage to you, but you can hardly hurt something made of water vapor. Your men are dying while he's safely tucked away somewhere, completely unharmed. Not a bad tactic when you know that you're not strong enough to defeat your enemies.
Exactly!
Yet two of your number were contemplating murder just because someone's presence was mildly inconvenient to them. You want to try that again, boys?
Let them try, I would say, in case someone decides to call them out on it.
My head is starting to hurt from how nonsensical all of this is... Look, Douglass, if you can't think of any other reason for your characters to do something than just Because the Plot Says So, then you need to rethink your plot. I know that people make bad decisions in real life, even when the right decision is right in front of them, but the conga line of bad decisions that had to happen to lead up to this moment truly boggles the mind.
I frankly doubt that she even thought all of this through and I think that that is why it is so nonsensical, at least in part.
By the end of this series, I have a feeling that I'll probably give up on being angry entirely and just sit in the corner rocking back and forth and sobbing in despair.
By the end of this series, I can see that. By the end of the series as a total... I think you will probably have recovered quite a bit.
I think so, too. After all these years, has no one done any research into Gorgrael? I guess "know thy enemy" doesn't exist in this world. Alternatively, maybe they do have a lot of information on him, and they're lying to Axis to manipulate him and convince him that Gorgrael (I have so much trouble spelling that, and I don't know why) is the epitome of All Things Evil, even if he's really not. Plus, that theory fits in with their behavior up to this point.
I do not think they actually know anything on Gorgrael, but they certainly do want to make sure that Axis kills Gorgrael, it seems. It is in the Prophecy, after all!
Ogden just undermined his own argument right there by saying “all lands below the line of year-long ice and snow”. If he was truly a being of pure hatred, wouldn't he want to destroy anything and everything? This seems like a very calculated strike for someone who is supposed to be killing indiscriminately.
It does indeed. That rather makes it seem like he wants the Skraelings to rule over Tencendor.
I wonder. Why doesn't he invade everyone's dreams and give them nightmares? If he can terrify the entire army to the point that they don't want to fight, that's his problem solved, at least for a while. Showing up in one person's dreams and going "BOOGA BOOGA" at him every now and then shouldn't have much of an impact on other people.
Yes! That is what many people have pointed out by now. I guess it might be that it is too much trouble to do? Still, he could choose other targets, so this feels rather like he is not all that interested in being evil.
It's absolutely ridiculous! Demoralization = bad, but mind control = good? I think you have that backwards, Douglass. One would argue that mind control is infinitely worse.
Exactly!
...how does that even work? Are Icarii babies born with fully-developed brains capable of retaining memories from even before their birth? If it was something like an inherited memory that all of them had, I would be more willing to believe it, because magic, but you only know it if you heard it before birth? Huh?
Yes, Icarii babies are indeed already fully conscious in the womb! ...I have no idea how that is supposed to have developed.
I actually dislike Axis a little bit less now. I don't like him by any means, but he's not on the level of searing hatred I feel for the Sentinels anymore. I don't know how long this will last, but after all the cactus-swinging, it's quite refreshing to read something that doesn't turn me homicidal.
Oh, it will certainly return, but a reprieve is always nice.
no subject
...two physicians to take care of thousands of people? What kind of superhuman creatures does Douglass think physicians are? Even with a lot of people killed in the storm, it's still practically impossible for just two physicians, even if they worked around the clock with absolutely no sleep.
SCSF: Even in normal circumstances, two physicians is much too little for an entire army! Could they truly not have gotten any more?
Another option would have been to simply leave the bodies behind, which would have been just awful. (I'm not sure about cremation; does it exist in this world?) Axis is doing a good thing by at least giving them a resting place. You get a crumb of a cookie, Axis, but no more than that thanks to most of your behavior before now.
No idea about cremation, but he is indeed slightly decent.
I'm starting to think that five goblins in a trench coat would be a better disguise than what these two have. How has no one figured out that they're not human yet? Are they really just that imperceptive?
