Last Argument Of Kings (Gollancz)
The King of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world, but there are risks.
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I was scared not only to finish reading the trilogy and learn the fates of the characters, but to think about it. It’s been a while since I read the series, and I’m still convinced I cannot write a proper review of it as I run a real risk of meandering too much.
And, unlike the characters in the book, I don’t undertake impossible challenges, which is why I’ll only share my thoughts on one particular scene that had the biggest impact on me. You can find the scene in “The Seventh Day” of The Last Argument of Kings. It’s quite short, spanning only a few paragraphs, and it’s amazing how this small portion of text left me thinking about what it means to care for someone who is capable of both caring back and harming unpredictably.
Spoilers ahead. The scene continues the tumultuous battle between Logen and the others and Bethod’s army. Logen is lying on the ground, near death: “He lay still, limp as a rag.” But then… “Logen! You alright? Where you hurt?” The friendly, caring voice (as caring as one can be in the middle of a fight, that is). Tul Duru Thunderhead “caught his hand and pressed it with his own,” saying “It’s alright, I’ve got you.” But the cost was immediate. The Bloody-Nine “gripped that great hand with a sudden, terrible strength, and with his other fist he found the handle of a knife, tucked down warm against his skin.” Just like that – Tul was killed.
Everybody knew that Logen could turn into the Bloody-Nine at any point, especially when he’s nearly dead. It was only smart to stay away – the Bloody-Nine did not care if you were a friend, a child, an ally, or an enemy. But Tul was trying to save Logen – the friend, not the Bloody-Nine. He didn’t want to lose Logen, not like that – lying helpless on the ground.
So, was Tul foolish or was he brave? Perhaps Tul responded instinctively when he saw an injured friend, without stopping to calculate the risks. But I think there might be more to it. I think Tul had faith in Logen. Faith that even if he turns into the Bloody-Nine, he’ll still recognize a friend, a helping hand, good intentions. It seems like Tul saw Logen as a human first, not as an unstoppable killing machine. What makes this tragic is not that Tul was killed, and not even that he was killed by Logen, but that he was killed while extending his faith in Logen at the wrong moment. The faith was beautiful, but fatal.
We all know that Logen is not fully himself as the Bloody-Nine, so how guilty is he? When Logen, lying on the ground, dying, heard and saw Tul, he “reached out, with his last strength, and he put his palm against Tul’s chest, and he tried to push him away….” This is important. It shows that Logen did not intend to kill or hurt Tul. In fact, he was trying to save Tul from the imminent danger – from himself. So, maybe Tul was right about Logen’s humanity – Logen did try. And that makes him less guilty, perhaps, but not innocent.
We all must bear responsibility for the choices we make. And while the killing itself was not a conscious choice, Logen knew that the Bloody-Nine is uncontrollable and causes only death and destruction. Maybe choosing to stay in an environment where the Bloody-Nine inevitably emerges is wrong. Indeed, throughout the book we can see that Logen recognizes it, and he wants to change. He wishes he could change. His repeated choice to remain in an environment that turns him into the monster becomes an accumulation of poor choices made despite his awareness. For those choices, he is fully responsible.
But if we look deeper, can Logen practically choose differently? “What else have we done, all our lives, but kill?” It is true that in their brutal world, Logen is valued and rewarded for being the monster. But we don’t know if the violence of the Bloody-Nine is something that “happens” to Logen, or if this is something he secretly needs. And I wonder if there is motivation strong enough to compel Logen to change. If so, what might that be?
Of course, the deaths of people who care about him or whom he cares for, along with his general desire for a different life, could be strong motivators. Perhaps they are not enough – there is no home to return to, no peaceful place where being Logen is good enough. And I don’t know whether that would be sufficient motivation. Perhaps the path he’d walked many times before is simply too familiar, and choosing differently is just too difficult. Maybe Logen himself cannot live without the Bloody-Nine. This is why the book is so rich – it refuses to give one clean moral answer.
As if this is not enough, what’s more devastating is that Tul gave Logen the kind of love that comes with loyalty and friendship, at the cost of his life. And Logen cannot even give him a direct apology at his funeral. Instead, he “stared down at his feet, not even able to meet his eye, let alone say a word. He wasn’t sure what had happened, in the battle, but he could guess.” To be fair, the dead do not need an apology said out loud. This is reserved for the living. The dead are different - they can’t hear, can’t respond, but I think they can still know. It’s never been made clear in the book whether Logen apologized to Tul or thanked him, silently but directly, in his own mind. There are numerous instances where we know the thoughts of the characters. But in this case, we don’t really know what Logen thought, not exactly. He grieved Tul’s death along with others, but it’s different from recognizing Tul’s kindness and accepting your own responsibility, even silently. The dead will accept silence; Logen didn’t need to be brave for Tul. I just wish I’d known what Logen thought.
Tul gave Logen love in the broad sense. He treated Logen as a man worth standing beside, even in vulnerable moments. He took the risk even though nobody obligated him to do so. And we can feel sympathy, horror, admiration, and disgust toward Logen all at the same time. I wonder if Logen was haunted not by the enemies he killed, but by people who cared about him.
So, what does it mean to care for someone who is capable of both caring back and harming unpredictably? I still don’t know. All I can say is that Logen can be loved - he can protect, he can care deeply, he can regret. But he is not safe to love. Logen is unstable in violence and becomes dangerous under pressure, so caring about him means bearing risks. Love is not owed – not to the good, not to the broken. Love is chosen. Tul made his choice, but he was wrong if he believed the human inside Logen was enough.
