Ep 7 Burn of the Everflame: Chapters 70-79

Fantasy Fangirls

Lexi and Nicole provide a deep dive into chapters 70-79 of 'Burn of the Everflame', focusing on the brutal battle for Emarion. The episode c

Key takeaways

• Ophiuchae uses 80 mind-wiped mortal soldiers to force Diem into a traumatic decision to kill her own neighbors.
• Author Penn Cole confirmed that Diem can still sense Ophiuchae's aura despite losing her magic through the bonded bargain.

Main topics

• Battle for Emarion
• Ophiuchae's psychological manipulation

Notable quotes

I pray we both find our way back to the people we lost.

Conclusion

A high-stakes, emotional analysis that prepares readers for the series

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:10) Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Fantasy Fangirls Podcast, where two sisters dive deep Speaker 2 (0:14) into the beloved fantasy lore, characters, themes, theories, and more! I'm Lexi, older sister and fantasy lore nerd. And I'm Nicole, younger sister and romantic at heart. And today is episode seven of our read-along deep dive for Burn of the Everflame, the fourth and final book in the Kindred's Cursed Saga by Penn Cole. And Speaker 3 (0:34) today, Lexi and I are covering chapters 70 through 79, where we have only read to chapter 79 in the book. We had some words to say about that. Speaker 2 (0:47) But anyway, exactly. So that means that today's spoiler warning for episode seven will only include spoilers up through chapter 79 of Burn of the Everflame. We Speaker 3 (0:57) are in the final stretch of this book. We are getting so close to the end. So if you don't know why our hearts are in... pieces and why we can't believe this is where we had to stop, then at least go finish chapter 79. It's a short chapter. We will be here with tissues when you're done. Speaker 2 (1:15) Next, we at Fantasy Fangirls are adults who say adult things about adult books. In other words, friends, this podcast is rated R. The Speaker 3 (1:22) war is here, which means we have gore, we have death, and we have two grown woman podcasters crying, probably. So please be mindful of those little listening ears. Be Speaker 2 (1:34) sure to check out our other two podcasts in the Fantasy Fangirls Media Network. Fantasy Fanfellas is hosted by our executive producer Hayden and BookTok star Stephen Walker, as they do a read-along deep dive of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Speaker 3 (1:46) Then we have Fantasy Fan Reads, hosted by the delightful Jess of Lost Books of Jess, that is all about the joys of reading with author interviews, cozy coffee conversations, and more. Give both of these FFG Media Network Speaker 2 (2:00) shows a follow. Link is in the show notes. Additionally, we will love to see what upcoming live events. On Speaker 3 (2:05) October 17th, we are doing an in-person ACOTAR trivia at Little Blue Pigeon in partnership with Sammy Ryan. And on October 18th, we're hosting a virtual trivia showdown to see if we're all ready for ACOTAR 6. We've Speaker 2 (2:20) got our ACOTAR 6 and 7 midnight release parties with Tattered Cover and Book and Gather in Denver, Colorado. Still a few more tickets for ACOTAR 7's release party. Speaker 3 (2:30) Links to all of the events and more like Scotland, two events in Scotland. They are all in the show notes and on our website. Check it out for all the details. Speaker 2 (2:39) Last thing before we jump into this burn of the ever flame episode seven. If you love fantasy fangirls and want more events, more content, more community, and so much more, please check out fantasy fan club. Speaker 3 (2:51) We have six media network tiers that you can join, three of which are specific for fantasy fangirls. Number one, the Hive Mind, which includes access to our Boppin' Discord, live Q &As, book club, community events, promo codes for live events, and 20 % off and access to exclusive merch that is all for $6 a month. Then we have the Spice Watchers, which includes everything from the Hive Mind, plus early access to... Add free episodes, our full episode outlines, and special voting privileges. That is for $10 a month. And of course, last but not least, we have our feral fans, which includes everything from the previous two tiers, plus behind the scenes content, a welcome gift, giveaways, private Discord channel, and your name shouted out on Speaker 2 (3:37) the podcast. That is for $25 a month. Join the party and learn about all of the fan club tier benefits at fantasyfangirls.com slash fan club. The link is also in the show notes, of course. And thank you, friends, from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us at Fantasy Fangirls. It means the absolute world to us. And Speaker 3 (3:54) now it is time to go to battle Speaker 2 (3:57) for one Amarion! Speaker 2 (4:02) To start off every episode, Nicole does us the honor of summarizing this stretch of chapters. So gather round as we consult with our Realm Council to discuss what happens in chapters 70 through 79 of Burn of the Everflame. Oh boy. All right. Speaker 3 (4:19) Chapter 70. DM. Send out to greet them. Just a measly 80 mortal men. This will be a walk in the park. Come on, Vance. Attack! Why aren't they attacking? Oh, because the father of the year decided to serve them up on a silver platter, mindless zombie style. One by one, Diem makes the difficult decision to be the