Chapter 45
Added 2026-01-30 17:00:18 +0000 UTCTristan did not like Marshal de la Tavarin.
Comments
I agree with Maryam about gods. The second empire had many and powerful gods yet they couldn’t save them or stir it back in the right direction though the forces arrayed again them were mighty.
Joseph
2026-02-13 13:45:39 +0000 UTCI was wondering that myself; they had some sort of minor conflict early in this book, and it almost seemed like Izel was trying to dislike Zenzele on purpose (there was a line like "The trick, Izel thought, was to dislike the man"). I think maybe Zenzele was trying to use his Laurel diplomacy skills to smooth something over, and Izel felt like it was manipulative?
Pteromys Momonga
2026-02-09 06:45:29 +0000 UTCWhy did Izel dislike Zenzele anyway?
Pedro Henrique
2026-02-07 02:33:20 +0000 UTCPlacing a bet here as well before chapter 46: Fortuna has been recovering inside Tristan all this time. She never left, just needed some time to heal. (That's why Zenzele sees the cord to Fortuna coil around Tristan)
Gwennafran
2026-02-05 19:41:06 +0000 UTCWhile everyone is rightly concerned about fortuna, what about angharad? Her situation was fixable by killing a sufficiently dangerous gloam monster, not an aether construct. Whatever makes the fights 'count' may not include any random epic fight but killing something actually alive.
Mark W
2026-02-04 20:24:53 +0000 UTCYes. Yes, I did.
Angus Losier
2026-02-03 07:48:33 +0000 UTC"Also, damn, first Nentl loses part of her leg, and now Claver lost a leg and an arm. Third Brigade has some bad luck with limbs. And both from Lord of Teeth construct. " Andreu Claver is from 9th. Nenetl has a very different reason for being worried he dies under her command than brigade loyalty.
Gwennafran
2026-02-01 19:06:34 +0000 UTCPlease, for the love of all that's holy, let Tristan be right about Fortuna coming out unharmed. On a note that occurred to me, this is similar in structure to the last time Tristan lost Fortuna, when he went 'all in' and she disappeared for a bit before coming back. He went all in the previous book as well, and while this isn't as direct a result of that, I wonder if storywise if this is Errata's way of having that moment have a consequence and cost. I suspect this thought occurred in the hopes that losing Fortuna will be all the cost there need be to have satisfied the consequence of having all the luck in the world and we don't need to have anything worse happen to Fortuna. I fear I may be wrong. We finally see Tristan's plan for the spies come to fruition, quite happy. And I had a feeling Yoatl wouldn't die because it would feel like too much of a one-sided beatdown for Errata to write. But I am curious what her character does or is like from here. I'm guessing Izel has basically told her to go join another brigade and not even bother trying to lead it, but I have no idea who the hell would take her. Or how she'll change trying to do this. It's not like a flip has switched, she's clearly the same person, but Izel seems to believe this will finally enter her code and way of viewing the world that she'll finally put her efforts to actually remaining with the black and stop annoying the thirteenth. I feel like she has to eventually change into something better, though. This character has been the single most beaten down of any antagonist in this series, in a way that goes very against Errata's normal style. She is not being set up to lose, like Morcant or Cao feels. Those are threats. Yoatl is just kind of a nuisance and been punched and manipulated around constantly. Her greatest victory? Punching one of Tristan's teeth out, which he let her, and was still a win for Tristan as well. Her story cannot end satisfyingly with death, and her arc has had nothing but loss. The only direction for her character to go and serve any purpose for existing, is change. Changing into something the audience can appreciate. I'm not entirely sure how her story will shape up, just that I imagine she will turn into a very different person, and won't be allowed to die until she's changed enough that it would leave an impact. This is just based on the sense I get with Errata's writing style, nothing else seems to fit. And I think we all predicted that the Lord of Teeth was fake. But damn, even finding out, it's still impressive realizing someone made something that powerful and cunning. It's programed behavior is likely what has given everyone so much trouble, because it seems like it's programmed to ambush, based on doing so twice and never going out of its way to attack them otherwise, along with other odd behaviors that aren't normal for the species. They can't prepare and predict for something acting in ways that don't go along the norm. But the hunt seems about to get into a close, and the hunt for the maker will soon begin. Also, damn, first Nentl loses part of her leg, and now Claver lost a leg and an arm. Third Brigade has some bad luck with limbs. And both from Lord of Teeth construct.
Sheyaan Bhesania
2026-02-01 11:30:43 +0000 UTCBecause of the Moon-Eater? Apparently that god already existed before mankind fled to Vesper after the destruction of whatever world came before, which might have had an actual moon. There are also certain artificial and presumably natural structures or phenomena that the peoples of Vesper seem to refer to as if they were celestial bodies, like the "moons" of the Grand Orrery on Tolomontera, or the "stars" in "firmament".
Patneu
2026-02-01 10:29:53 +0000 UTCAnd if, as I suspect, the animating intelligence of Scholomance is actually Lucifer, he'd be capable of it too. He's been called the greatest scholar to ever exist.
Jacob Burton-Edwards
2026-02-01 05:08:24 +0000 UTCAmazing chapter! Also, can someone please explain how Vesper has a Moon if its inside a giant cavern? Its breaking my mind.
Eden Delima
2026-02-01 04:46:32 +0000 UTC" They were less than a week away from finally freeing Fortuna, weeks ahead of even the lowest boundary Andreu Claver had calculated for him. He had good reason to believe his goddess would come out largely unharmed and unchanged." Did anyone else hear Catherine screaming in horror at the top of her lungs upon reading that?
Patneu
2026-01-31 08:50:14 +0000 UTCWithout better candidates I blame Scholomance for Dantesvara. It has motive and most likely means too (opportunity as well).
Young Youghurt
2026-01-31 05:53:44 +0000 UTCNot if they are both secret police and spies. Being completely unknown would be detrimental.
TheLunaticCo
2026-01-31 01:41:04 +0000 UTCIf you include Tristan you'd have three...
TheLunaticCo
2026-01-31 01:38:48 +0000 UTCSeems like an over-demonification of Cao. I dont like her but i dont think shes the type to kill fellow Watch for ambition
Markos El-Far
2026-01-31 01:36:43 +0000 UTCIf I had a nickel for each time one of the Thirteenth was haunted by a monstrous entropic god connected to their fathers, I would have two nickels, which isn't much but holy shit the Moon Eater is terrifying.
A Total Sham
2026-01-31 01:24:34 +0000 UTCCalling it now, the Dantesvara attack was a manufactured crisis in order to justify the expedition for the Glass Repository. A sudden, explosive attack on students followed by an immediate retreat into hiding sounds like the perfect conflict for a certain aspirational bureaucrat: too dangerous to ignore, but not immediately threatening enough to employ the actual watch. I think Cao was acting in accord with Devils, who beings aether constructs themselves would be the best equipped to make something like the dantesvara. They want something out of the Glass Repository, Cao wants Azocar's job. That the dantesvara has been doing nothing but hiding since the initial attack makes sense if you assume the reason is to give Cao's expedition time to path to the Repository.
Kev Gamm
2026-01-31 01:12:02 +0000 UTCEvery time I read about the Monkey Society, I remember the teahouse room where Izel, Tristan, and Angharad met with Ishanvi in chapter 38 ("It was not marked with a number but the stencil of a monkey"). That would be remarkably unsubtle for a spy organization, but it was an odd detail that stood out to me at the time.
Pteromys Momonga
2026-01-31 00:59:01 +0000 UTC
