Welcome back to the reread of the First Law Trilogy. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, fight fans: Fenris the Feared and the Bloody-nine go toe to toe this week. Two men enter the Circle; one man leaves. If you’re not excited for this, I question your aptitude as a fan of Joe Abercrombie.
There’s also another kind of fight—one that makes me deeply uncomfortable as a reader.
“Authority”
Summary: King Jezal dan Luthar observes a meeting of the Closed Council. Tempers are high as the Gurkish get closer and closer to Adua. lord Marshal Varuz is presenting on the situation. It is grim. The Gurkish ma be outside the gates of Adua within the week. They have approximately 50,000 troops already en route, with more landing every day. The Union strength, without Lord Marshal West’s army, is around 10,000. The nobles have not sent men, nor do they seem willing to do so. Lord Chamberlain Hoff suspects this is a result of Lord Brock’s machinations.
Bayaz suggests that they arm the peasantry, anyone willing and able to fight must be given a weapon. Jezal seems to agree, but wonders after West’s army. Varuz informs him that even if West set to return the moment he received his orders it would be a month before he arrived, which means, at the very least, a siege of several weeks in Adua. Hoff suggests the Closed Council evacuate. Bayaz disagrees. Jezal echos him.
However, when Bayaz suggests they abandon the outer wall, in favor of the shorter inner wall. Jezal outright refuses. He will not abandon one inch of Adua to the enemy. The Closed Council is uncomfortable with his assertiveness, but no one challenges his order. Meanwhile, the Inquisition is torturing anyone with Kantic blood. Marovia and Sult argue back and forth about civil rights.
Later, Gorst interrupts the King to report on Queen Terez. She’s packing with her ladies to flee Adua. Jezal returns to their rooms and finds the evacuation well underway. He tells them they cannot leave. Countess Shalere, the Queen’s closest confident, gets in Jezal’s face. He responds by backhanding her to the floor. He is the King. He refuses to be spoken to and treated like a servant. He has been too generous with Terez. The time for her to object to their marriage was months ago. Her ladies may leave, but the Queen stays. The people will not tolerate her leaving without widespread panic.
Important Characters Introduced: None.
Minor Characters Introduced: Countess Shalere (we’ve seen her before, but this is her moment to… er… shine?)
Quotes to Remember:
There was an uncomfortable silence, the displeasure of the First of the Magi hanging over the group as heavily as the storm clouds hung over the city.
If there’s such a thing in the First Law Trilogy as a “dark lord,” quotes like this make me think it’s Bayaz. He begins as the wizened wizard shepherding our heroes, and ends as something else all together.
‘The time to raise objections to my parentage, or my person, or to any other facet of our situation, was before you became Queen of the Union! Despise me all you wish, Terez, but you… go… nowhere.’
Thoughts on why this quote makes me uncomfortable below.
Analysis: So, things begin here with a little catch-up of what’s going on at the front. We saw Ferro participating in delay tactics, and now we know that there’s little hope of delaying anything. The Gurkish are coming and we’re in for a siege. Where’s Cosca?! In any case, we get to see Jezal continue to test his limits with Bayaz, seemingly with success. Of course, the highlight of the chapter is Jezal’s interactions with his wife. And it makes me deeply uncomfortable.
Why? Because the way the chapter is written, and how the conflict til now with Terez has been framed, makes the scene, of Jezal striking a woman and taking his wife “in hand,” a fist pump moment (pun unintended). Jezal asserts himself. He’s not taking anyone’s shit anymore! There’s no question that the entire thing is framed from the beginning to support Jezal in this conflict. And yet… he’s hitting a woman. He’s ordering his wife around like a servant. It’s all jumbled up because we don’t get to see Terez’s point of view. To us, she’s being unreasonable. To Jezal, she’s being cruel. Which is it? By not showing us, it feels like Abercrombie is making Jezal’s reaction sensible and understandable. Two things which, when applied to an abuser of women, make me deeply uncomfortable.
“The Circle”
Summary: I’m going to eschew my traditional summary here because this chapter is a beast. And honestly, most of it is useless for “summary” purposes as a great deal of it is Logen grunting and Dogman thinking about being quiet. So, generally, here’s what happens:
The Union soldiers debate the barbarism of the North. Janelhorm thinks the Circle is awful. Pike thinks it’s pretty elegant.
