In the thirteenth part of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>, everyone makes a choice. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Ahhhh, this is all so entertaining!!! I AM VERY SATISFIED.<\/p>\n
Agnes<\/b><\/p>\n
So, figured I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d split this up by character so I could talk about the three major things that happened in this section. Agnes continues to be my favorite part of this book in terms of characterization, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m floored by how well Pratchett uses her unique nature to tell this story. Each of the characters here is faced with a difficult decision, and Agnes, like Granny, must weigh the pros and cons of a huge unknown. Vlad simply refused to accept Agnes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rejection of his offer to make her a vampire, so he tries to make it seem appealing to her.<\/p>\n
Of course, he torments her in the process, shifting the definition of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153appealing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to something a lot closer to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a life where you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t die horribly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect anything less from that monster. He teases her about her weight, suggests that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be happier if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a vampire. I must say that this is the first time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve\u00c2\u00a0ever<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0read a scene where a vampire used\u00c2\u00a0weight loss<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0as a reason to convert a human. And make no mistake: he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doing this out of concern for Agnes. (Not like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really a scenario where that wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be a fatphobic nightmare.) He is trying to pick away at her insecurities, to budge her\u00c2\u00a0just<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0far enough that the idea of becoming a vampire doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem so ludicrous. Really, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all he needs to do: sow that seed of doubt or interest in her, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be his.<\/p>\n
But Agnes, even if she won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t admit, is way more resilient than she thinks. Perdita is still a part of her! Yet I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even Perdita that gives her strength in these scenes. Hell, Perdita is the one part of her that feels like what Vlad is offering isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all that bad! Instead, as Vlad drops her repeatedly, teasing her with the ability to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153light\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for the first time in her life, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0Agnes<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0who reasons that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a value in at least\u00c2\u00a0pretending<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be interested in vampirism: she can get closer to where she needs to be. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to suggest that she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t conflicted. She\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>. God, that line where she admits that Vlad \u00e2\u20ac\u0153actually seemed\u00c2\u00a0attracted<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to her\u00e2\u20ac\u009d broke my heart.<\/p>\n
But you know what didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t?<\/p>\n
Besides, there was always the chance that, at some point, she might find herself in a room with Lacrimosa. When that happened, she wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need garlic, or a stake, or an ax. Just a little talk about people who were too unpleasant, too malicious, too\u00c2\u00a0thin<\/i>. Just five minutes alone.<\/p>\n
And perhaps a pin,\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>said Perdita.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
YES.\u00c2\u00a0YES<\/i>. GET HER.<\/p>\n
Granny<\/b><\/p>\n
Holy shit, WHAT A SCENE. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not to appreciate this, given how far Granny has come since she was first introduced in the\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0books. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a complicated character, for sure, and this scene \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in which she speaks with Death and fights with the Weatherwax darkness \u00e2\u20ac\u201c builds off of that complication. Granny is a character who respects duty, understanding that there are uncomfortable and unfortunate things that need to be done in the world, and she routinely makes herself the one who does them. This means that choices must be made, much like the poor farmer in the opening of this book. She chose to save the mother over the child, and yes, that means that someone died due to her choice, but that choice\u00c2\u00a0had<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be made.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what she is taunted by. (And for the record, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so thrilled that this split meant that I got\u00c2\u00a0both<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0temptation scenes in the same section!) She initially chooses the darkness, where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faced with her great secret: she is\u00c2\u00a0much<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0darker than she ever lets anyone else on to. Thus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a stretch for her to embrace the darkness and become like the Magpyrs, is it? Much like Agnes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s temptation, the darkness appeals to a part of Granny that is very much real.<\/p>\n
And yet, Granny still fights it:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No. I know you. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always known you. The Count just let you out to torment me, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always known you were there. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve fought you every day of my life and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get no victory now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
She opened her eyes and stared into the blackness.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I knows who you are now, Esmerelda Weatherwax,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t scare me no more.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
AHHHHH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.<\/p>\n
Verence<\/b><\/p>\n
So, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna wonder out loud for all of you: do the Magpyrs\u00c2\u00a0know<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0about the secret weapon that the Nac mac Feegle have? We already know that the Count despises them and wishes them out of Uberwald. What if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not\u00c2\u00a0just<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0due to his disgust of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inferior\u00e2\u20ac\u009d beings, but because he\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0knows they have the means of countering the vampyre influence ability??? FOOD FOR THOUGHT, MY FRIENDS.<\/p>\n
The scene at the end of this split is short, but\u00c2\u00a0I<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a ton of possibility in it. Can Verence team up with the Nac mac Feegle to take down the Magpyr clan? PLEASE????<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5ELTp3GmaYo<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the thirteenth part of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum, everyone makes a choice. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[526,463,248],"class_list":["post-4122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-carpe-jugulum","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}