one to take each and every life. R.I.P. Vance. That stands for rest in pieces. Chapter 71. Luther. The first wave of Diem's army is sent out and things appear to be going well, except Ophiuchai is only shielding this guy. Interesting. Daddy Ophie has discovered a fun way to punish Diem. What else is new? By forcing her to look her enemies in the eyes up close and personal as she kills them. And Luther has decided that he is officially done with this father-in-law bullshit. Chapter 72. Eamon POV. Eamon is out fighting on the front lines with his brother Taron and he's questioning why the hell he's here. Because it is rough out here and he is not equipped in the slightest to be in the thick of it. Things can't get worse than this, right? Right? Wrong. Jean Hanover skipping through the fighting like he's taking a leisurely stroll to the store and he's just casually killing people. On his own side, by the way, and giving zero fucks while he does it. Jaune has a very specific target in mind, though. He wants to take out Zellerich. Eamon says, not on my watch, you filthy animal. And he sacrifices himself to kill Jaune. And he saves his new brother-in-law in the process. Yay! Chapter 73, Diem. As the battle continues, it's clear that they need to speed things up a little bit and send out the second wave. Because... They don't have much longer before their godstone mind protection is gone and melted like ice cream. While DM is trying to figure out all of this, she hears Terran's anguished scream, but she can't go help him right now, so she sends the next best thing. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, unite! I mean, her mother and Remus. You get to decide who is who. Chapter 74, Ophiuchai. Daddy is proud and surprised by his daughter, so it's going to be such a shame if he has to kill her. They would have ruled so good together. Big melodramatic sigh. Chapter 75. Diem. Things are not going as well as Diem had hoped, and they only get worse when Luther notices Ophiuchus' illusion. Well, fuck. Sarai goes to investigate and ends up getting trapped in a tornado by a horde of zombie Morosian descended. Double fuck! The only thing that could make this worse is Diem being chloroformed by her own little brother. Oh wait, I mean at least Diem's guardians still have their minds, right? Oh right! Ophiuchai turned them into a bunch of almost zombies too. Chapter 76. Alix POV. Alix is being the best damn high general Diem could ever have. She even gets ex-crown Alani to fall in line and stop being so damn selfish. Who knew protecting your own people would be such a hot take? But playing somebody's ego is a lot easier than convincing someone to be the harbinger of death for their own people. And even when it grieves him to do so, O'Banneran aids the Guardian's air- to help free Sarai. At this point, there's not going to be anybody left in any of the realms. Maybe all hope isn't lost as the centenaries have decided to join the war. Huzzah! Simon is still at ass though. Chapter 77, Diem. Diem wakes up in the middle of battle and immediately places baby Bellator at the top of her hit list. And he doesn't make things any better when he tries to drug her. Again. But this time, he runs off toward Ophiuchai with Sarai's edge, an acting degree, and a shit fate. What he really needed was some faith, trust, and pixie dust to fly his ass out of there and live happily ever after. Chapter 78, Orly POV. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy find Taryn and Diem guarding a half-dead Aemon. Wait! Damn? Turns out Zalorik's brilliant mind discovered a loophole in Ophiakai's orders. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it must be a damn. But she's not the only one who wanted a meeting with Ophiakai. Teller is here with a gift. He hands over Sorrow's Edge, turns up his acting skills to an 11, and it works until it doesn't. Kind of. When Ophiuchai is in Diem's mind, he sees exactly what Teller has done. And he takes over Arley's body to attack her own son. And while Teller is quick, Ophiuchai is quicker. Chapter 79. Diem. Diem wakes up to Arley's screams because Teller Bellator is dead. Speaker 2 (9:15) I can't do this. They know. I don't want to do this. Speaker 2 (9:21) Oh, this is good for the processing. This is also really and truly might be the hardest character death I've read. Really, really long time. Absolutely. All right. Let's collect ourselves. Let's prepare ourselves and get ready for this episode after a quick word from our sponsors. Speaker 3 (9:39) It Speaker 2 (9:39) is time to reach for our Forging Magic and unravel key insights, character analysis, lore, foreshadowing to the best of our ability, lots of theories, and so much more. Get ready for a classic battle episode, everyone. And in fact, as we open on this Blood Sun day with an epic battle, let's jump right in with a phone to Pin as we asked her our question from last episode with when Forging Day is in relation to this timeline. So here's what Pin said. Speaker 1 (10:07) Hello, ladies. I cannot believe you're here with the second to last phone a pen. I'm a little emotional that it's almost over, but I'm really excited for you guys to head into this final stretch of chapters. So your first question this week, when is forging day in relation to this stretch of chapters? Forging Day is today. We are here. It is the holiday. It got a little bit