Steel as the false knight
I know I've already talked about it and made a comic about it but the fireside chat reminded me I'm not done talking about the Curran/Steel Parallels- Because how crazy is it that when asked to describe a character their young selves trust and look up to, a knight in shining armor, Lou and Aabria both made the choice to describe them looking like Brennan, and these two characters ended up as such fascinating foils?
We all remember this quote from Sir Curran-
"There are some, I should say, brave spirit, who give themselves this name falsely. There are some knights who move through the world believing that their birthright is that-" And you see, he points to the sword which he left on the side of the road. And he turns his shield around, swiveling it on its point, this kite shield. Swivels it, shows his crest, and he says, "but this is the mark of a knight."
It's the perfect set up for the second time we see Steel, and Brennan describes her to Eursulon as a knight- he asks her "are you a knight?" and she says "In a manner of speaking, yes". Steel is the one Curran warned about, the knights who give themselves this name falsely, who think their birthright is the sword and not the shield.
They both give Eursulon a tool and a title- Curran gives him the pauldron and calls him sir, Steel tells him to pick up his sword and calls him a soldier. When Eursulon comes to the Citadel, and she trains him with a sword, and gives him a title and a cloak of the Citadel, she is doing him an honor, in her own way- what could be a greater honor than being trained to be a soldier of the Citadel? The way she was raised, the way she tries to raise the daughter of her friends who 'lost their mind' when they wanted to give this up?
Curran says ''At their best, a knight is a warrior, which is to say one how prizes danger for themself over the thought of danger for another" In Steel's mind, that's what she does- she does the dangerous, ugly and brutal things the Citadel demands, she shoulders this duty for the good of the empire. Curran says "to a brighter world", Steel is trying to make a brighter world, but her perception of it is twisted and cruel.
personal detour here- around the time arc 1 was wrapping up I was DMing a short campaign where I had an NPC inspired by what i imagined young Steel to be, who was an Imperial official and a controversial figure for the PCs- some hated and distrusted her (with good reason), some liked her, one girl ended up sleeping with her by the end of the arc. I tried to make her charming and sociable while also being completely devoted to her goal at any cost, even if it takes some sacrifices. And she was a paladin. It was this early in the story and already well established- The most dangerous things about Steel are the defining aspects of a paladin- her unshakeable faith in her cause, and her charisma.
Brennan said it was important for him to show that the trio are heroes and their path is heroic, but none of their stations in inherently better or worse- there are good and evil wizards, good and evil witches, good and evil wild ones, and I think that in the metaphorical sense, this symbolism of Steel shows that there are good and evil knights. It's such a rich symbolic vein for Eursulon's growth as a knight, to have two opposites ideals of knighthood, one he aspired to and one he opposes with all him being. It reached it's beautiful culmination when he chooses to keep his shield and not his sword while fighting Curren, without missing a bit.
But the sword isn't inherently evil- Eursulon doesn't wish to destroy the Citadel, 'the knife at the heart of the world', just defeat the ones who wield it for evil. Wavebreaker was given to Eursulon first by Suvi and then by Naram, a gentle spirit who tells him "I hope that my sword, and not my spear, strikes true". He uses his sword without pleasue, but he does use it. The tools are not as important as the intention of those who wield them. Eursulon, the spirit of freedom, makes his own path to the brighter tomorrow.
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