And, unlike the characters in the book, I don’t undertake impossible challenges, which is why I’ll only share my thoughts on one particular scene that had the biggest impact on me. You can find the scene in “The Seventh Day” of The Last Argument of Kings. It’s quite short, spanning only a few paragraphs, and it’s amazing how this small portion of text left me thinking about what it means to care for someone who is capable of both caring back and harming unpredictably.
Spoilers ahead. The scene continues the tumultuous battle between Logen and the others and Bethod’s army. Logen is lying on the ground, near death: “He lay still, limp as a rag.” But then… “Logen! You alright? Where you hurt?” The friendly, caring voice (as caring as one can be in the middle of a fight, that is). Tul Duru Thunderhead “caught his hand and pressed it with his own,” saying “It’s alright, I’ve got you.” But the cost was immediate. The Bloody-Nine “gripped that great hand with a sudden, terrible strength, and with his other fist he found the handle of a knife, tucked down warm against his skin.” Just like that – Tul was killed.
Everybody knew that Logen could turn into the Bloody-Nine at any point, especially when he’s nearly dead. It was only smart to stay away – the Bloody-Nine did not care if you were a friend, a child, an ally, or an enemy. But Tul was trying to save Logen – the friend, not the Bloody-Nine. He didn’t want to lose Logen, not like that – lying helpless on the ground.
So, was Tul foolish or was he brave? Perhaps Tul responded instinctively when he saw an injured friend, without stopping to calculate the risks. But I think there might be more to it. I think Tul had faith in Logen. Faith that even if he turns into the Bloody-Nine, he’ll still recognize a friend, a helping hand, good intentions. It seems like Tul saw Logen as a human first, not as an unstoppable killing machine. What makes this tragic is not that Tul was killed, and not even that he was killed by Logen, but that he was killed while extending his faith in Logen at the wrong moment. The faith was beautiful, but fatal.
We all know that Logen is not fully himself as the Bloody-Nine, so how guilty is he? When Logen, lying on the ground, dying, heard and saw Tul, he “reached out, with his last strength, and he put his palm against Tul’s chest, and he tried to push him away….” This is important. It shows that Logen did not intend to kill or hurt Tul. In fact, he was trying to save Tul from the imminent danger – from himself. So, maybe Tul was right about Logen’s humanity – Logen did try. And that makes him less guilty, perhaps, but not innocent.
We all must bear responsibility for the choices we make. And while the killing itself was not a conscious choice, Logen knew that the Bloody-Nine is uncontrollable and causes only death and destruction. Maybe choosing to stay in an environment where the Bloody-Nine inevitably emerges is wrong. Indeed, throughout the book we can see that Logen recognizes it, and he wants to change. He wishes he could change. His repeated choice to remain in an environment that turns him into the monster becomes an accumulation of poor choices made despite his awareness. For those choices, he is fully responsible.
But if we look deeper, can Logen practically choose differently? “What else have we done, all our lives, but kill?” It is true that in their brutal world, Logen is valued and rewarded for being the monster. But we don’t know if the violence of the Bloody-Nine is something that “happens” to Logen, or if this is something he secretly needs. And I wonder if there is motivation strong enough to compel Logen to change. If so, what might that be?
Of course, the deaths of people who care about him or whom he cares for, along with his general desire for a different life, could be strong motivators. Perhaps they are not enough – there is no home to return to, no peaceful place where being Logen is good enough. And I don’t know whether that would be sufficient motivation. Perhaps the path he’d walked many times before is simply too familiar, and choosing differently is just too difficult. Maybe Logen himself cannot live without the Bloody-Nine. This is why the book is so rich – it refuses to give one clean moral answer.
As if this is not enough, what’s more devastating is that Tul gave Logen the kind of love that comes with loyalty and friendship, at the cost of his life. And Logen cannot even give him a direct apology at his funeral. Instead, he “stared down at his feet, not even able to meet his eye, let alone say a word. He wasn’t sure what had happened, in the battle, but he could guess.” To be fair, the dead do not need an apology said out loud. This is reserved for the living. The dead are different - they can’t hear, can’t respond, but I think they can still know. It’s never been made clear in the book whether Logen apologized to Tul or thanked him, silently but directly, in his own mind. There are numerous instances where we know the thoughts of the characters. But in this case, we don’t really know what Logen thought, not exactly. He grieved Tul’s death along with others, but it’s different from recognizing Tul’s kindness and accepting your own responsibility, even silently. The dead will accept silence; Logen didn’t need to be brave for Tul. I just wish I’d known what Logen thought.
Tul gave Logen love in the broad sense. He treated Logen as a man worth standing beside, even in vulnerable moments. He took the risk even though nobody obligated him to do so. And we can feel sympathy, horror, admiration, and disgust toward Logen all at the same time. I wonder if Logen was haunted not by the enemies he killed, but by people who cared about him.
So, what does it mean to care for someone who is capable of both caring back and harming unpredictably? I still don’t know. All I can say is that Logen can be loved - he can protect, he can care deeply, he can regret. But he is not safe to love. Logen is unstable in violence and becomes dangerous under pressure, so caring about him means bearing risks. Love is not owed – not to the good, not to the broken. Love is chosen. Tul made his choice, but he was wrong if he believed the human inside Logen was enough.
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