It's A Nice Day For a Red Wedding

Sung to the tune of Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”

Spoilers for Season 3 of Game Of Thrones…

Hey Walder Frey what have you done?

And Roose Bolton — you’re Robb’s bannerman!

The band starts playing “Rains of Castermere”

Old Lady Stark is just the first to fear

Hey King Robb — crossbow!

It’s a nice day to have revenge

It’s a nice day for a Red Wedding

It’s a nice day to have revenge

Old Uncle Blackfish — lucky time to piss

And Lord Edmure — still so clueless

Poor Eddard Junior isn’t meant to be

Catelyn Stark you go out like a G

Hey Robby’s direwolf — crossbow!

It’s a nice day to have revenge

It’s a nice day for a Red Wedding

It’s a nice day to have revenge

Arya Stark!

Don’t think you can go home!

Hey Walder Frey what have you done?

Hey Tywin Lannister you’re a sneaky one

This episode was so wrong (so wrong)

George R. R. Martin is so wrong (so wrong)

I feel kinda bad for this song

It’s a nice day to have revenge

It’s a nice day for a Red Wedding

It’s a nice day to have revenge

There is nothing fair in this show

There is no one safe in this show

And there’s nothing sure in this show

And there’s nothing pure in this show

There’ll be no one left in this show

Season four!

Come on it’s a nice day for a Red Wedding.

It’s a nice day to take revenge!

Towers Of Midnight As We Read

My friend Jon and I met halfway between our cities in Denver to go on a "reading retreat" -- immersing ourselves in the latest (and penultimate) installment of The Wheel Of Time series.  We're discussing the book chapter by chapter as we read.  Here are our notes.

SPOILERS for Towers Of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson be here!

Prologue: Distinctions

• Hmm. Perrin's hammering flattened lumps of iron.  I know this is metaphorical, but could one way for him to use the hammer to help, without killing with it, be to re-forge the seals, to be saidined/saidared into cuendillar?
• Graendal, like Stringer Bell, ain't about no 40-degree days.
• Can the unique True Power weaves defeat the Oath Rod somehow, for Mesaana?
• Fain likes black and red, just like Moridin and Mazrim Taim...
• Fain carries Mashadar, which makes undead Trollocs.  Did he pass through Hinderstap, kill everybody, and make them undead?
• Will Fain wait out the rest of this book at Shayol Ghul?
• My dad never gave me a sword on my 14th birthday.

1: Apples First

• Almen = All Men.
• I like this new Rand, creating food instead of spoiling it.  Will he have a role in this book besides being the funky Buddha?

2. Questions of Leadership

• Perrin, stop being Hamlet.
• To understand something, you have to figure out its parts.  Like how the 3 ta'veren fit together?  But he's on such a self-pity streak, it's hard to see how he'll recognize the big picture.
• I'm glad that Galad didn't have to go through Egwene's trials to have his position acknowledged.  The story is moving forward.  He certainly didn't have to wrestle with being seen for who and what he was.

3. The Amyrlin's Anger

• 13 black towers. The Forsaken, right?  The one who crumbled but became strongest of all -- Moridin? Or somebody else, a surprise?
• Crystal sphere cracking -- the Dark One's prison seals?  But what's the significance of the number 23?  The biggest Circle that can be made? 23 = 21 Sitters + Amyrlin + Keeper?
• I remember a prophecy, Rand sitting on a woman's chair, and the owner being murderously angry, and that Rand would face the Amyrlin's anger.  This chapter title is telling.  And Rand has just shown up.
• Tarna's note mystifies me.  We don't remember anything about a message.  Is she of the Dark? Is she Mesaana?
• We wonder if Rand has completed his character arc as of the last book, and is just being used as a plot pawn from now until the Last Battle. For Jon, this would detract from him, but I feel like there's enough Rand needs to figure out and do, that even if his character arc is complete, it's still interesting.
• Confirmed! The crystal sphere represents the Seals on the Dark One's prison.

4. The Pattern Groans

• The question recurs: how do the pieces fit together? What do you make of a flattened lump, rod and triangle?
• Mat fighting versions of his self, an assassin with a bloody knife sneaking up behind.  Not sure what this means -- all of Mat's memories? But who's the assassin? The gholam?
• Wolves chasing sheep into the woods, where a beast awaits.  Darkhounds? Or more metaphorical?
• Faile, Grady, Elyas, Gaul leading an army off a cliff.  We suspect this means that if Perrin doesn't use his abilities to plot a better course, he's going to doom all his followers.
• Interesting how Galad's and Perrin's scenes are sharing chapters.  They will probably converge, and we'll see the reckoning between Perrin and Bornhald/Byar, Galad and Morgase, Balwer and the Whitecloaks...
• Huh. Did a portion of the Blight really relocate this far south? And who would make a village, however crude, except Trollocs?  Or does the Blight recall Fain's blood on the plants, from the prologue?
• Galad the wise zealot. Jon thinks he's too capable, and is heading for a fall.
• The Whitecloaks are in search of a nation/ruler.  Chubain is being described as borderline incompetent.  Will the Whitecloaks become the Swiss Guard of the new Amyrlin?

