… Okay. Leaving aside the ritual for a second. Just looking at the play. At the intention of the play, before all the magic and Thjazi’s manipulations were added on top. Looking at Hal’s intentions for the play.
Brennan: You see that Lash, as Vokjan, calls out: “You will see! All of you will see! One day you will look to the top of the hill, and no longer will Azgra be there. No more will his visage tower over us! You cannot see it, but I can!” He calls, with his eyes cut out of his head. “Look, and tell me. Do your eyes not see a free world, breaking, just beyond the horizon? Look! Look!”
And he points out, and everyone seems to turn to look to see where he’s pointing, knowing that, at the top of the city of Dol Makjar, is where Azgra used to sit, and there’s a moment where this is going to be kind of like an enjoyable moment of being, like, ‘oh yeah, Azgra doesn’t sit there anymore’. And they turn and look up into the city, and see the lights of the Villa Aurora, so bright, and the Grey Tower, its lights dimmed, and bright lights celebrating the Photarch’s resurrection, meaning that, at the very top of Dol Makjar, the brightest thing they see are the flags of the Sundered Houses.
The feeling that settles over the crowd in this moment is a deep, stomach-turning confusion, that settles into something more like rage. What is sitting at the top of this city?
As they turn, Lash’s last line. “You’ll see. One day.”
So, uh? So that was a bit …
I’m now shocked that Yanessa didn’t try to get this play shut down a lot sooner. Even before Hal decides fuck subtlety at the end and openly puts not only the Falcon’s Cry over the end, but also a direct verbal attack on the Creed. But. Even before that. Like, they’ve been monitoring the progress of this play. The only reason it’s not openly seditious is because the Sundered Houses do not technically rule the city, and thus it’s not technically sedition.
See, the thing is? Without the specific context of the Hallowed Round, it’s physical position and symbolism within the city …
The play on its own, while dangerous, can still be glossed as a historical work. The choice of what history to present is still dangerous, and still rather specifically pro-rungjani and anti-religious, but that also … This is the birthing place of the Shapers War, barely 70 years out. The Candescent Creed can’t really say not to do it. It’s Rungjani history, and religion has been dramatically out of vogue for seven decades now. Owing to, you know. The global decision to kill the gods.
It's the Hallowed Round itself that makes the difference. That visual symbolism, set up by Azgra, that finally frames the Sundered Houses within Azgra’s seat for its audience. It’s a very specific location and cultural context that allows that visual correlation. It’s a very Rungjani context.
And I’m wondering if Yanessa, Halovar, the Sundered Houses, just didn’t have that context in time to realise the true danger?
Because they are, after all, a foreign power. A colonial invader. They went to the top of the city, because of course they went to the top. They’re nobles. Power rises. To an extent, that’s the image they genuinely wanted to portray.
It’s just. Viewed from the Hallowed Round. The Dithyramb of Azgra itself. That image takes on a different meaning in context. One that I’m not sure the Sundered Houses actually understood.
Also, just. Sidenote. Look at Liam’s face during Lash’s speech as Vokjan:
There’s a man full of wild, giddy emotion at his work coming to life, and at the same time an underlying dead seriousness. This is a work that was done on purpose.
