Bangers of lines but no appreciation.
I’ll admit I’ve only give a cursory scroll of the subreddit but I haven’t seen a single post talking about the absolute bangers of lines in this book, especially when it comes to grief and loss.
Covering the following quotes/analysis in spoiler text as they are from the second book and I don’t want to risk spoilers.
>!“Loss is hardest, Ulcisor once told me, when it is quiet.” The hardest part about losing something or someone is that the world doesn’t know. No matter how hard you wail and gnash your teeth and or rage or whatever ultimately your loss is small and inconsequential and your pain is nothing. We love people dear to us so deeply and when they leave us the idea that their importance to us isn’t proportional to the world is frustrating and terrifying.!<
>!“One of the great Sytrecian philosophers once argued that the concept of home is, at its core, about safety…. If it ever loses its sense of comfort, you can no longer truly call it by that name” This is a different kind of loss. It’s abstract. It’s a thing definitely, but!< >!it’s!< >!not something of tangible substance. To lose!< >!your!< >!home is more than to lose a place to sleep or keep belongings. What we’re losing here is a place of comfort and protection that is implicit in the sturdiness of the structure. A place of identity or comfort. It is grounding and gives you a foundation of yourself. A touchstone against the world. If I ask you to imagine a home there’s the understood idea that it’s safe.!<
>!“”You do not have to be less, Leathfhear,” he says softly. “Not unless you with wish to be.”” This one is the hardest to peg for me. We had the loss of loved ones and the loss of foundation. To me this quote speaks to the loss of self. Or to the struggle of reconciliation of yourself whenever you’ve been forced to change due to outside influences. You change because you have to and then you have time to slow down or whatever and see yourself again as you are and it’s different from the idea in your head.!< >!It’s!< >!unfamiliar and uncomfortable and alien. Maybe you’ve compromised to survive and it feels like a cheapening of you. Maybe you didn’t compromise and that’s what is the source of friction. This is the most ambiguous. We as people live day to day and as such change incrementally, and when we notice those changes more often than not it’s after a long period and they seem abrupt to us. That’s why it’s my favorite though. Accepting yourself is hard. Going through life and becoming a different you due to the natural course and still taking a full accountability and then still accepting yourself is amazing.!<
This is from what I read tonight, a fifth of the book maybe. There were a few I didn’t go back and find. I know we see more of Diago confronting his feelings in the second book and so there’s more of this to grab onto for discussion. But for what I would describe as a Fantasy trilogy I didn’t expect some Marcus Aurelius Meditations level one liners. There’s been moments where I’ve read some of these lines and choked up and had to take a second because of how close they hit home.
Anyways. Drop your favorite quotes of wisdom from the series and let’s appreciate James Islington and his ability to create and entreat pathos from us.