5. Writings

• Chubain is the first man we've seen sniff.  To me, that proves he's not really a man, but Mesaana in disguise.
• Interesting how sinister hook-nosed Sleet seems in this scene.  In a chapter with a Forsaken icon.
• Egwene's wrong about the assassins, I think.  Not Black Ajah or Mesaana,  but Seanchan Bloodknives.  Jon points out, though, that a month or so has passed since the attack -- shouldn't all the Bloodknives be dead by now, because of their ter'angreal?
• Whoah.  Moridin is hearing the Dark One in his head now?  Ishamael always thought he was all but the Great Lord...
• Dark Prophecy! Perrin's gonna die! Dreamspike!  It's too much to process!  (Where have we seen weirdness in the World of Dreams lately? That could give us a clue where the other Dreamspike is being used.  The man with two souls, of course, is Isam/Luc.
• Is Moridin's bond with Rand still intact? Jon points out that if it is, he should have been able to catch Graendal's lie about Rand's mental state.
• Graendal raises interesting notions about Ishamael's pre-Dark past.  Was he a possible "candidate" for Dragon, but was corrupted?  Was his soul, in another turning, a Dragon who fell to the Dark?
• Oh very subtle, with the "apparent habit" of Graendal's.  I didn't catch this the first time.  I'm pretty sure, though, that I'd found a reason she couldn't be Asmodean's killer.  But I guess she is, given the glossary.

6. Questioning Intentions

• It's sad to see Morgase's talents wasted.  But at least we have explanations for why she has been laying low for so long.

7. Lighter Than A Feather

• I thoroughly enjoyed how the Borderlanders took Lan's dour rhetoric and used it to school him.  Lan needs some lightening up, and the humor in this section was welcome.
• Hmm. Galad will always do what's right, and if he has bad information, will that mean prosecuting Perrin?  And what will happen when he meets Morgase?  Will she force a crisis of what is "right"?

8. The Seven-Striped Lass

• Letter with a red blob of wax... Tarna's letter to the Dragon Reborn was from Verin!  Does that mean Tarna is Black Ajah?  No -- Verin would have revealed her to Egwene.  Verin just trusted Tarna.
• Teslyn continues to be cool.

9. Blood In the Air

• The gholam's verbiage -- and its up-to-date commands -- suggests that the one commanding (originally Sammael) is still around.  So is Sammael dead?  Moridin thought not.  Waitaminute... Did the Dark One transmigrate Sammael's soul into Mazrim Taim's body??

10. After the Taint

• Does all this happen before Tam visited Rand, or did Tam return to Perrin's camp?
• Hey, just remembered that Berelain is supposed to fall madly in love with someone dressed all in white.  And now her camp and Galad's camp are meeting up.  Wuv... true wuv.
• And... Jon was right. Galad's insistence to do what he perceives as right is leading him to folly. Who will stop the carnage in the 11th hour? My money's on Morgase.
• Jon suggests that, with Grady, we'll have an excuse to check in on the Black Tower without it having to be the Big Final Blowout.

11. An Unexpected Letter

• Whoah. Elayne is going for the Cairhien throne?  I've always pictured Moiraine taking the Sun Throne. It doesn't seem like she has much of a plan.
• Matt's letter just made my year.

12. An Empty Ink Bottle

• Why wasn't Min more reassuring to Nynaeve and Cadsuane, that Rand is OK?
• Verin gave Alanna a note. To protect her from being used by the Shadow?