Because Douglass wants to draw out the ~mystery~, I guess.
Two reasons for why I can't actually blame his aggression here. One, he could be transferring his grief of losing so many men, turning it into anger and focusing it on someone else. Two, he might blame the two of them for having lost so many, since they obviously knew what was going on with the storm, and didn't tell him until it was too late.
Indeed... I guess I just am not inclined to be charitable to him.
Oh, sure, technically. But if the truth was a novel, you've barely given him a page of it. It's easy to say that you've only ever told him the truth when you tell him practically nothing.
(nods) And I do not get that. Why bother to keep him in the dark when he is supposed to be so important??
One might even say that the cloud head is worse, because he can do all kinds of damage to you, but you can hardly hurt something made of water vapor. Your men are dying while he's safely tucked away somewhere, completely unharmed. Not a bad tactic when you know that you're not strong enough to defeat your enemies.
Exactly!
Yet two of your number were contemplating murder just because someone's presence was mildly inconvenient to them. You want to try that again, boys?
Let them try, I would say, in case someone decides to call them out on it.
My head is starting to hurt from how nonsensical all of this is... Look, Douglass, if you can't think of any other reason for your characters to do something than just Because the Plot Says So, then you need to rethink your plot. I know that people make bad decisions in real life, even when the right decision is right in front of them, but the conga line of bad decisions that had to happen to lead up to this moment truly boggles the mind.
I frankly doubt that she even thought all of this through and I think that that is why it is so nonsensical, at least in part.
By the end of this series, I have a feeling that I'll probably give up on being angry entirely and just sit in the corner rocking back and forth and sobbing in despair.
By the end of this series, I can see that. By the end of the series as a total... I think you will probably have recovered quite a bit.
I think so, too. After all these years, has no one done any research into Gorgrael? I guess "know thy enemy" doesn't exist in this world. Alternatively, maybe they do have a lot of information on him, and they're lying to Axis to manipulate him and convince him that Gorgrael (I have so much trouble spelling that, and I don't know why) is the epitome of All Things Evil, even if he's really not. Plus, that theory fits in with their behavior up to this point.
I do not think they actually know anything on Gorgrael, but they certainly do want to make sure that Axis kills Gorgrael, it seems. It is in the Prophecy, after all!
Ogden just undermined his own argument right there by saying “all lands below the line of year-long ice and snow”. If he was truly a being of pure hatred, wouldn't he want to destroy anything and everything? This seems like a very calculated strike for someone who is supposed to be killing indiscriminately.
It does indeed. That rather makes it seem like he wants the Skraelings to rule over Tencendor.
I wonder. Why doesn't he invade everyone's dreams and give them nightmares? If he can terrify the entire army to the point that they don't want to fight, that's his problem solved, at least for a while. Showing up in one person's dreams and going "BOOGA BOOGA" at him every now and then shouldn't have much of an impact on other people.
Yes! That is what many people have pointed out by now. I guess it might be that it is too much trouble to do? Still, he could choose other targets, so this feels rather like he is not all that interested in being evil.
It's absolutely ridiculous! Demoralization = bad, but mind control = good? I think you have that backwards, Douglass. One would argue that mind control is infinitely worse.
Exactly!
...how does that even work? Are Icarii babies born with fully-developed brains capable of retaining memories from even before their birth? If it was something like an inherited memory that all of them had, I would be more willing to believe it, because magic, but you only know it if you heard it before birth? Huh?
Yes, Icarii babies are indeed already fully conscious in the womb! ...I have no idea how that is supposed to have developed.
I actually dislike Axis a little bit less now. I don't like him by any means, but he's not on the level of searing hatred I feel for the Sentinels anymore. I don't know how long this will last, but after all the cactus-swinging, it's quite refreshing to read something that doesn't turn me homicidal.
Oh, it will certainly return, but a reprieve is always nice.