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Rafal, the Prophecy, and the Tale of “Faithful John”
"Trusty John," "Faithful Johannes," or "John the True" are alternate names to this fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. I feel like Rafal fits the “Faithful John” archetype.
Here’s the tale for context:
TLDR: In the tale, an old king is about to die. He asks Faithful John, his most trusted servant, to watch over his son. Faithful John vows to do so, and to give his life, if it comes to that. The king also commands Faithful John to show the prince the entire castle, except for one forbidden chamber containing the portrait of the golden princess, whom the king believes his son will fall violently in love with. The young king (formerly the prince) finally gets Faithful John to show him what is behind the door. Predictably, the young king falls in love, and goes off to woo the princess. Once the young king has captured the princess, Faithful John overhears three ravens talking about the young king’s certain yet preventable death. Faithful John decides to take on the burden, and not tell the king because he doesn’t want to be turned to stone for saving the king as a side effect. Faithful John does various tasks, and the young king continues to defend Faithful John despite his odd actions because of their trust. But, after the final task, the king cannot understand what Faithful John has been doing, sees Faithful John as a traitor, and sentences him to death. Faithful John confesses to his valiant deeds, and the king finally understands, but Faithful John turns to stone. The king mourns him, makes a sacrifice to bring Faithful John back to life, and Faithful John, the young king, the queen (formerly the princess), and their children live happily ever after.
Now for the parallels:
The young king = Rhian
Faithful John = Rafal
The princess = whichever of Rhian’s love-interests, take your pick.
The ravens = the Sader prophecy
Faithful John is the only one in the know. And, he’s overhears that he can never tell his master why. He does what he does. And, it looks like he’s actively thwarting his master's chances at True Love, but actually he’s sparing the king from a painful death, every time, even when he takes on personal sacrifices. He’s basically this under-appreciated, loyal, and actually competent companion. This sounds a bit like Rafal in Rise to me. Because it looks like, from the outside, that he is sabotaging his master’s chances at an ending, but he’s so loyal that he’s doing the very opposite! The people must have scoffed at him about the horse, and looked at him like he was a loon. The bridal garment would have burned through skin, and people wonder at his decisions. It would be sheer common sense if they knew, just like how Rafal shouldn’t withhold the prophecy from Rhian. But, "common sense" is not so common. Or, in Rafal's case, arcane knowledge is hard to come by. Is that too much to ask, for him to tell Rhian? Probably. Anyway, the point is that the king made a major sacrifice, and revives him because Faithful John was so faithful and deserved better, just like Rafal, assuming Rafal doesn’t do anything worse in Fall.
The “Faithful John” arc relates to how I see Rafal as a constructive villain. He dirties his hands and does what ranges from necessary to extreme, to save Rhian’s reputation, doing him a favor! (When I say “dirty hands,” I mean criminals acts.) Because, Rhian is considerably reputation-/image-obsessed, and can’t publicly stain his hands.
That’s what I consider their dynamic to be. I always think back to that part in Rise where Rafal finds Rhian out in the Woods, and one of them says something like “That’s why you’re you and I’m me,” after Rafal says he’ll mount Vulcan’s head on the wall, if I recall correctly.
Essentially, I characterize Rafal as pure efficiency, taking on the deeds/sins, so Rhian doesn't have to. It is a role, what they are publicly known as. This could change in Fall though.
Rafal is the King of the Golden Mountain
"The King of the Golden Mountain" is such a Never fairy tale, and a canonical one at that (not in SGE, I mean classic, fairy-tale canon). Since the protagonist becomes royalty, he's probably an Ever, even if he uses violent means to reach his end. So, maybe Good is only Good relatively speaking in this tale. At first, the king does try for the peaceful solution, and some Good fairy tales do end in gruesome punishment for the villains. However, a mass of people standing in the way of you getting your throne back aren't all exactly villains, which is why I'm insinuating that the seemingly Ever king is probably a Never king at heart.
The protagonist reminds me of Rafal immensely, in terms of his reactions and everything. The tale is brutal, and it's basically a revenge-fantasy story, which seems odd considering how most of the Brothers Grimm stories, or the better-known ones, at least, have fairly "happy" endings. This one just reeks of bloodlust and victory and smug satisfaction. Like, seriously, it's insane. And, you'd think that by the title, it'd be more Midas-like, but no, I'd say it's Rafal-like. Really.
The poor, suffering king is just deservedly unhinged at this point, like how Rafal should have gotten his proper, very plausible villain arc. I'm still bitter over the Fall identity-swap plot twist! Rafal deserved real vengeance! Especially after he slaved away for Rhian, to fix mess after mess, problem after problem. By the Storian, can't he just get a break! I suppose that, at best, he could be in Purgatory. He was never truly Good enough for Heaven because I don't think a sudden turn realistically can make up for a lifetime of Evil deeds.
Also, this is a tale where practically everyone's beheaded, so just a little advance notice.
