(no subject)

[missmoonbeam.livejournal.com]

hi everyone. i've been lurking for a while and am finally posting. actually, have been meaning to post earlier but was too caught up reading old posts and fanfics (great job there, by the way, i loved so many). i was so lonely being the only person i know who LOVES the series and then i found this site where loads of people pick apart every line looking for a hidden meaning. you guys are great! i've had most of my questions answered, but i still have a few left. so i'm going to start with QoA, and post the questions for the other books in separate posts. 

and in case anyone wants to know, i'm 26 and a full-time mommy of two beautiful little girls aged 2 and 4. the only downside to that is it doesn't leave me a lot of time for reading.

ok, questions (sorry, these contain spoilers, but i dont know how to do that hide behind link thingy):

1. when attolia visits gen in the prison after his hand is cut off, she sees "only fever and pain and an emotion she couldn't put a name to". i'm probably the slowest person on here, but please tell me what that emotion is? is it love and she can't put a name to it because it's so foreign to her? 

2. later, when eddis and gen have picked up the magus, why is gen cross?

3. why does attolia throw a tantrum when she hears there might be something going on between gen and eddis? 

looking forward to great discussions! sorry if these have already been discussed before, but i haven't found them and i've read most stuff with the tags QoA, KoA, and aCoK.

Comments

[stubefied-by-gd.livejournal.com]

Hi and welcome!

Those are great questions that I at any rate like revisiting. I feel like certain questions I have to go through and come back to a couple of times before I feel like I've really hit on the right answer. However, I am book-less right now, which doesn't help.

1. I really think this emotion is adoration/love, yes. Other ideas have been put forward. Forgiveness was a good one. Betrayal or something like that was interesting, but didn't seem right to me. I think, for the book, it makes sense to be able to go back to this scene and see that it was there, all along, even then, but, yes, so foreign to her she couldn't see.

2. At first I thought he wasn't down with the "message" they were sending Attolia, but he tweaks her with jealous later, so probably not. And of course he's a bit grumpy from the horse-riding in public. But I think the big thing here is the whole Eddis-alone-with-the-magus thing with the guards, when she's not alone with him, Gen's there. It makes Gen feel like crap, the attitude that he's not enough to protect his queen.

I can't recall whether it makes sense to think at this point that he's already back in his habit of "portraying himself as a non-combatant" as I think Eddis later puts it, and chafing against his own decision not to show what he can do with that hook. I suspect yes because I recall him not being touchy when the magus asks about the hook/hand, but I'm not sure.


3. I keep forgetting the reason here. I know at one point I thought it was because she was putting things together and realizing that Gen had indeed kidnapped the Magus and framed Attolia for it and was just as much a threat to her as he'd ever been.

I look forward to more questions from you!

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Hi and Welcome!

I know what your saying about having less time to read. I do most of my reading once my kids (almost 7 and almost 3) go to bed. I sacrifice sleep for it.

1. I always thought it was his love for her, probably tinged with a great deal of despair. Because she had done it, because he was there to cause it, because it would always be there between them. Since she is not used to seeing that sort of despair and sadness from her prisoners it confused her.

2. I always thought that Gen had a problem with pretending to have an affair going on with his queen. He does use the serving girl to prove Irene's jealousy later, but he never does use Helen as a means to provoke it. I don't think he liked the potential problems that particular belief about him would cause in the future. Plus, I really believe Gen would have considered such a thing beneath him, especially others finding out about it if it were true.

3. This I've thought about lots. Temper tantrums are usually caused by an overwhelming of emotion that we don't know what to do with. At this point she had been under a lot of stress for a very long time and was really sharing her concerns and plans with no one (including Relius). Plus, Gen had always represented to her everything that Eddis had that she didn't: loyal servants who would do anything for her simply because they loved her. I think discovering that Eddis might be reaping the benefits of a close, intimate , personal relationship with him on top of that was rubbing salt in a very old wound (clearly Attolia couldn't have that with anyone either). And the fact that it was Gen who she had been obsessing and losing sleep over (even though she didn't understand why) just made it more than she could take in that moment.

