#pgte brainworms
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Musical Guide to Evil
It took us way to long to figure it out but we've finally grasped enough to piece together something coherent about music in the Practical Guide to Evil.
How it took us four re-reads to notice it I have no idea, but better late than never?
The Guide comes with its own internal leitmotivs, songs that make an appearance paired together with a story, and once you realize it the songs stop being just a part of the setting and become another option in the narrative toolbox.
Songs live and die alongside the stories they represent, in the Practical Guide to Evil.
The Legionaries Song makes an appearance in the first chapter, and with it, so does the story of the Legions of Terror, the armies that devastated the Callowan forces, and spearheaded the Conquest. So much so that Catherine herself is at that point dead set on attending the War College to learn from a dangerous enemy. They are strong, and the song establishes that.
The last mention of the Legionaries Song takes place right after the Battle of Kala and at this point the Legions have shattered against each other, the machine of war turned against itself, and when the song is sung then it is bitter and weary, the last notes of the Legions' story, finally slain.
Most obvious is the Girl who Climbed the Tower, which is sticks in the mind of...apparently every claimant to the title of Dread Emperor? I'm guessing it comes back so many times in the Guide because the story of the Dread Emperor is a very old one, so the groove it is set in is deep like few others. From Black hearing it even at his low point at the end of Book 5 to Catherine humming it even in Book 2 after she extorts the High Lords; and of course Akua hearing for half the story.
Which brings me to perhaps the best use of these songs as a narrative tool. When Akua, having seemingly turned coat and half-heartedly plotting in Ater in Book 7, wonders with increasing desperation: "Why wasn't I hearing the damn song!!!?"
Because you've been hearing the leitmotiv for your current story of redemption for a few books now and you haven't even realized, girl. Or did you think the Tyranny of the Sun was stuck in your head for years for no reason?
Other examples coming to mind are the Fox is King when Catherine is dueling the Wandering Bard in the Arsenal in Book 6 (it's even lampshaded and we missed it the first three times...)...She even weaponizes that by lying about it to the Bard.
One of our favorites has to be related to Cordelia Hasenbach. She notably rejects the story, or at least the Role associated with it, but Too Many Cooks is mentioned or alluded to at least twice when she is putting the screws on the Princes. It might very well be a leitmotiv to the story of the First Prince if she had picked the name in Book 5 during the Salia plots.
I think that's all of them but there are a few songs which we couldn't fit within that theory, so...well, if you have takes I for one am curious!
Also there needs to be a melody for ALL OF THESE, like, YESTERDAY.
#pgte#pgte spoilers#akua sahelian#cordelia hasenbach#catherine foundling my beloved#Legions of Terror#practical guide to evil#pgte brainworms#or earworms in that case I guess
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Musical Guide to Evil, part 2
Ok, this is going to be much shorter but while talking about this stuff with our sibling another idea struck me.
The Legionaries' Song might be the leitmotiv of the Legions of Terror...
But the Army of Callow has its own! Here they come again!
It's first sung by the Fifteenth Legion, the precursor to the Army of Callow, when for the first time the Callowan criminals making up the Gallowborne are standing side to side with legionaries and using their tactics, but in defense of a Callowan cities and its denizens.
"Tonight I like for what this stance" indeed.
And the last time it's sung is during the Army of Callow's hour of glory, when they forge on with their queen on the bridge of Keter and are the one to finally break through the defenses of the Crown of the dead.
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Chapter 32: Draw
Good news, I'm on my Practical Guide to Evil obsession again!
Bad news, it's not nearly as interesting as a study of the songs used in the Guide...
It all came from listening to a podcast about the Guide (the Podcast Guys Talking Erratic Errata, go listen to them, they're cool), and realizing I'd not paid enough attention to chapter titles.
Specifically, Book 2 Chapter 32: Draw.
Now, that is a good description of what goes on between Catherine and Akua in the chapter, but I had not noticed yet...
They were in a Pattern of Three at this point, weren't they? Started at the end of Book 1 when Akua suckered Catherine into almost having to give up the XV Legion (Catherine herself admits she's been beaten).
And now, in this chapter, the XV has been bloodied but the demon is out of play, and Akua cannot push her advantage, so, it is both their second direct confrontation and a draw.
Which all leads to Akua's defeat in First Liesse at the hands of Catherine, and only managing to get out alive because she took a LOT of precautions.
Considering Akua was on the losing end of a Pattern of Three, her warning Marshal Nim about it in Book 7 makes a lot more sense. I'd always suspected she learned that off-screen but she looked into it because she lost one, didn't she...?
I could even see Black nudging Catherine in that direction after her initial loss to make sure she didn't waste that story.
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