lost in the chaos of the war. I think everybody's so focused on the war that they haven't even really had time to think about what day it is. But it is one year to the day from the day that Orly went missing in Spark Chapter One. Speaker 2 (10:45) We left off with Diem coming across Alani and learning that Ophiuchai's men are right behind them. But when Diem sees these men, she is shocked that it is only Vance and 80 of his mortal guardians here. At first, everyone is confused. Why are there only 80 men and why only mortals? What happened to the rest of Vance's guardians? The idea is thrown around that maybe these are the only survivors of Ophiuchai's army left after venturing across the realms. Which, if that's the case, this is going to be a walk in the park. With only 80 mortals to fight, they could take them out in the blink of an eye and be home in their beds before dark. But something about this feels wrong. Each of these men is from Lumnos and Diem recognizes many of them. These are neighbors, old patients, vendors from the markets, a schoolmate of Diem's and even a friend of Teller's. This is not a random group of people, but a strategically cultivated group handpicked to get in Diem's head. The moment I read this, I was like, fuck, I think I know what Ophiuchai's done and what he's doing to Speaker 3 (11:45) Diem. So that's funny that you had that reaction the entire time I was with you. waiting for Vance to like drop the act and be like, gotcha. Cause I thought that he was just playing into their mind. Cause honestly, that Speaker 2 (11:57) seems like a very advanced thing to do. And see, I was going to say, I don't feel like that would be advanced thing to do because he's so short term and bloodthirsty. Yeah, that's true. That's Speaker 3 (12:07) true. I feel like if Vance had a little more training and strategy and patience, I think this is what Vance would have done. Speaker 2 (12:14) Yeah, so it either seems that Ophiuchai is hiding his real full army with an illusion, or this is a setup, because this seems way too easy. But there's also the fact that Ophiuchai's aura is still growing, and it's already at a staggering level that makes Diem's head pound with its intensity. So if Ophiuchai is not here, he's at least somewhere nearby, or he's still on his way. But interestingly... Ophiuchai has not even given Vance and his men a shield like in every other battle. They are out here as easy targets for slaughter. While we're talking about DM feeling Speaker 3 (12:47) Ophiuchai's aura, one of the questions I had for Penn was, how can she do this? Her own godhood is gone from the bonded bargain. And so I phoned Penn and here is what she said. Speaker 1 (12:57) How can Diem still feel Ophiuchai's aura? So just because she lost her magic to the bonded bargain, it does not take away every other aspect of her descendedness. She, you know, still can heal and she still has strong skin and certain other aspects of being descended. The godhood is still inside of her. She just can't access her magic anymore. So that is one of those things that even though her magic is locked up by the bonded bargain, she still has certain. and other elements of what her godhood gives her that she can use. And one of them is sensing his aura. That makes Speaker 2 (13:34) sense. Yeah, that clears a few things up for us. Okay, thank Speaker 3 (13:37) you, Penn. Diem is right to feel uneasy about this situation because these men are not acting very appropriately to the situation. When Diem tries to talk to Vance, there's no snide remark or sneer on his face. It's just complete and utter stillness. This is when it started to click for me where it was like. Oh, maybe he's not acting. Speaker 2 (13:57) Shit! Speaker 3 (13:58) But when Aurelie steps forward, all of the 80 soldiers move as one to raise their weapons, and the picture becomes crystal clear. Ophiuchai has taken over their minds, and each of these men have been turned into empty shells. Realizing now the true situation that she's in, Diem steps forward. And none of the men move or even twitch in her direction. I'm not going to lie. I was kind of surprised. I didn't really expect Ophiuchai to still be protecting her. But now that I've read all of this, it makes a lot more sense. Diem reaches out to Vance and pries his weapon from his fingers. And then one by one, she disarms each and every one of the mortal men. Soon enough, they are no longer a threat towards her army. And Diem unsheathes Sorrow's Edge and heads back to Vance. Originally. She had plans for how she wanted to make Vance die. And to be honest, all of us readers had plans on how we wanted Vance to die. But here he stands, already dead on his feet. All of the satisfaction that would have arisen from seeing the light leaves his eyes as a smug little stupid Vance face finally learned that he was dying. That satisfaction is just gone. So starting with Vance, DM goes down the rows, man by man, one by one, and sets them free of Ophiuchai's hold. I love that it's that phrasing of setting them free rather than killing them. It really shows that she is learning when it comes to this style of death. Now, DM does make sure that she looks into each and every single one of these men's faces. She never wants it to feel like this is an easy kill. This is... anything but. She wants to be reminded that each of these men have a story. They