West talks to Logen about the impending battle. They come to the conclusion that no one gets what they deserve. No one has to pay for what they’ve done. West agrees to hold shields for Logen during the Circle. Sad to say that Logen has few friends among his own.
Meanwhile, Dogman, Dow, and Grim, infiltrate Carleon. They’ve going to kill Caurib. They kill some people on their way. Dow continues to be a dick. Dogman is about to piss himself the whole way.
Logen heads to the Circle. Everyone whispers his name. The Feared enters. Fear washes over everyone. Crummock announces them and tells them to recite their deeds. Logen gets to use his sword. The Feared wears armor that covers his vulnerable side. They start fighting. And they do it for a while. Logen mostly gets his ass kicked. The Feared’s blue side is invulnerable. Logen cuts off a blue arm. The Feared picks it up and reattaches it. At one point, West cheats and loosens the Feared’s armor during a scrum. Logen becomes the Bloody-nine. Everything changes. The fight turns in his favor. Until the Feared gets him in a bear hug.
Inside, Caurib catches Dogman and Grim approaching her. She controls their minds. Dogman is about to stab Grim, who bares his breast. Dow splits Caurib’s head in two.
Outside, the Feared is immediately weakened by Caurib’s death. The Bloody-nine gets an arm loose enough to stab the giant’s side. His presses his sword slowly through the Feared’s body, through the blue and into the vulnerable flesh beyond. The Feared dies. And the Bloody-nine marches on Bethod. He smashes the King’s head on the stones until it breaks open. Then the masses declare Logen Ninefingers King O’ the Bloody North.
Important Characters Introduced: None.
Minor Characters Introduced: Pale-as-Snow
Quotes to Remember:
‘With these signs great Glustrod marked me out as his chosen. With his hands I tore down the statues of Aulcus. Now I kill little men, in little wars.’
I find it interesting that Fenris is actually a thinking creature. Up until now he’s been identified only as a thoughtless monster. Does he feelings? Is he lonely? It opens a pretty big can of worms to find out he’s got memories.
Maybe they’d forgotten how to be their own men, and now they needed someone else to tell them what to do.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Logen.
Analysis: Longest. Chapter. Ever.
Everything in ‘The Circle’ is pretty self explanatory. There isn’t a lot of subtext floating around. Logen is really scared. Then he’s getting his ass kicked. Then he’s the Bloody-nine and kicks ass. Then he almost dies. Then he murders all the ‘bad guys’. While at the same time, Dogman almost murders his friend, but Dow saves the day with an axe to magus’ face. To me, the most interesting parts of the chapter are the Feared, the Feared’s relationship to Caurib, and how they got together in the first place.
We know the Feared is thousands of years old. He was created by Glustrod (or at least augmented). He tore down the statues of Aulcus. Which means, he was there during the war between brothers. Was he there when the Seed destroyed it? How did he get from there to here? Caurib is at the root of it to be sure.
I think it’s always been assumed that Caurib was an agent of Khalul. She appears to be an Eater, based on her abilities, but we have no proof of that. She’s also able to control minds with ease. We see that she has the power to augment the Feared’s strength or pain tolerance. Once she’s kill by Dow, the Feared weakens. His blue side remains invulnerable (seemingly), but the Bloody-nine breaks his hold. Was she controlling the Feared’s mind to ignore pain? Or was she pumping power into him? How does any of this work? Argh! Was the Feared following her only because she was forcing him to as she almost forces Dogman to kill Grim? And why give Bethod control of any of this?
My theory is that Caurib has nothing to do with Khalul. She’s an agent of Bayaz. We know that Bethod agreed to let Logen live for a price. What price? I would argue the price was the Feared. To let his champion go free, a man of such martial power, Bethod would have to have something even more fearsome. Caurib must then be an apprentice of Bayaz, not Khalul. Make sense?
I’ll note that watching Logen go toe to toe with the Feared only makes me more certain that the Bloody-nine is the work of the Other Side. I don’t know how or why or when, but I’m sure.
Next Week: Glokta tortures some Kantic innocents. Logen tries to get comfortable.
Justin Landon used to run Staffer’s Book Review. Now he kinda blogs at justlandon.com. Find him on Twitterfor meanderings on science fiction and fantasy, and to argue with him about whatever you just read.
I had forgotten that Jezal backhands Shalere. Wow, the “Terez stuff” is worse than I remembered.
Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but while the Bloody Nine beats the Feared, isn’t it Logen who murders Bethod. My recollection was that the last scene has Logen killing him in Bloody Nine fashion, indicating the blued line between the two.
If I recall correctly, Terez physically assaults Jezal earlier in the story, unprovoked except for his gentle advances. So my sympathy for her is well and truly gone by this point.
Justin,
in regard to the altercation between Terez’ handmaiden and Jezal, try to ignore their respective genders, and look at their social positions instead.
@1 — It’s unclear. But, yes… Abercrombie definitely changes the naming convention. There’s no moment of transition like normal. But, it’s also clear Logen can’t really talk, even at the end as they declare him King. Is that a result of the transition not complete or just because his mouth is fucked up?
@2 and @3: Oh, I get it. It all makes sense within the context of the story. And you’re right, we have almost no sympathy for Terez and her ladies. But, isn’t that uncomfortable? It’s deeply disturbing to me that the whole conflict has been framed that way. Shows how good Abecrombie is, but also how I don’t think he’d ever thought about how something like this might be read?
*big sigh* I think the Terez scene needs to be read in dialogue with the similar scenes with Ardee. It’s not okay that her brother hits her, but okay she kicks her predatory creditor in the face? Was it okay T attacked J, but unacceptable Jezal hits her servant? I think of this as the “Sherlock Question”—is it okay that to show the pathologist isn’t his pathetic lapdog anymore by having her repeatedly slap him, when clearly the reverse wouldn’t have been acceptable at all? because I say that kind of blatant double standard isn’t good criticism, esp. if it’s unexamined. If we’re going to object to violence against women, we have to examine our criteria for violence against men, too. And @3 is right, physical difference isn’t the only dynamic.
About Caurib & the Bloody-nine, I take the opposite reading. I take Caurib to be a witch who for whatever reason is supporting Bethod, a free-lancer, so to speak. And I’ve never felt the need to have the B9 be more than an ordinary berserker. Think “MacBeth”–the witches have no political affiliation and his battle prowess is very much like that of a berserker.
@xena – Do we have any evidence to support a magus who isn’t affiliated with Bayaz or Khalul?
Caurib & B9 cont’d….part of the reason I think this -since I don’t think there’s convincing evidence either way, is that it makes the world far too tidy if Everything can be traced to the conflict between Bayaz’s teachers. Lots of things, but not everything. It’s a much more interesting world if there are seemingly random bits in it. Since random events (and the implied meaninglessness) are so important in the trilogy, a certain randomness (or at least non-connection to Bayaz’s pet conflict) of magic-wielding people seems consistent. What if Caurib is a counterpart to Ferro–pursuing her own agenda, sometimes associating with another player, w/o giving a shit for Khalul et al. conflict? I think that reading is definitely left open.
Yeah, an argument from absence is a weak one, and you may well be right. But what little we know about the spirits/Others doesn’t support the idea they are aligned into camps. That possibility seems to be squashed by the way they’re indifferent to Logen and his world. If the spirits have no loyalty to or parallel to the magus camps we see through Bayaz, there’s no reason to think those 2 camps are the Only people/traditions able to access The Other Side. (SPOILERS) If the academics are incompetent independent ‘wizards,’ isn’t there a possibility of competent independent ones, since the spirit world doesn’t seem to have any camps we can discern?
@6: The difference is physical and social superiority. J is the king, and a physically imposing man (a sword master, in fact) who beats his wife’s friend and servant for dearing to stand up to him. This marks him as an asshole, since he is striking from a position of strength. He already has complete control of his wife and her servants, and he takes his frustrations with the Council out on somemone who are powerless to resist him. The same can be said for West and Ardee, when West nearly kills Ardee he strikes from a postion of supreme superiority, he controls her life physically as well as socially and legally. When Ardee strikes the money lender, she strikes from a position of weakness and frustration, as did Terez when she struck Jezzail.
The Terez storyline is one of the worst in the book, but it does show us what an absolute ass J still is even though he has delusions of being a better man after his adventures. He has no empathy, and I am not impressed by his determination to die for Bayaz cause (or rather, to have 10000 men die for Bayaz cause).
Certainly, my initial reaction to Jezal in this chapter was “He’s grown a backbone.” And that actually begins during the Closed Council meeting, first with him supporting Bayaz and then with the decision to defend the outer wall. His backhanding of Shalere is uncomfortable, perhaps more so when you consider that she is essentially the one who is cuckolding him. I’m more sanguine about the way he orders Terez around. One, he’s the king and he’s speaking here more with his royal authority and for the good of the realm. More importantly, though, I think it’s the only way to get through to her. I wonder how much easier this moment makes things for Glokta later on.