13. For What Has Been Wrought

• Viewings: An open cavern gaping like a mouth (Shayol Ghul, obviously), bloodstained rocks (his blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul), two dead men on the ground surrounded by ranks of Trollocs (?), a pipe with smoke curling from it (?).
• It seems that Rand's confrontation with the Dark One wasn't a certainty until now.  The new viewings and Rand's words confirm it.
• Rand is a whirlwind of taking-care-of-business.  Too much to sort out for now.
• Rand is visiting the Borderlanders... If there is a Forsaken among them, we should see that.
• Rand's intention, it seems, was to stir the pot in the White Tower.  His arrogance was premeditated, not just botched handling.
• No idea who's missing in the hands of well-meaning allies in the Caralain Grass...
• Can Rand see Darkfriends now??? Like Fain can?  What other special abilities did his epiphany bring?
• I think I needed that hug with Tam as much as Rand did.
• Jon says he's enjoying Rand's energy and ceteredness and purpose.  He's not dull at all after his epiphany; he's more vital than ever.
• Rand is no longer "prey" and he is no longer letting circumstances dictate his identity.  The last scene shows that the original character of Rand al'Thor has been restored in the books and is going to fight the Last Battle -- not the icon of the Dragon Reborn.
• If Rand is not a sword, what is he?  He's still planning on dying.

14. A Vow

• Accepted training with Wise Ones... A fine idea.  Egwene is being very subtle here.
• Interesting window in Tel'aran'rhiod.  But why are the Fang and Flame still separate, instead of fused into the yin-yang?
• Egwene handled Nynaeve wonderfully.  Of all the characters, Egwene has grown the most.
• I wonder if the talk of taking the Oath Rod while pregnant is a clue, somehow, to how Mesaana defeated the Oath Rod (I don't think Mesaana is pregnant, but maybe there's a clue in there...).
• Does Egwene's orders curtail Elayne's plans for the Sun Throne?
• Elayne doesn't seem sympathetic to Egwene's plan to stop Rand from breaking the Seals. What does she know?  Egwene seems to be operating without a better plan where the Seals are concerned.

15. Use A Pebble

• I'm sort of inclined to believe Naeff's Talent for seeing Myrddraal isn't madness.  Reading further...nope.
• Did Rand go to fetch Callandor?  Or did Rand go off to meet his toh?
• Wow. What can't Nynaeve Heal?  I think she will indeed be able to Heal someone (Rand) three days dead.  We did NOT expect Nynaeve to be able to Heal madness.
• It sounds like the Black Tower blowout isn't going to be in this book.  Fair enough -- something to look forward to.
• The Oath Rod theories sound like Internet speculation.  Even the White Tower checks the boards, it seems.
• Mesaana is an administrator who hates being relegated to that position.  I feel like we should figure it out from this, but I can't think of anything.

16. Shanna'har

• Administration! Faile is Mesaana!!  (I kid.  Though this might be meant to remind us of someone in Tar Valon...)
• Food is spoiling again in Perrin's camp recently.  The arrival of Graendal and her henchfolk?
• Perrin's schooling continues. He needs it badly.
• At last. This marital strife is DONE.  A very nice anniversary scene.  It put me in the same frame of mind as their marriage, which is for the good.

17. Partings, and a Meeting

• The voice of the Mat chapters is very distinct. Clearly Sanderson had a great time writing him.
• I'm impressed that the sul'dam are actually going to the Tower to learn.  The times they are a'changing.
• Mat actually wants to reclaim the Horn of Valere? The times really are changing.
• Elayne's a little ruthless, though with cause.  And apparently, she's a Socialist with aims at universal health care.
• We wonder if Elayne's plans for the Kin will figure into the plot, or it's just seeds of how the world will evolve after the Last Battle.  Either way seems fine.

18. The Strength of This Place

• Interesting. Perrin acknowledges that his vision has been too narrow, a complaint we had of him in earlier chapters.
• A translucent violet wall... Is this an effect of the Dreamspike?  But what does it do?
• Borderland battles... Will Lan arrive to save the day?
• It looks like the Trollocs are attacking in force, following up on the prologue attack.
• Why aren't the Saldaeans helping?  Now that the rulers of the Borderlands are gone, has a Forsaken taken up residence and command?
• Clever bloody Myrddraal... Draghkar bombs?
• Faile's actions seem to reinforce the reality of Perrin's perception that the rumors of him and Berelain were shaming him.  But how could anyone have had that perception, given Perrin's obsessive quest to free Faile?
• It looks like Faile and Berelain's agreement, including "You'll find another man, as well" sets us up for the Berelain/Galad hook-up.

19. Talk of Dragons

• I keep having the feeling the Olver is giong to stow away, despite all of Moiraine's warnings, and be instrumental in winning in 'finnland.  The last few months of his life have been devoted to learning Snakes & Foxes, after all.
• Elayne copying the foxhead medallion could be HUGE in the arms race of Travelers, channeler combatants and cannons.  If both sides will eventually have cannons, will both sides also be able to negate channeling?
• Both Elayne and Mat have blossomed in their political acumen. It's lovely to watch them dicker.