have a name. They have people who will probably grieve their loss. And if those people aren't here, she will do it for them because no one deserves to be cut down and killed like they are nothing but a piece of meat to be sacrificed in a war. Right, Ophiuchai? So in her own way, this is Diem's way of honoring these men. saying not outright, but saying a version of thank you for your sacrifice. I'm not taking this lightly. Speaker 2 (16:08) Yeah. These men won't hurt Diem, just like the mind-wiped Sophos army from before. But that's not why she feels the weight of responsibility to be the one to kill these men. For one, truce from last episode. did sink in for Diem. She now knows from Simon that there really is no way to save the mind-wiped people, and the best way to help them at this point is to send them to the afterlife. Diem also understands that Vance and these 80 men will, without a doubt, attack her army if she does not do this here and now. These bad daddy guardians might be outnumbered, but again, after last episode, Diem accepts what is necessary to protect the living, who have placed their trust in her and chosen to fight. for a Marian. Plus, it does have to be Diem to swing the sword. She strategically knows better than to let Luther help, because even though Vance and his men are all but dead already, Diem does not want her mortal army to see their king consort, who has made such headway with them, to eliminate their former neighbors with magic. A descended king executing the rebel mortals is not a good look, as we have learned. That is what got us here in the first place. But Diem, who has been on both sides of this war, who has let Vance go multiple times, who has to draw a sword now like any other mortal without magic, she has to be the one to do this. This is Ophiuchus' message for Diem, and she's not hiding from him or her responsibilities as unpleasant as they may seem. But even so, Diem gives these men their death as honorably as she can, because through this sequence, we get closure of Vance's Guardians storyline. They were regular people. who had been stepped on too many times, who hardened their hearts to violence and revenge and lost their way to their doom. Their desire for change in and of itself was not wrong. The guardians on our side feel the same way. Yet the bad daddy guardians were driven by hate instead of hope. Like DM says to a mindless Vance, he traded the mortal's freedom for revenge. And she reflects how this is a natural consequence of a people oppressed. And she would have fallen down this same path. if she had not found love and common ground with the Descended, as would most of the Guardians and Mortals standing on her side of the army. Even think of Orly, who last book was willing to let Luthor die because he was just a Descended. Now she has adopted Terran as a son and welcomed Luthor into the family. So while Vance and these men chose the more violent and hateful path, maybe their souls can still be saved, where they can find peace and freedom at last. Or as DM says to Vance, quote, I pray we both find our way back to the people we lost. With that, the only thing left to do is recite the rite of endings so their souls may be guided to the afterlife. Speaker 3 (18:56) So quick question. Did you also clock that the heat in DM's chest turns up the temperature when the rite of endings finished? It's like the Everflame magic is like, I've heard this before. Let me listen. Speaker 2 (19:11) Yes, yes, yes. Speaker 3 (19:12) It's so good. Speaker 2 (19:14) So, Nicole, I think it's safe to say neither of us expected Vance to go out like this. And speaking personally, I'm at peace with how his death ended up going. Let's be honest. We were all ready for Vance to die a gruesome death. We were excited for one of our main characters to get their revenge on him. And I believe that's part of the point for us readers and most of the characters to want justice through vengeance. Pin did not give us that because it's not DM. Giving into that side of her, the one who would want justice through vengeance, is what she's been wrestling with all book. Killing Vance in a way that, quite frankly, he deserved, would have fed more into the bottomless pit of hate, revenge, and violence. DM's seeking to break the cycle, and so is Penn. As DM reflects, quote, but killing should never be easy, even in war, especially in war. Speaker 3 (20:03) I actually agree with all that you're saying here. Like as much as I would have loved, I mean loved, I bold, italicized, underlined, to see Vance go out in our, I'll call it traditional bloodthirsty fantasy book way. This is the point. of this story. It's not going to be satisfying because this is war. It brings out the worst in people. And I'm talking about Ophiuchus. I'm talking about Vance. I'm talking about DM. Do I think it would have been some interesting character development to have DM finally face Vance and kill him after the countless amount of times that that fucking cockroach got away? Sure, I do. But we already have... where I believe that storyline is going with Ophiuchai next episode, where Diem is facing the hard truths of what it means to be a killer. And she's facing it here with having to cut down these men when they're already half dead over and over again. Now, but I do have a question for you, Lexi, because our bet was who kills Vance. And I