In the thirteenth part of Thief of Time<\/i>, Lady LaJean tries to stop the clock, while Lu-Tze and Lobsang race to do the same thing. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
THIS WAS SO EXCITING AND THRILLING. The jump from one point-of-view to the other so rapidly was a lot of fun, but from a technical standpoint, it was a fantastic way for Pratchett to hone in on the intensity of this moment. Two sets of characters were trying to do the same thing, AND YET???<\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get there.<\/p>\n
Lady LaJean<\/b><\/p>\n
Before things got really<\/i> harrowing, I gotta admit: I loved reading the Auditors being super awful at being human. <\/i>That was expected, of course, and Lady LaJean was banking on their unpreparedness so that she could control the situation. Up to a point, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that she was! Like, how could the Auditors actually remain in control while openly bickering about what their individual names were and whose name was the best? Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, they assigned an hierarchy to COLORS, then argued over WHICH ONE OF THEM GOT WHICH FAKE NAME.<\/p>\n
It was hilarious while simultaneously being the best demonstration of how the Auditors struggle with individuality. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of physical humor here as well, such as them thinking that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shaking hands\u00e2\u20ac\u009d means to just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 stick your hand out and shake it in the air. BLESS. Within this, though, Lady LaJean has her greatest epiphany yet: she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to end humanity. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want the Glass Clock to be built. Pratchett had been leading to this anyway, but never had LaJean been so open and forthright with it, at least in her thoughts. Like this part, for example:<\/p>\n
But there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t time<\/i>. If only she could persuade them to eat <\/i>something that would\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 yes, that would bring them to their senses.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She wanted them to begin the same transformation she was currently experiencing! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so explicit in terms of naming her intentions here, you know? Which is why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so thrilling to see the other<\/i> Auditors behave openly and directly, too, though for different reasons. Many of them are quite obviously struggling with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153darkness behind the eyes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that solitary experience of being a living thing within a physical body. But then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mr. White, who appears to reject every<\/i> possible temptation. Instead, he consistently escalates matters in order to get that Clock closer to completion. That includes BRINGING A STORM TO ANKH-MORPORK IMMEDIATELY, and Igor be damned! He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even care that Igor is far more aware of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on than anyone else. And why should Mr. White be worried? The world is about to end in a few minutes anyway<\/i>. Who cares about one Igor?<\/p>\n
THEN DR. HOPKINS SHOWS UP AND MAKES MATTERS WORSE. Because of course<\/i> he does! He exacerbates the situation by trying to get Jeremy to take his medicine. (What for is still left unsaid, though.) But he does bring with him the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protocol\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that LaJean tries to latch on to in order to distract the Auditors so she can focus on something else:<\/p>\n
The hammer was inches away from her ladyship\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand. She didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dare look around, but she could sense<\/i> it there. While the Auditors started at the trembling Jeremy, she let her fingers walk across the bench. She wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have to move. A brisk overarm throw should do it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ESCALATION, EVERYONE. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this sequence (and the one between Lobsang and Lu-Tze) is so satisfying: Pratchett consistently dials up the intensity of these characters, and this is a great example of that. While Mr. White is being straightforward about his desire to accelerate the construction of the Glass Clock, LaJean is willing to destroy it front of everyone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
I mean, she fails at it, since Mr. White was aware of what she was doing the whole time. But that still feels like a significant moment for her character. She was willing to throw it all away to stay in a human body.<\/p>\n
Lobsang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lesson<\/b><\/p>\n
So, remember that whole bit where Pratchett made it clear that if an Igor began to suspect that something is wrong, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really<\/i> fucked up? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another version of that here, and in this case, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lu-Tze getting serious. See, after they \u00e2\u20ac\u0153land\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the broom in a cabbage field (MY CABBAGES!!!), Lu-Tze tells Lobsang that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to hurry up because the completion of the Glass Clock is imminent. It was easy to imagine that this situation, while transpiring in a different location, was very <\/i>similar to what Lu-Tze went through the last time he tried to be on time. Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he describe in terms much like what we see here?<\/p>\n
At the very least, pushing Lobsang in Zimmerman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Valley, the closest most monks can ever get to the void of time while slicing it, is a vital lesson for Lu-Tze. And like pretty much all of Lu-Tze\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lessons, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hold hands. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gently guide. His style is to throw Lobsang in the deep end and hope desperation and ingenuity provide the kid with what he needs to survive. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of frightening here, though, because of how visceral<\/i> this seemed to me. Like, the way Pratchett described the physical affect on the body? THAT IS VERY INTIMIDATING. So it made perfect sense to me that Lobsang resisted this. He had never done anything so dangerous in his life, and he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe he had the proper training to pull this off.<\/p>\n
And that<\/i> is when Lu-Tze got real<\/i> serious.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m daft, do you? Orphan boy, strange power\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what the hell are you? The Mandala knew<\/i> you! Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just a mortal human, and what I know is, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be damned if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see the world shattered a second time! So help me<\/i>! Whatever it is you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got, I need it now! Use it!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is like when your super nice teacher who is always funny and odd suddenly starts yelling and you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know they had it in them, and EVERYTHING FEELS SO SERIOUS NOW. But it is<\/i> a big deal!!! I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect that this would be happening so soon, which makes me wonder why so much of this book is devoted to what happens after<\/i> the Glass Clock is complete. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SCARED. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also shocked because I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO LU-TZE! How did he get injured? Did slicing time finally take too great of a toll on him?<\/p>\n
AHHHH, THEY WERE TOO LATE (AGAIN) AND THE CLOCK GOT COMPLETED (AGAIN).<\/p>\n
War<\/b><\/p>\n
And finally, we get to the human quality that has taken over War: forgetfulness. (Or the fragility of the human mind, you could argue.) After years of relative peace on the Disc, War has virtually nothing to do, so he got married and lives a quiet, unbothered life. I did not expect that Death would be able to find a single member of the Horsemen to join him, certainly not after Famine. But now I wonder what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to do. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be truly on his own if he goes on the Ride, you know? And is it even worth it if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing it by yourself?<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/Awr1MMcrFRo<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
-\u00c2\u00a0Please visit my new site for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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