I never really noticed how long the Circle chapter was. The action did a good job of holding my attention and pulling me right along. I suppose Logen’s victory is the second trope that Abercrombie doesn’t invert (after West arriving in the nick of time), but he does make it rather unpleasant with the murder of Bethod. What’s interesting to me is that by the time of The Heroes and Red Country, legend has it the Logen faced Bethod in the Circle and there’s absolutely no mention of the Feared.
I said last week that I had a gut feeling that Caurib was working for Khalul. I still do, but I really have nothing to back that up. As for unaffiliated magi, there must be some. We’ve met five of them thus far and I think the names of one or two others have been mentioned, but there’s plenty of room for some who have held themselves aloof from the conflict, at least since the death of Kanedias.
OK, did some checking at the First Law wiki. Of the 12 we’ve met Bayaz, Khalul, Yulwei, Cawneil, and Zacharus. Two were killed by Kanedias and we are told that Leru has hidden herself away and Karnault sailed across the ocean. Three remain unnamed and their fates unknown.
@9 Certainly he’s still a beast, no argument on that score. But one of my long-running convictions in reading JA is that he deliberately constructs his scenes of violence, esp. by the use of parallels, to make the reader think about Why we enjoy violent fiction, why some is enjoyable and some isn’t. The quote from Homer that begins it–have you actually read Iliad?
Of all the (usually violent) ways men settle disputes, esp. the duel/the circle, I notice there’s no equivalent mechanism for women. If I had one major complaint with this, it’s that we see men in conflict, and women subject to the violence (physical and legal) of men, but what about women in conflict? That they have little power in respect to men certainly doesn’t prevent conflict between women. How that works in the North would be esp. interesting. I agree a story about Logen’s father would be awesome, but how ’bout his mother and her female kin?
Oh also Justin, it’s JaLENhorm. You seem to have trouble with his name every time he comes up. Could be problematic if we go on to The Heroes.
@Demetrios DAMNIT. This reminds me of Glokta. The first couple weeks way back when I kept typing Glotka. It’s weird. I say Janelhorm in my head and thus, that’s how it types. I will pay attention to it!
The thing about Jezal is that, even when he thinks he’s doing the right thing, he has a tendency to screw up while doing it. This is usually because (at this stage, anyway) he’s fond of the dramatic, impassioned gesture, rather than thinking things through. And in this chapter we have two examples of that. Jezal is prepared to fight for every inch of ground and offer no concessions – whatever the cost to others. So his behaviour with Terez and Shalere can be seen in this way: it’s Jezal getting carried away with his own self-righteousness, rather than the author suggesting that his behaviour is actually righteous.
Of course, it turns out that ordering Terez to stay is a canny political move that’s critical to the defence of Adua. How typical of Jezal to accidentally blunder into a good decision as a result of being an asshole.
@9: Jezal being the King is actually my point – Terez, as well as her servants, have so far utterly ignored the authority this imparts on him; and the worst thing he does is hit Shalere for entering his personal space. He could have her executed for that just as well.
I think Caurib being an agent of either Khalul or Bayaz is a bit of a stretch. She can’t be associated with Khalul because Bayaz, as the all knowing puppetmaster, would surely have known, and tried to actively bring down Bethod and Caurib. And can’t be associated with Bayaz, since when they meet at the library in The Blade Itself, there’s no recognition between the two. She’s a sorceress with no association with the Magi.
I may have made an account just to give some of my issues with your analysis.
First off: Jezal abusing his wife makes you…. “deeply uncomfortable.” Well, while it’s reassuring that you’re not a blatant misogynist, that’s not actually analysis, that’s you sharing your feelings.
Abercrombie makes readers feel uncomfortable. That’s like, his thing. That scene was doubtless meant to me disturbing, and making you feel like Jezal is in the right is supposed to be part of what makes it disturbing. “I’m a good person, I can read a fucked up story while keeping my sense of right and wrong, can’t I? Wait… am I rooting for an abuser right now?”
I’m not sure exactly what you were trying to imply by saying it made you uncomfortable and ending your analysis. I don’t for a second think Abercombie is trying to present Jezal’s actions as moral. I think he’s trying to present them as fucked up, and yet make the reader emphasize with the fucked up action. You know, like he does throughout all of his books.
