Tigana - Chapter 5
I consider this a pivotal chapter. *The* pivotal chapter. We finally learn what is really going on, and what the title "Tigana" means.
The chapter begins with Alessan wishing he could shoot Alberico. I like it that Devin knows he could not have made the shot; there is a limit to his skills. Or is this a hint that everyone in the Palm knows how to shoot and hunt? Or a reminder that he grew up on a farm, and probably hunted for food as well? Or is it a hint that he is not just a farmer, but a gentleman and the son of a gentleman, who was taught, Renaissance-fashion, all the noble arts?
It probably doesn't mean any of these things: it's just to point out either Alessan's skill, or Devin's sense of the practical. Or it means all of these things, all at once, a sort of all-purpose passage characterizing everyone.
I love the line, "'Did I shoot?' he asked pointedly."
If I understand correctly, Baerd has not been fully explained. Is he a friend, servant, nobleman, soldier - ? Clearly he is Alessan's friend, but his background is unclear. If I were to guess, I'd guess he is a nobleman with a background similar to Alessan's - begging the question, at least at the beginning of the chapter, as to what that is. He says that Beard is dearer to him than anyone else.
I like the whole passage where Catriana is uneasy about Devin's role, Alessan defends each of them and pretty much tells them both to grow up and stop bickering. I originally compared Catriana to Christian Stewart, but now I think she's more like Marthe: brittle and tense all the time. I like it that Baerd teases Alessan for lecturing someone else for 'too much pride' - but how much is too much, when it's pretty much all you've got?
But then we see that Catriana's lack of trust in Devin is because she thinks he's from Asoli. Alessan knows he isn't, because of the tune he said his father taught him. That gave him a reason for bringing him into the action - recruiting him, as it were.
The 'enormous thing', the fulcrum and focus of the whole book, turns out to be a history lesson - based on the prologue, which we know now was about 18 years earlier, when Brandin's army fought Valentin's army on the banks of the Deisa, and Valentin was decisively defeated. As he had expected.
I like the word 'liquescent'.
I like the contrast we are beginning to see between Brandin and Alberico. Though both are sorcerors, Alberico is "only a wealthy, ambitous minor lord" while Brandin is a ruler. But Brandin has a grudge - Prince Valentin killed his only son in battle. So in retaliation, Brandin destroyed Valentin's kingdom of Tigana completely, and not just physically. Having destroyed its cities, its towers, its art and its architecture, he erased the name of Tigana from the world. Except for those born there.
I wondered why he didn't erase the name from everyone including those born in Tigana, but the answer is easy enough: to make them suffer.
Interesting passage, in which Devin considers the importance of memory. Another theme of the book. Devin sees the name Tigana as something stolen from him. It isn't just the memory of Tigana that is important, it is the name of Tigana - the magic of words. Perhaps there's an implication that the magic is stronger when words are sung - or maybe it's that song is a way to preserve memories.
Though Catriana sings the song of Avalle of the Towers, she doesn't seem to have much to say about Tigana here. Perhaps because she is younger than Baerd and Alessan? Or more naturally reticent and self-defensive?
I like the double-edged reflection that Devin joins the ex-pat freedom fighters by his own choice, and at the same time has to do it because Tommaso will name him to Alberico under torture and he'll have to go on the run.
When Devin apologizes to Catriana for 'this morning', I wasn't sure why: she seduced him, not the other way round, and he meant nothing demeaning by it. His apology reminds me of the scenes in Barrayar in which Kou apologizes to Drou for raping her, when that isn't what happened and she's furious with him for not valuing or rightly perceiving what happened. Does he think he should have run screaming from the closet as soon as she touched him? Or is he basically apologizing for not knowing about Tigana, not knowing about political schemes, and not recognizing her as a compatriot? And why does she think she is the aggrieved party? Whatever they are thinking, this does not look or feel like a budding romance.
So they go back to the hunting lodge and find (almost) everyone dead. Alessan's reaction (and his prayer) seem very prince-like to me. But someone is alive and his identity took me by surprise. (Yeah, I've read the book before, but I'd forgotten this part.) No wonder Sande d'Astibar had been talked about so much - he isn't dead, he's alive, in a sort of Romeo-and-Juliet scam to get himself invited to his own wake.
Interesting that both Sandre and Tomasso are do suprised that Taeri killed Herado. How much of a wimp did they think Taeri had always been? Was he too underestimated? They thought he was clever and decisive enough to join their conspiracy in the first place.
So he names Alessan as prince of Tigana and I like the way we were set up so that Alessan's full name is something of a climax itself. Just one revelation after another in this chapter.
And another, smaller revelation, which is more about 'how' than 'what': Sandre himself is a sorcerer. Proving that Alberico and Brandin aren't the only ones with magic, much as they have tried to eradicate other magic-users. Turns out that the Princes of Tigana, though not sorcerers themselves, can bind wizards to them. Presumably Valentin never had a chance to bind Brandin, which would have saved a lot of trouble in the first place. Or was Brandin's power just too strong? (I'm assuming there is no practical difference here between a wizard and a sorcerer, though in some books, there is.)
Through all this scene, I quite like old Sandre. If we're playing "he reminds me of", he reminds me of Piotr Vorkosigan. Crusty, angry, indefatigable old warrior.
So we get agreement between Sandre (whose enemy is Alberico) and Alessan (whose enemy is Brandin) that they both have to die, not just one of them, and presumably at pretty much the same time. Which makes the situation all the more challenging. Obviously this is why - this is one of the reasons why - Baerd would have stopped Alessan if he'd actually tried to shoot Alberico at the beginning of the chapter, but it makes me wonder what would have happened if Alberico's discorporation spell hadn't worked and he had been killed by Scalvaia in the hunting lodge. We'd have a different story, I guess. I suppose Alberico didn't think to discorporate the arrow, rather than himself? Or perhaps it would have used even more power. Or perhaps Alberico, though horribly cruel, isn't very clever.
I like it that Devin is worried about his commitment to Menico and the concerts, and that it turns out they don't have to just run immediately. Sandre can prevent Tomasso from revealing them to Alberico.
"Don't expect to recognize us" - cute.