20. A Choice

• Hooray! It's the Aes Sedai testing icon!
• And at last, Nynaeve exposes the arbitrariness of tradition.  She really is a dynamo in this series.  The Aes Sedai and Accepted tests always bothered me in their insistence on single-mindedness.  Apparently this is a valid objection.
• Nynaeve's confrontation with Myrelle: perfect.  Once more loose end tied up.

21. An Open Gate

• Interesting how Perrin's and Ituralde's scenes are sharing a chapter.  Will their stories converge?  I can't see how.
• What's behind the Saldaean reluctance to let Ituralde in?  Forsaken? Darkfriend?

22. The End Of a Legend

I like how a small concept in the second book (theater) has been allowed to flourish and develop.
Called it: Bloodknives.  So not enough time has passed yet, for them to die of their ter'angreal.

23. Foxheads

• Wow. Elayne invented a way for a non-channeler to shield a channeler.  The arms race takes a surprising turn.
• Sylvase: Darkfriend or dupe?  I vote Darkfriend, just because of the flashes of intelligence she shows when she's not being watched.
• Elayne, you're an idiot.  A pure, Light-blinded idiot.  And I hope you get dressed-down severely.  You botched capturing these women the first time; you botched interrogating them.  And I can't believe that illusion worked.
• Now the Shadow has channeler-proof bindings.
• Lan, you protest too much.  Stop behaving like... every other character in these books.

24. To Make a Stand

• All the mutual suspicion and aggressiveness in Maradon looks like an effect of Fain's corruption.  Did he pass through?
• It looks like a theme of this book is accepting responsibility, which Perrin finally seems to be doing.
• Finally, Slayer!  But can Perrin really train enough in Tel'aran'rhiod to beat an old pro like Luc/Isam?

25. Return to Bandar Eban

• Ah, St. Rand the ta'veren, mobilizing everyone towards the Last Battle. With compassion.
• Even Rand is learning to take responsibility, and offer apologies when needed.  He's fixing his mistakes...  Will the Seanchan or the Black Tower be next?

26. Parley

• The Traveling weaves are unraveling.  Is this something from the wildness of saidin back where the Bowl of Winds was used?  No, the other weaves work fine...
• At last, the hammer/axe thing makes sense.  It's a little Aiel-like, in their attitude towards swords.
• At last, there's some sanity in all of this, but will the trial be a bore?  Or will it bring to light something interesting, like the publicizing of Perrin's connection to the wolves?

27. A Call to Stand

• Fool the Hall once, shame on Egwene. Fool the Hall many times, shame on the Hall.
• Egwene seems terribly reactionary.  Shouldn't she be having her best scholars research Rand's plan and coming up with counter-proposals?  Granted, there's a precedent for not trusting Rand, but she already admitted she does.
• It seems like Rand is manipulating Egwene into rallying his troops for him.

28. Oddities

• The violet dome must be an effect of the dreamspike.
• Who is channeling on the Trollocs' side?  The Asha'man should be able to detect if it was someone strong enough to be Forsaken.  It must be new Dreadlords.  Plucked from Taim's men in the Black Tower?
• Who will be coming to the rescue?  Lan is already further east.  Will it be Alannah, who Rand says is heading to the Borderlands?  (Though she's going to Arafel...)

29. A Terrible Feeling

• Oh. Duh. The gateways are failing because of the dome. The dreamspike.  When Egwene discovered Traveling, it was linked to Tel'aran'rhiod, somehow.
• Berelain was prophesized to be besotted with Gawyn, but this seems suspiciously extreme.  But then, when you unite incredible hotness with incredible hotness...
• Interesting.  All of these Perrin/Galad chapters happen before Rand's epiphany in The Gathering Storm.  I kind of want to pull apart the chapters and read everything chronologically.
• With all the foreboding about cannons changing everything, I expect to see carnage at least on the level of Dumai's Wells.  Is this such a big development when channelers are fighting in nearly every battle?

30. Men Dream Here

• That tree is strong with the Dark Side of the Force.  In you must go.
• While it gives me warm fuzzies that Perrin witnessed Rand's epiphany, it feels like we're treading water instead of moving the plot forward.

31. Into the Void

• What a great action-cinematic chapter!
• Mat, with bands of assassins rushing him at every city block... Reminds Jon of the cult film The Warriors.
• If the gholam's gonna go, that's a damn cool way.  Bravo, Mat.  You do everything with style.

32. A Storm of Light

• It seems that as Moridin is getting more connected with the Dark One, Rand is getting more connected with the Creator.  At least, that's how I explain his funky new powers.
• He is becoming a bit saintly, though.  I hope he isn't just a paragon of compassion and goodness who can overcome all evil with a wave of his hand.