said Henry or Diem, and you said Ophiuchai or Orly. Speaker 2 (21:06) thinking this too. I was like, really and truly like split Speaker 3 (21:10) like this is half and half. Because DM physically kills him. Yes. But Ophiuchai mentally kills him. So I'm almost willing to call this a wash or we reach out to Penn and be like, settle this bet. Like, which one is it? Let's do it with Penn. I think. Yeah, I think she'd enjoy that. Mostly because I think she'll side with me. Speaker 2 (21:30) Shut up! Speaker 3 (21:34) I will also refrain because I was about to get on my high horse, but I will hold off. We'll let Penn do that. Speaker 2 (21:40) Yes. Okay. Vance lost sight of who he was fighting for when he teamed up with Ophiuchai and relied heavily on his magic and their shared goal of killing Descendant. It was not about saving the mortals anymore, even if that's where it started as a guardian who tragically lost his family to the Descendant's oppression. Vance was a man who was once full of love and hope and support for his family. Speaking of which, we asked Penn about what happened to his family as well as Cordelia's twins, and here is what she said. Speaker 1 (22:10) What happened to Vance's children and Cordelia's twins? So that is not my story to tell. That is their story, their trauma to share. It's really not for me to tell. I will just say that it was something terrible and something that certainly drove them into the arms of the rebellion and something for which the descended carry significant, if not entirely. the fault. So they are very much driven by that injustice that took their families away from them. Speaker 2 (22:41) All right. Fair enough, Penn. Fair enough. We can fill in the blanks well Speaker 3 (22:45) enough. Yeah. Speaker 2 (22:46) Vance was his own downfall by joining with Ophiuchai and thinking he had a sliver of control. Vance was all about control, barking orders and manipulation. It's literally why he had Andre killed, because he needed to regain control of Diem. And in the end, Vance was empty of everything with no shred of control. ever again. The Bad Daddy Guardians turned to a Descendant, or rather a Kindred, but they didn't know that, out of hate and violence and need for power, and it brought their doom instead. Whereas the Guardians on our side, they trusted opening their hearts and minds, truly partnering with the Descendant for a shared goal of saving Amarian, while still holding onto their roots of saying, this is not over until we are equal. Speaker 3 (23:32) I do want to shift the convo really quick to Ophiuchai's POV, because why would he do this to Vance, who I'll call Vance's second in command, but there's a very big gap between first and second. Because in Ophiuchai's line of thinking, he believes with his whole chest that this was the right thing to do, not only to further his own agenda in the war, because let's be real, these mortals were never going to make it out alive in Ophiuchai's POV. But he believes that he is protecting Diem in this moment. He is being a good quote unquote father. These men, Vance's guardians, they were planning on killing Diem for a long time. And we learn from Ophiuchai, who was speaking through the last remaining guardian that Diem had a fling with years ago, that these guardians were planning on somehow getting around Ophiuchai's don't Speaker 2 (24:25) hurt Diem Speaker 3 (24:25) rule. Speaker 2 (24:26) I mean, we even saw it with the mortals recruiting Henry to be the one to kill Diem because they couldn't with Ophiuchai's Umbrose magic preventing them from doing it. So they're like, all right, new guy. He hasn't gotten you yet. Let's go. Let's go. Yes, Speaker 3 (24:38) exactly. Diem had asked Ophiuchai a few episodes ago to make it so that these guardians would stop killing everyone but descended specifically in this war. And for Ophiuchai, this is his compromise. He will make it so that they are offered up so she can kill them instead. And if... They're mind wiped. They won't kill Descended. This is really the culmination of Ophiuchus is done fucking waiting. He has been waiting for thousands of years. And now after Luther cut off his head, his patience has fucking run out, which I want to pause real quick because Ophiuchus says that it was. difficult for him to repair his head. How did this work? We have too much power. Speaker 1 (25:22) We asked Ben because why not? So here is what she said. How did Ophiuchus get repaired with his head back on? Speaker 3 (25:33) Okay, I've Speaker 1 (25:33) actually spent a lot of time thinking about this myself. And none of them are sexy or exciting ways. They're all a little bit comical. And so I don't need to think about that because he's a scary guy. So I kind of imagine that it was actually awful. And that when the mortals realized he's dead, they like almost, I don't want to say celebrated because I think they knew that that was going to be really tough for them. in the war but i think you know they hate this guy he's a descended and he didn't exactly treat them well and i just sort of imagine they did all kind of awful things to his body meanwhile his kindred magic is sort of working regenerating coming back and i think at some point they realized he wasn't dead and that he was going to come back and that he probably knew everything that was happening while that was going on and that probably