Abercombie’s characters are pretty much always bad people doing bad things. This isn’t an exception. All those times Logen killed someone and we didn’t feel bad for the person he killed? Pretty much the same thing, although that type of violence becomes almost unremarkable in a series like this.
So the fact that this scene makes you uncomfortable while other acts of violence don’t is important, and probably done somewhat on purpose. But you should really expand on that. WHY does this make you uncomfortable where other acts of violence don’t, and what’s the purpose of having the scene in the novel at all, etc etc. I think this scene does a lot of things really well. It makes the reader question the power dynamics of their relationship, both political and gender. It makes us question Jezal’s motivations, and it makes us question ourselves for potentially agreeing with his emotions. It reminds the reader the type of world we’re in (violent and sexist), and it also reminds us that Jezal isn’t exactly a good person. As your extremely insightful analysis pointed out, yes, it also makes us uncomfortable, in a novel which seemingly strives to always make us uncomfortable.
One more thing: “I’ll note that watching Logen go toe to toe with the Feared only makes me more certain that the Bloody-nine is the work of the Other Side. I don’t know how or why or when, but I’m sure.”
I don’t actually understand your position on the argument? I suppose it brings up an interesting debate about authorial intent, etc. Is it important you that (let’s be honest) Abercombie probably imagined it more as dissociative personality disorder?
I do enjoy your re-read, but maybe a bit heavy on the summary and light on the analysis. And I think it’s important to tackle problematic issues. Saying it makes you uncomfortable feels like a cop-out. You’re affirming that, believe it or not, you DON’T support men abusing their wives. None of us thought you did, Justin, we all know you’re a good guy. But you’re avoiding looking at the scene closely, which is kind of important. And it’s pretty much always more important to look at a scene closely when it makes you uncomfortable.
good words trinton07, good words.
@17
I always imagined Logen’s transformation to be supernatural in nature. This scene is one of the reasons why. I mean the Feared is what 9ft tall? Weighs God knows how much. I don’t think a regular man, even one as large as ferocious as Logen, could compete with that kind of strength, which he does when he twists out of the vice like grip. Even without Caurib’s assistance, surely the Feared would crush any mere mortal? Plus he talks with spirits, so there some kind of supernatural ability in his veins already.
I think there’s too much physical enhancement, of endurance and ferocity and strength, to dismiss it as merely a mental disorder. Even if it’s probably more hip to read it as purely psychological, and ‘oh my god another subversion of tropes! yay!’
If Jezal had Shalere executed (instead of slapping her), would that be a more “moral” , lesser “made me uncomfortable” act ?
Regarding unaligned wizards : There was one mentioned in “Best served cold” , and IIRC several mentioned in “Tough times all over” .
To his credit, Logen did cut off The Feareds arm, and stuck his sword in his skull. This is probably unmatched by any other person.(except Threetrees, IIRC)
@19,
I realize discussion of Logen’s “powers” is what Justin is probably aiming for, and so I have to give him props, because he’s done that well.
Also this is a month-ish late, but I feel compelled to reply in any case.
For the record, I’m not basing my belief that Logen’s condition is psychological based on any evidence in the text whatsoever. I’m talking specifically about authorial intent. I think it’s a pretty cut-and-dry argument that Abercrombie was coming from the psychological perspective with Logen’s, shall we say, issues. I say this for two main reasons. One, he’s talked about how he studied psychology, specifically “abnormal” psychology or something ( I don’t remember exactly what it was), and how he used this knowledge in his books. Also, perhaps most importantly, he pretty much says that he didn’t imagine the Bloody Nine as anything supernatural when Justin asks him about in in Rocket Talk. So Justin is aware that Abercrombie probably was coming from a psychology angle, yet still claims to be “sure” that Logen is actually supernatural.
Now, since Justin knows this, why does he continue with his argument? 1) This podcast was a decent way into the re-read, and to be fair, it would be silly to change his opinion half-way through. 2) It’s an issue which seems to cause discussion (perhaps a bit disingenuous of a motivation, but understandable.) 3) Most interestingly, because (I’m assuming), he probably considers textual analysis more important than authorial intent. An interesting debate to have in its own right, though I’d like him to adress this part of the issue.
Has the re-read been cancelled?
Well…It’s been two and a half months. I’m guessing the re-read is done.