33. A Good Soup

• As with Elaida, so with Egwene, it seems: there's way too much "Aes Sedai versus Rand" attitude going on.
• And now we reach the end of Perrin's training montage.
• In addition to the "responsibility" theme, there seems to be a "casting off illusions" or "waking up" theme.  Like Gawyn's going through.
• Part of that "waking up" includes -- for once -- sharing information.  Like the Seanchan intel on the Bloodknives.
• Because of the limited timespan the Bloodknives have, they're going to attack very soon.

34. Judgment

• Confirmed: the violet wall is blocking the gateways. Probably the dreamspike's effect.  So why are they being penned in?  For an ambush by Graendal's Shadowspawn?
• Yup: all the truth comes out about Perrin.  Probably for the best.
• The verdict seems like another deferral of "justice", like when Siuan Sanche was tried by Gareth Bryne.
• This chapter feeds in to the responsibility/transparency theme.
• More than likely, Perrin's going to save the Whitecloaks when he needn't have interfered, and thus cement them into his own forces.

35. The Right Thing

• Teleportation battles!  This reminds us of The Matrix movies.
• Jaret Byar: Darkfriend, or crazy and misled, like the Prophet?  I vote crazy, because of his scent.
• Bornhald seems to be seeing sense in the light of Byar's crazy.  His father was a reasonable man, after all.
• Jon and I are both pleasantly surprised by Galad having character evolution in this book.  He has handled his growth better than most of the other characters.

36. An Invitation

• At last, Egwene makes good on her plan to create a confederation of female channelers.  With the Seanchan as a common enemy, it's a compelling idea.
• Holy $@!+ -- the dreamspike and Slayer are going to be in the Tower when the Black Ajah, Mesaana and the Bloodknives strike?!

37. Darkness in the Tower

• Now THIS is what we've been waiting for.  A fabulously messy convergence of heavy-duty conflict!
• I wondered if Graendal would join in, but Jon pointed out that with the dreamspike, there would be no way in.

38. Wounds

• Nice. Jon points out that if Mesaana is alive, but a vegetable, the Dark One can't reincarnate her. No balefire necessary.
• Hmm. Who does Graendal have in position?  Someone in Perrin's camp, or Galad's?

39. In the Three-fold Land
Uh...  Sound observations, but... WTF??

40. A Making

• "No more complaining"  FINALLY.
• Could this be a Power-wrought hammer?  (Yes!)
• Mah'alleinir = Mjolnir (Thor's hammer)
• Berelain is acting weird.  She's beautiful enough to make a great pet for Graendal...  Or maybe it's Alliandre...

41. An Unexpected Ally

• Hmm. Is there a Portal Stone in the Blight?
• Who was the weak male channeler using the Portal Stone?  From the Black Tower?  Or new channelers from continents unseen?
• Yup, this is where Perrin does his Selfless Act.

42. Stronger Than Blood

• Danelle was Mesaana.  That fits most people's suspicions.  So she must have had a way to partially disguise her strength in the Power.
• Why is Gawyn collecting Bloodknife rings?  If he uses one, will the Warder bond protect his life force?

Wheel Of Time Reading Retreat

Cover of Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time)

Some sports fans negotiate with their spouses for spans of time when they can indulge their obsession unfettered, immersing themselves completely and blotting out anything else.  I was never a sports fan, and my wife was never a "football widow".  But I can get just as intense about my geeky pursuits.  In this spirit, I proposed the idea of a "reading retreat" to my friend Jon, anticipating the November 2nd release of Towers Of Midnight, by Brandon Sanderson (channeling the late Robert Jordan), the penultimate book in The Wheel Of Time fantasy epic.

Our wives do not read the books, and we would be poor company for the days and nights as we read, dissected and attempted to discuss the book.  Much better, I told Jon, if we were to leave them in peace and meet in a city somewhere between Chicago and Seattle where we could read and discuss to the exclusion of everything else, for two solid days and nights.

The day Brandon Sanderson tweeted that he had completed his final draft, we set our plans in motion, booking cheap tickets to Denver via Southwest and four-star downtown hotel accommodations for $80 a night via Priceline.  Our plan is to read the book lock-step, chapter-by-chapter, and blog our discussion on this very site.  We're still searching for downtown Denver restaurants with Wi-Fi, from which we can eat, read and blog.  I have my Barnes & Noble nook loaded with the reference materials we'll need to check our facts.

November approaches.  Sports fans, I finally get it.