motivated him to make some pretty insane choices. Speaker 2 (26:28) All right. So it sounds like we're all on the same page with Penn. Speaker 3 (26:31) Yes, I agree. I think so too. But I think it's also interesting that like what the Guardians did to Ophiuchai after he was headless. So again, it comes back to him thinking he did the right thing here. Also him getting a little bit of, not a little bit, a lot of revenge here as well. With Ophiuchai, he wants to get Diem on his side. And he believes that cutting down evil after evil after evil, especially after realizing how out of reach this piece she so desperately wants is. He believes- it will eventually turn Diem. But it is this act telling her that this is how they will be a family in a new world, a world in which everyone is dead, that will finally make Diem make up her mind. And he's right. It does. But It makes her choose the other side. I say once and for all, I feel like I've said that a few times. I'm going to say it like several Speaker 2 (27:23) times in this episode Speaker 3 (27:24) as well. Cool, cool, cool, cool. And Speaker 2 (27:25) I'm Speaker 3 (27:25) sure it still won't Speaker 2 (27:26) be done. Speaker 3 (27:26) No, I'm sure we won't. It makes her finally realize there cannot be a world in which Diem and Ophiuchai both survive. I think this is the straw that makes the camel's leg shake a little more is what Speaker 2 (27:38) this feels like. Well, up until this point, Diem has struggled with the concept that she and Ophiuchai do share a goal for a peaceful Amarian. They just have very different perspectives of how to go about that, which we've been talking about this whole deep dive. And here is where I'll say it clicks for Diem that their ultimate goal is not actually the same at all. Ophiuchai is focused on the land, but Diem is focused on the people. The people are worth saving. The people deserve to bring about this better Amarian and live to enjoy what. they fought so hard for. Ophiuchus is, in this moment, choosing his love for his daughter over his hatred of everyone else by offering a blank slate, by abandoning this fight that is fueled by his hate and vengeance. But beautifully going back to one of the most prominent themes of the series, some scars are not meant to heal because we keep them to remind us how we got them and to prove how much we can overcome. Back in Glow of the Speaker 2 (28:39) very, very proud of this. And a blank slate would be like using Fortos magic to heal the scars, to pretend they never existed, to wipe the past for surface level improvement. Diem was against that then, and she now recognizes that is the only path forward Ophiuchai would be willing to adhere to. So not only does Diem finally accept the only possible outcome, she vocally makes her decision and draws a line in the sand with her biological father. She is choosing her loved ones who have proved time. and time again that they will follow her into this new scarred Amarian over the hope of bringing out the light in Ophiuchai. Quote, as long as you live, the people I love will never be safe. No one will. It's a combination of what both Luther and Simon demonstrated to Diem last episode. Luther highlighting all the good Diem has done for her people and Simon warning her of all the bad her indecisions have led to. Knowing there will be a cost, knowing it will bring about her death, Diem is finally ready to face Ophiuchai and end this once and for all. Speaker 3 (29:45) Let's get ready to rumble! Before the battle can start, let's do a quick walkthrough of the strategy that Diem has set with her high general and her trusted advisors. The plan is to send out their soldiers in three different waves. Wave one consists of sending out the Igneous warriors to take on Ophiuchus troops directly, while the descended nobles use their magic to weaken Ophiuchus shield. With each descended noble, they have an armed mortal to act as their guard and protect them from any physical attacks. while they're focusing their magic elsewhere. On top of this, O'Banneran is using his wind magic to help guide the archer's arrows and the Faunus Descended are using their magic to keep the cavalry horses calm during their battle. That is so cool. Wave two. This is the hundreds of army soldiers marching in the long, rigid lines in that tight formation. This is the Amarian army. When they all reach the front lines, they will keep marching and cut down enemy after enemy after enemy. Because their long and hard careers with the Amarian army, these are the soldiers that they are hoping will end the battle. This is the best case scenario. This will end the war after Ophiuchus' shield has come down. Wave three. This is the oh sh... shit, we need to do something now. This is the weakest wave of the three, and this is definitely the backup plan. It's made of the most vulnerable and weakest and least trained troops. Wave three's goal is to basically form a human shield around any of the long range weapons. This includes the ballista, the catapult for launching bombs, and for the archers. If any of these soldiers were to enter the actual battle, it is a high likely they will not have the skills to make it out alive. The hope is that they actually never have to send in this third wave though, like I mentioned. Besides these three waves, we also have the healers. The mortal healers are sticking to the