I've also always wondered if this incident was reported back in Eddis and how Eddis might have reacted to it after having Gen tell her that Attolia never rages, no matter her emotion she just sits.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Welcome! Most everyone seems to have this covered, but allow me to offer my own opinion, which is just slightly different.

(1) I've always felt it was a mix of emotions: love, forgiveness, understanding, sadness for what she has become. What's she's had to become. She's not used to these in general, but certainly not from prisoners she's about to hack limbs off of. It's that same look that causes her to smack him in the courtroom earlier on in the book.

Maybe it's a short fic I'm writing or the romantic in me, but I think Gen still sees her as that innocent, lonely little girl he saw dancing under those orange trees so long ago. He still sees the innocent side of her she's tried so hard to bury, and he looks at her like that's still a part of who she is (which it is). He pieties her, which she hates.

(2) I agree with the above. Couldn't have said it better.

(3) Well, because she's jeeaallous. :D Another very complex scene there. Not only is she enraged about being tricked, she deeply jealous of Helen and all the support she has. I mean, think about... You've been jealous of this girl your whole life that seems to have everything that you've ever wanted, and all of a sudden, you find out her most loyal servant, who would die for her, is also her lover (male consort?). Irene thinks she only jealous of the fact that Helen can indulge herself like that while still remaining safe and sound upon her throne. Truth is, she's also jealous that Gen has such great affection for Helen, while she believes that he hates her. If you're Irene in this scene, it's an all around ouch factor.

Hope that helps. Feel free to visit more past discussions if you have more questions. We don't mind at all. And thank you for the compliment about the fan-fiction (some of its mine). I'm sure all the authors are thrilled that you enjoyed reading them.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

1. I really liked what Philia wrote...
here: http://sounis.livejournal.com/55198.html and
here: http://sounis.livejournal.com/61433.html
...which I have on an index card slotted in my book along with a lot of other quotes from Sounis. :) She wrote: "In my opinion, it is love, but it goes with a sort of horror, because he realizes when he sees her there that he does still love her, and that he always will, not matter what she does to him, and this is terrifying."

Other suggestions are: despair, heartbreak, betrayal, fear?

Personally, I settle with heartbreak, because to me that encompasses Philia's sentiment above: love, but also horror/sadness. I don't imagine she's used to her prisoners looking at her as though she's broken their hearts. Also earlier "he begged as though his heart was breaking..." :(

3. She's jealous!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

2. After recently rereading CoK, it seems like maybe Gen was feeling the same way he was after he sparred with Melheret and had to pretend to be bested by the Medean. He knows he could easily protect Eddis from the Magus, but no one else does. He hates that.

3. I agree with what others said and would only add that she is also scared. If Gen is back in business, she knows it's only a matter of time before he comes for her.

[(Anonymous)]

1. I've always thought it was heartbreak mixed with the saddness of seeing what she had become, his heart was breaking and she couldn't recognize it then.

3. I always felt like that was a tip off that she might like him for more than just what he was. Not to mention she was always jealous of Eddis, and she had been told that Gen and Eddis were fighting and been assured that they've had no contact and that Gen hasn't been plotting against her. And here they were really having a secret affair. She feels like she's been played, obviously she's upset.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

1. Heartbreak. I've always thought it was that, his heart breaking and sadness at what she had become.

3. She was told by her spies that Gen had spoken to no one and was in a disagreement with Eddis, only to find out that they've been having an affair. Obviously she's enraged. Not to mention that means Gen's been plotting, and that is a huge worry for her.
And I think it's an indication of her personal feelings towards Gen are more than what she wants them to be.

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

There is a flock of insight flapping around her in response to your questions, and it's been lovely to read, so I'll just say

Welcome! :)