Sympathy For The Devil (Paradise LOST)

SPOILERS for the May 11th episode of LOST follow...

I disliked the LOST episode "Across the Sea" on first viewing.  From the American-accented Latin to the abrupt switch to English to the stiltedly "mythic" dialog, it bugged me.  But when I ran with the mythic feel and tried to understand it in that context, I started to appreciate this glimpse into the legend as a worthy pen-penultimate episode of my favorite network television show.

If you believe Jacob and his followers, the Island is a stopper that prevents the evil of the Other (what I call Jacob's nameless twin, sometimes referred to as the Man In Black or Esau) from being unleashed on the rest of the world.  The Island, in this view, is a sort of Pandora's Box, and Jacob (and eventually Jacob's successor), are charged with sitting on the lid.  We lapped up this information like cream, eager to have some revelation of the Island's nature.  But we didn't question it.  "Across the Sea" gave us some reason to do so.  At the heart of this is Mother, a Roman priestess or witch who, from the get-go, seems a shady individual.  She's a staunch isolationist -- murderously so -- who charges her stolen "sons" to protect the mysterious glowing cave (presumably the future site of the Temple and its pool).  She waves away the whys and wherefores by saying the explanation would just lead to further questions -- and the answers die with her.  Jacob has been bringing people to the Island, putting them through trials and suffering, all in the hopes of naming a successor, eventually to do the same all over again.  And he doesn't even know why.

In his origins, we see the Other's motivations for the first time from his point of view, and rather than the Bad Guy, he comes off as sympathetic.  Clever and curious compared to his dully dutiful, morally infantile twin, the Other pushes at boundaries and explores his world.  He uncovers Mother's great deception, and (with the nudge of his ghostly biological mother) justly rebels, seeking knowledge of his true origins and people.  He resembles another mythological character -- Eve in the Garden of Eden -- who also disobeyed and partook of the fruit of knowledge.  And was punished for it.  The Other's only real crime to that point was a desire for knowledge over ignorance.  In LOST themes, the Other is the Man of Science to Jacob's Man of Faith.

If his real mother's ghost played the role of Eden's serpent, it's interesting that in "death", the Other became a serpentine entity of black smoke, and (at least in the view of the Jacobins) "evil".  I don't think the morality of this Island conflict is completely relative: Ben and Sayid were similarly "baptized" and came out colder and more ruthless -- "corrupted" in a way that certainly brought out the worse part of their natures.  But this mythic interlude showed us that the conflict between Mother and the Other began with carnage on both sides.  It's significant that first blood, from the murder of the twins' biological mother, to the Other's head slammed against a mine wall, to the massacre of the castaways, went to Mother.  We still don't know why it was important for the Other to be kept on the island even before his "corruption", so the entire struggle could be seen as Mother's unjustified attempts to confine her son, and the Other's struggle for freedom.  The people Jacob draws to the Island are pieces in the game, and the Jacobins have been responsible for a massacre or two of their own (witness the Dharma Initiative, among other strikes).  If the Other doesn't seem particularly sympathetic to the protagonists, its because, in this battle of immortal demigods, they are no more than pieces on a board.

In the myth of Cain and Abel, Cain killed Abel because God rejected his offering but accepted Abel's.  Jacob notes that Mother always loved the Other more than Jacob, calling him "special".  As warring Titans, it's probable that both Jacob and the Other are separate from human morality, though they are not above human pettiness.  Daddy Issues are pandemic among the characters of LOST; it seems the root of the story lies in serious Mommy Issues.  Mankind is probably better off without both of these tragic demigods.  It may be that the "sideways" timeline, where the Island sank and the Jacob-Other feud is presumably ended, is the best possible outcome for the Losties.

The True Identity of The Sentry

In Dark Avengers #13, Brian Michael Bendis finally reveals the true nature of the Sentry!  Or maybe not.  But I know the answer.  (SPOILERS for Dark Avengers #13 below...)

Since New Avengers #1, Bendis has doled out clues about the absurdly powerful, yet oddly ineffectual super-being called the Sentry, a hero whose every good work is counterbalanced by the villainy of his arch-nemesis (and alter-ego), the Void.  In this latest issue of Dark Avengers, Robert's wife Lindy relates her own theory about the Sentry.  She posits that Robert's abuse of "the serum" opened him to energy of "Biblical proportions", and her theory receives partial corroboration with a flashback to Old Testament times, showing the avenging angel of the Tenth Plague to be the Void-energy itself, possibly channeled by a Hebrew prophet.  Lindy says that it's just her Sunday School perspective, but she's sure Robert became "a part of something larger and crazier than anyone has even considered."  Even if Bendis made the ballsy move of introducing Yahweh into the pantheon of Marvel gods, the Void who taunts Lindy is no angel.  He's sardonic, cruel and unabashedly evil -- and he finds Lindy's theories hilarious.  He even quips that he is Galactus.