back and only coming out as needed. Most of them don't have the skills to protect themselves. Losing any healer is really not ideal. So these mortals will stay in the back. But then there's the descended healers. So from Fortos, they, because they have a lot more combat training being in Fortos, they will be on the battlefield in or more of the midst doing their healing. Then we have the archers who are in the trees as a way of protecting themselves. The strategy was chosen because Alix believes that they are stronger as a cohesive group. This is specifically around the buddy system, I'm going to call it, that they have on the field. Blending the mortals and the descended strengths within each other. I don't Speaker 2 (32:22) know Speaker 3 (32:22) what else to call it. Here's your buddy. Well, literally, Eamon goes out and he's like, where's your mortal? Speaker 3 (32:29) Oh, really? Yes. The mortals and descended strengths within each wave. It is the focus because the traditional Amarian army more so leans into segregation. But Alyx has spent a great deal of time with both sides of DM's army and has come to know the strengths and the weaknesses. Due to this, she is. confident because she's a leeks, of course she is, in her ability to mesh these two factions together in a way that strengthens any weaknesses and also utilizes those strengths to the best of their ability. God, I love this. I Speaker 2 (33:03) love this so much too, especially with Alix's POV context that the division and oppression of the mortals never sat right with her. She is a devout follower of the kindred and believes in what they preached about mortals and descended living in harmony side by side. Instead of translating that as segregation side by side, like the crowns have twisted as a just excuse for the division, Alix is applying it the way she knows the kindred truly meant, together in unity. In this case, literally fighting side by side and protecting each other. I love it. This battle plan is great. However. Ophiuchus is not shielding his army like he usually does. Instead of shielding their persons, he is shielding the air above his army. And not because he wants to conserve energy. He doesn't need to. He has a lot of energy. Our first wave is comprised of mostly powerful descended to target the shield that is supposed to be in front of these mind wiped forces. Their goal is to weaken the shield before our side goes in with the second wave of experienced fighting soldiers. And as the first wave is planning to weaken, Ophiuchai's shield. That's where we've got the archers to target his armies. I will admit I'm a little confused why the archers and the arrows would work if his army didn't have shields around them, but that's okay. Now the archers cannot get their arrows into the enemy's army, and the only thing that our side can do is meet the mind-wiped people head-on in battle, forcing them into a ground attack which messes with their first and second wave strategy. Thus, Ophiuchai is making Diem use her army to massacre innocent lives she would much rather protect. As we'll see with Aemon, these descended, they are not fighters, and they know many of their opponents' faces. Ophiuchai is trying to break Diem to his will, but until she does, her people will have to battle fellow Amarian citizens head on. Speaker 3 (34:54) During the battle, we get our fourth unique POV, and I think... I think we threw out this name last episode. I think actually you threw it out. And I'm not going to lie. I Speaker 2 (35:05) was not expecting it to actually happen. I was thinking either Eamon or Remus. Because I feel like we're going to get one of the two. And we got Eamon. And I was like, oh. And then what an emotional roller coaster this chapter was. Speaker 3 (35:19) This was such a good. chapter. I'm so glad we got to see his POV because we really get that insight into how his mind works and how entirely sad it is. Right off the bat, Eamon is questioning his life choices of the last few days. We saw during the council meeting that Eamon proudly stood up and declared that he wanted to fight even though his magic is not very strong. you know, as most of the core blois. And in that moment, it was really him standing up to his father for the first time. But now that he's actually here, I won't say he regrets every second of it because he doesn't regret standing up to his father, but he regrets that he is the most out of his element he's ever been. And he is convinced that he is going to die on this battlefield. We've known since GLOW that Aemon's magic has not exactly been the most potent. And we've known that while Terran was training in combat, Aemon was training in politics. ticking, which side note, it utterly broke me how Eamon suspected that his father kept him back from learning any magic or any combat training because he was certain that he would use those lessons to kill his father. Speaker 2 (36:27) Yeah, I think Eamon's assumption there is spot on. Maybe not necessarily that he would absolutely kill his father, but that his father forced him to stay small. Speaker 3 (36:37) Yeah, as if I needed one more reason to really hate Garrus. Aemon himself even admits that he really did not plan on following through on this declaration to fight. When he arrived this morning to the camp, his only intention was to bring Diem the weapons that his father had