Murray and Hal have had some fascinating parallels building since the start of the campaign. The one I find most compelling is that they are working professionals who willfully limited themselves to a small world, and Thjazi's death exposed how delicate that situation was in this post-Shaper world.
Murray is the bursar at the Penteveral. Most of her responsibilities are administrative, but she finds time to teach/tutor and research magic. Prior to the campaign, she used her position to steal materials (and presumably embezzle funds or fabricate records to keep it hidden) and smuggle prohibited goods. That activity somehow got her into Thjazi's network because he relied on those skills. She also knew Bolaire through that work, and she had previously tutored Azune at some point. Despite those connections to people directly opposed to the Sundered Houses, Murray knew very little of their plans to do that, and she didn't consider herself part of a rebellion or resistance. She had similar perspectives on many of those issues, but her priority is generally the students at the school (though she favors certain students over others).
Hal is the owner of multiple theaters and an acting troupe, and also a playwright. Like Murray, most of his responsibilities are administrative, typically including the job of a producer, though he clearly has experience in acting and related jobs in a theater. He is a veteran of the War of Axe and Vine, like Thjazi, but that was also his last engagement in conflict as a soldier. Thjazi eventually returned to mercenary life in the Falconer's Rebellion, and Hal turned down Thjazi's direct request to join him because he did not want to leave his young children. They never really reconciled since then, so Hal has been unaware of Thjazi's dealings other than the public scandals that arose from them. Hal's dream was to obtain ownership of the Hallowed Round and turn it into a theater, and it required supplicating the Halovars and specifically earning Wick's favor. He only managed to achieve it days before Thjazi's execution.
Each of them has specific goals and sets of people they prioritize. It's the institutions that enable careers they want to have, and it's the people most like themselves.
That makes them very sympathetic. Of course that's normal to prioritize. We all do that. It's built into how our brains function; literal neuroscience at work. We prefer things we've encountered more often. We prefer people who have faces like ours. We prefer music we hear frequently. Merely owning an item makes us think better of things like it because we conceive of it as ours. It's an unconscious judgment embedded in every moment of our lives.
It's also the psychological basis for bigotry and tribalism. It's why the us versus them mentality exists.
The problem it poses for Murray and Hal is that the world is bigger than their institutions. The Sundered Houses see the Penteveral as potential competition, so they took it over, forced out Dean Tallbarrel, then appointed Dean Kora because she would do as they demanded. House Halovar saw Hal's theater as a means of spreading their propaganda, so they took the opportunity to force Hal into a position where his dream career is contingent on appeasing them. Small worlds never stay isolated.
We cannot know if either of these circumstances could have been prevented, or even delayed. However, choosing to ignore the greater issues outside those institutions would never fix anything. If Murray or Hal had chosen to focus solely on the things they wanted, without concerning themselves with the city at large or the world beyond it, there is no way they would have stood against the Sundered Houses. The connections they had with people outside those worlds are the ones that gave them the information and resources to make a difference.
The hard part is that those connections need to be sustained in both directions. There's give and take. Murray had to swallow her pride and supplicate Dean Kora to cover up her efforts to help her fellow Schemers in opposing the Sundered Houses. Hal had to lean on his troupe and their families to collect information. In every step, they had to face an unrelenting truth that even the smallest requests were putting lives, careers, and relationships at stake.
Of course Murray cares most about students like her, and of course Hal cares most about his family and actors like him. But they can't participate in an opposition force to a greater threat and keep such a strict priority. That's why they made the choices they did. If Murray prioritized Demodus's safety, she would have told Azune "no" and neither of them would have asked for his testimony. If Hal prioritized his own career and the others' careers, he would have caved on Kotherai and the Halovars would have their propaganda. Instead, they each made a sacrifice and also demanded similar sacrifice from the peers they care for most, and it's making the world better.
The turmoil shows us how difficult that is. They wish fervently that they could just go back to being a bursar and a theater owner. It feels horrible to turn away from those dreams. But the story is that they swallowed the bile and took a step forward in a coalition with people outside their small worlds.
The sympathy is not the point. It's that you have to do things you do not want to, you have to persuade people you love to do things they do not want to, even at the risk of your dreams, and it may fail anyway. But it still must be done.
Small worlds simply do not last, and it's not worth it to protect them at the expense of the world around you.
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