When writer Paul Jenkins introduced the Sentry, the standalone limited series could be read as a story within a story.  Robert Reynolds could be seen as a character in the real world -- our world -- who escaped his psychological handicaps by imagining himself into a fantasy world: the Marvel Universe.  There, he dreamed himself a hero, and inserted himself into Silver Age continuity as fast friends with the superheroes, he himself being the mightiest among them.  He even married his all-American girl sweetheart with a similarly alliterative name.  His nemesis, the Void, represented the nihilistic truth that Reynolds was really a powerless nobody.  The limited series could be interpreted as a tale of the healing power of fantasy.

When Brian Michael Bendis brought the Sentry into Marvel continuity, he preserved the trope that Jenkins' Robert Reynolds imagined: that the Sentry was one of the original heroes, and the world had forgotten about him.  There was, of course, a comic book device to explain the gap in memory (the Sentry's psionic powers), but in the first Sentry arc, writer Paul Jenkins appeared -- as a character -- in the pages of New Avengers, dumbfounded at how his fictional creation was standing before him in real life.  Flashbacks to the Sentry's past, originally shown in campy Silver Age art and writing style, began to morph into a decidedly modern comic book style.  A flashback about the Sentry's first encounter with the Skrulls mutated from a "Mars Attacks!"-style scene to a grim analogy to the 9/11 suicide plane attacks by religious fundamentalists.  Marvel history was being re-written, almost as if a comic book writer was re-casting old stories to modern sensibilities.  Or a childish fantasy was being upgraded in sophistication and made manifest.  Perhaps the most concise description of the Sentry's nature was in this week's Mighty Avengers #33, when Stature describes the Sentry's clash with the Void as "a damaged psyche playing out the conflict of its dual nature through comic book archetypes."

Robert Reynolds' godlike powers aren't those of Yahweh; they're those of a writer with respect to a comic book universe.  Robert Reynolds is a man who can retcon himself into comic book history and make himself a peer of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  But he then becomes beholden to the rules of the comic book universe and its narrative flow, and keeps himself from over-influencing the course of the story by checking himself with special weaknesses and an arch-nemesis who can counter his every move.  In Dark Avengers #13, the Void taunts Robert: "You should just take a step back and look at what you've accomplished as the sentry. Nothing. You want to do something? Allow me."  Because that too is one of the rules of comic book stories: the heroes are reactive defenders of the status quo.  It's the villains who drive the story forward by acting.  By acting badly.

Bendis, in Avengers: The Illuminati #3, established the godlike Beyonder as a being interested in wiping his own memory and inserting himself into the lives of the superheroes.  Doubtless, there will be a revelation that Robert Reynolds, the Sentry, the Void, Cloc, and even Lindy are all constructs of the Beyonder, playing his game.  But I like to think that there is a hidden truth behind that revelation, one that Marvel will never show.  Robert Reynolds' true power is that of authorship of Avengers continuity.  And his true identity?  Brian Michael Bendis.

Caprica, Put On Some Clothes!

After Gattaca, the re-made Battlestar Galactica was the first filmed science fiction that my wife enjoyed.  She liked that the focus wasn't on technology or aliens or the other sci-fi tropes; fundamentally, it was a drama about flawed human characters wrestling with weighty issues.  Seeing SyFy's promotional imagery for the Battlestar prequel series Caprica, she'd never guess that the show followed in its predecessor's footsteps.  In fact, she'd probably just roll her eyes before dismissing it entirely.

I've seen the Caprica pilot.  I know it deals with religious fundamentalism, parental grief at the loss of a child, the politics of racial minorities and the nature of the human soul.  But even I look at the Caprica poster and think "jail bait."  Yes, the image of a pretty, nude teenager casting a come-hither gaze over her shoulder while biting a Forbidden Fruit could have a more symbolic meaning.  In fact, for those familiar with the pilot, the symbolism is apropos; the character of Zoe Graystone does represent a forbidden fruit, though not in the sexual sense.