stolen in the hopes to make up for him pulling out of the fight. But when Taryn saw him. and looked at him with respect, really for the first time, he knew he couldn't back out. I love, love, love, love, love, love that this is the reason Eamon decided to fight. Him and his brother are at the earliest stages of healing their extremely raw relationship. And at that moment, Terran looking at him with admiration and respect for the first time, that moment was too precious to break. But even though he went through with this agreement, he didn't really think it would mean being on the front lines where Terran volunteered them both to be. To Aemon, them being on the front lines doesn't make any sense. Why would they need to fight if those in the Amarian army have been trained to do this? Oh, Aemon. Him and the other royals of the 20 houses are out here. He phrased it so perfectly, but I'm going to call it seemingly playing dress up. He was like scared little kittens on the battlefield. I think it's something like he said. And of course, Eamon is going to go back in this life and death scenario. He's going to go back to that more nurtured way of thinking. There are others who should be out here doing the fighting. We shouldn't be out here. But egg on both me and Terran's faces because we misunderstood his full meaning. Eamon wasn't only talking about them as descended and there's, you know, mortal army. soldiers who've been prepared and all that kind of stuff. Aemon fears for the mortals around them who don't belong here as well. He fears that these people who are bakers and other types of merchants, they're not trained to be here just as much as he's not. It's moments like this where we really get to see who Aemon is as the person without Gareth in his ear. Because Even though shit is hitting the fan, he is terrified for his own life. He's questioning his own life choices. He is still thinking about those who are weaker and how someone should be out here protecting them. That really is core Amon, even when he's had layer upon layer upon layer of Gareth trying to diminish that. Much like how Speaker 2 (38:54) as Speaker 3 (38:54) children, him and Taryn shouldn't have been having to defend themselves against their f***. fucking father, someone who should have been there to protect them in a similar way of how Eamon wants to protect someone now during the war. But unfortunately for Eamon, that means that he needs to step up in this moment and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, even as he questions his own abilities to do so. I Speaker 2 (39:19) know I said this earlier, but oh my goodness, what an emotional roller coaster it is being in Eamon's head. And what's more, how... Heartbreaking it is to read his inner monologue and see how much his father is ingrained in his mind's narrative. It's Gareth's voice that Eamon hears when he chastises himself for joining the fight to earn his brother's respect when his brother doesn't give two shits about him. That's what Gareth always reminded him of, that Eamon was protecting a brother who thought Eamon was lower than him. Basically saying you're stupid for trying to protect this person because they don't care about you. And then the line that Taryn had never done a thing. to prove their father wrong. These two sons were pitted against each other from the beginning. Then there's the fact that Aemon has weak magic and Gareth held that against him all his life and made him feel small and useless. Aemon can hear his father's voice chiding him not to be foolish. He can't fight anyone, not even his father. Gareth ensured Aemon never learned to train in weapons and combat or magical attacks, always chalking it up to his son having a weak godhood. Now, The son is in the middle of battle and literally does not know what to do because he never learned and fears trying because it's been drilled into him that he shouldn't, that he can't even try. And all he can hear is the reasons why he should not have bothered trying in the first place because that's what his father always made sure was top of mind, was his narrative. Yes, Eamon, I agree with you that your father kept you small to keep himself the big, powerful and scary one. Gareth made these two brothers enemies so he could stay in control. But even when Aemon bolsters up the effort to conjure light magic at his palms, he fears trying to attack. Because what if he fails and it proves his father right? If his father is right about Aemon's magic, then that's a slippery slope to his father being right about every cruel thing that he has been saying to Aemon all his life. Getting this glimpse into Aemon's POV breaks my heart. because I can imagine how exhausting it's been for him to survive under his father's cruelty. Always being reminded that he is weak, that he shouldn't try to protect his brother because his brother doesn't care about Eamon. Eamon has never had an opportunity to see his own potential. Every time he tried, the effort was mocked and stomped on. And what I love about this chapter stretch is how we get so much character arc in one chapter. Because in these pages, Eamon recognizes that that he found his own opportunities out of necessity, becoming what he could in the tight mold under his father's watchful, scrutinizing eye. And that is something to be proud of. You Speaker 3 (42:01) know who I hate almost as much