But come on.  Science fiction isn't a genre known for its subtlety.  It is known, however, for catering to the fantasies (sexual and otherwise) of teenage boys.  This ad campaign makes Caprica look like more of the same.  Mind you, this is certainly more of the same that worked on me -- I was a devoted follower of Catwoman, Princess Ardala and Leia's slave-girl outfit -- but my kind isn't the audience that needs winning over.  The re-done Battlestar Galactica helped break ground in casting science fiction TV as serious, character-driven adult drama, and garnered a much wider audience than the usual SyFy fare.  Along with shows like ABC's Lost, it made a compelling argument for studio investment in the genre.  This success shows that science fiction needn't be an insecure little category that needs to show skin to get attention.  Caprica has the goods; it should put on its clothes and invite audiences to take it seriously.

X-Factor - Nation X: PAD jabs at the X-Office?

The following contains minor SPOILERS for X-Factor: Nation X #1.

Peter David loves metatextual commentary in his funny books.  It's often as heavy-handed as his puns, but the man knows his industry as well as his characters, and has smart things to say about both.  The X-Factor: Nation X one-shot can be read as a fun reunion of the X-Factor mutants with the X-Men.  Or a critique of Matt Fraction's "Nation X" plot.  Or even a musing by the X-Factor title on its place in the X-Men family of books.

Foremost, this one-shot plays as a fun reunion of old friends.  Shatterstar's encounters with the X-folk of known and suspected alternate sexuality is played for laughs, as is Strong Guy's meeting with the other strong guys -- who spend the issue hitting each other for the simple reason that that's what they do.  Darwin closes the loop on his original quest to find Professor Xavier, and Longshot's past relationship with Dazzler is acknowledged and left wryly messy.  Even some past resentment between Moonstar and Monet (of which I wasn't aware) is duly noted.  This montage of meetings spreads across several pages, leaving the reader the impression that all the necessary bases are being touched and stories are being swapped off-panel.  The focus of the reunion is between Madrox and Layla -- who have seen the future since their last encounter with the X-Men -- and Cyclops, who has been busy plotting the course of mutantkind's future.  Cyclops and Madrox are, interestingly, both framed as leaders with a vision for their people.  Where Cyclops is steadfast in his resolve that his "Utopia" is the best hope for mutants, Madrox (in character) sees both sides, though in the end remains unreconciled with Cyclops.

Their debate, paired with a plot thread involving "Crone, Scribe of the Others", lays out an argument that could be between Peter David and Uncanny X-Men writer Matt Fraction.  When Fraction took the X-Men from their Westchester mansion to San Francisco, he commented that the mansion was an easy target for their enemies, and living in a city famous for accepting the different was a tactical move by Cyclops.  Bizarrely, the first thing they did on arriving was to buy up a secluded set of buildings and establish a quasi-military base.  After a race riot, Cyclops took all the remaining mutants to an artificial island off the Californian coast, and dubbed it "Utopia".  Despite their professed ideal to integrate man and mutant, Marvel writers always showed the X-Men as isolationist -- but at least most of the rest of the world's mutants lived among humans.  Since the "House Of M" story whittled down the number of surviving mutants to fewer than 200, all of Marvel's mutantkind is isolated -- and ghettoized.

"The ghetto will burn," Crone writes.  "They always burn.  The blood is erased by the flames.  But it will happen again. And again."  And of course, it has happened, not only in human history but in X-Men history, with all the mutant sanctuaries.  Xavier's mansion was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt.  Avalon crashed and burned.  District X was consumed by flames.  Genosha was annihilated.  The Australian base was torn apart.  Providence sunk.  Too many mutants gathering in one place has been a consistent disaster throughout Marvel history.  Cyclops, self-appointed leader of his race, risks the final fate of his race on "faith that this time, this place, is happening for a reason other than to be perverted by a future that may or may not occur."  Alas, the X-Men franchise lives so long as its status quo of "persecuted minority fighting for survival" is preserved, so these characters may never escape their fate.

Peter David has kept his stories fairly separate from the rest of X-continuity, and it seems significant that this "tie-in" issue is a standalone one-shot.  The freedom X-Factor has to address the larger issues surrounding its characters is constrained by what's happening in the flagship titles.  When this iteration of the title was launched, its original mission statement was to investigate M-Day and how the "No More Mutants" curse could be lifted.  The "mutant messiah" story took that plot away from X-Factor (it's interesting that X-Factor won't be a part of the upcoming "Second Coming" crossover), and it had to find new directions.  I wonder if the discussion between Peter David and X-editor Axel Alonso was similar to the exchange between Madrox and Cyclops.  Madrox: "...you've taken the survival of mutantkind onto your shoulders.  The train's moving, and I'm asking: what's the plan?"  Cyclops: "The train's going with or without you.  Climb aboard or get the hell off the track.  Your choice."  Issues like this one make me wish Peter David were the conductor.