Anyway, here's an excerpt from the ending section:
When he was near his palace, he heard sounds of joy, and fiddles, and flutes, and the people told him that his wife was celebrating her wedding with another. Then he fell into a rage, and said, "False woman, she betrayed and deserted me whilst I was asleep!" So he put on his cloak, and unseen by all went into the palace. When he entered the dining-hall a great table was spread with delicious food, and the guests were eating and drinking, and laughing, and jesting. She sat on a royal seat in the midst of them in splendid apparel, with a crown on her head. He placed himself behind her, and no one saw him. When she put a piece of meat on a plate for herself, he took it away and ate it, and when she poured out a glass of wine for herself, he took it away and drank it. She was always helping herself to something, and yet she never got anything, for plate and glass disappeared immediately. Then dismayed and ashamed, she arose and went to her chamber and wept, but he followed her there. She said, "Has the devil power over me, or did my deliverer never come?" Then he struck her in the face, and said, "Did thy deliverer never come? It is he who has thee in his power, thou traitor. Have I deserved this from thee?" Then he made himself visible, went into the hall, and cried, "The wedding is at an end, the true King has returned." The kings, princes, and councillors who were assembled there, ridiculed and mocked him, but he did not trouble to answer them, and said, "Will you go away, or not?" On this they tried to seize him and pressed upon him, but he drew his sword and said, "All heads off but mine," and all the heads rolled on the ground, and he alone was master, and once more King of the Golden Mountain.
The ending is just so vicariously satisfying! I'm hoping someone will see what I mean because it can't just be me who sees the likeness. This protagonist has his petty, chaotic fun, and is mischievous, like Fala's presence at the Circus. And, he suffered at the hands of various men, for his princess, later his wife, a supposed True Love (the cheater!), just like Rafal sacrificed and went through so much physical pain for Rhian, his True Love and the equivalent of the wife in this story. And, Rafal was almost imprisoned with a life-sentence, and was overthrown by Vulcan just like this king was replaced by another, a false hero. After all that he did for Rhian! The injustice! Besides, it feels like a very Rafal thing to cleverly fleece people out of their belongings, even if it seems somewhat accidental in nature in this particular tale. (This happened earlier in the tale, before this scene. And, the wife didn't completely deserve death, I'll admit. The king himself also erred at times, so they're both at fault.)
Side note from while I was writing this: this has got to be the best, most fitting typo I have ever made: "overthrone" instead of "overthrown," and yet, it still applies to tyranny and thrones! Haha!
If you want to read the entire tale, here's one source from which the excerpt came:
And the Wikipedia page for further analysis/a shorthand summary:
If anyone is interested in reading about another fairy tale parallel to the prequels, here's a link to an old "Faithful John" post of mine.
Thoughts That Go Whump in the Night for Rafal
Note: I tried to find as many torture methods as I could that involved the bird motif. Do not search for these if you do not want visual representations of them.
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Caught in a snare trap like a dumb woodcock à la Hamlet.
Eyes plucked out by doves à la "Cinderella."
Bird-who-was-formerly-a-ghost-boy-now-reincarnated drops a millstone onto his head à la "The Juniper Tree."
Transformed into a bird and stabbed by pins on a windowsill upon landing à la "The Canary Prince."
Chased by geese in the park.
Hitchcock-style bird attacks.
Viking blood eagle execution method. (When the rib cage was broken and opened, the lungs allegedly fluttered like "wings.")
Gibbeted in a cage.
Cucking and ducking stool.
A mock-Icarus scenario, flying too close to the sun and overheating, perhaps afflicted by the drip of burning wax.
Tarred and feathered à la American Revolution.
Bound to a rock to have his liver feasted on by an eagle everyday à la Prometheus.
Pau de arara or "parrot's perch," a stress position. (Bird sellers use it for transporting birds.)
White torture. (A form of psychological torture and sensory deprivation—everything in sight is white. Would be halfway decent camouflage, actually.)
The whirligig. (It has a whimsical name, yet it involves a spinning cage.)
Strappado or "pigeon torture."
Live burial. (Self-explanatory. Fits the vibes of TLEA.)
Second Circle of Hell. (Whipped around in an endless cyclone, representing Rafal's wind motif. That motif is actually more present in the main series than in the prequels and it featured in an OTK flashback.)
Seventh Circle of Hell. (Preyed on by harpies.)
Stymphalian birds. (Sorry to the Stymphs, but they were originally man-eating in classical mythology.)
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I feel like all this shouldn't need a disclaimer, but obviously, don't try any of this at home, not that anyone could in most cases. These ideas are for strictly fictional purposes.
Also, suppose Vulcan could've used any of these? I have another post with less graphic mentions of torture here.
Equality and the School Master Brothers
Remember how the Storian insists on the brothers being equal in all things? On a literal level? That’s so contrived. That’s how you treat small children, not respected, public figures you expect mature behavior from!
And if that element were removed—well actually, maybe it couldn’t be, as removing it would reduce the intensity of the Equal Treatment/Chances fairy-tale element, of the satisfying (to whom? Us? The Pen?) repetition and symmetry, reduce the mystique itself around the ways of their world. Yet still, that form of balance is wrong.
I mean, it’s like how they each were expected to each have their own Reader to return with, in order to leave Gavaldon, be permitted through the barrier. The artificially enforced equality in all endeavors kills the need to think, two and two, one and one, etc., and then, there’s: what if this balance issue were addressed in a non-literal, utterly equal sense? You can’t make two humans with separate identities 100% equal.
Why couldn’t the trade-off have simply been something like: have any means or inequalities you want along the way, to achieve a more figurative, abstract, big-picture form of equality after events have come to pass naturally? It'd still be equality in a sense. Like, the same number of Good endings and Evil endings to tales, for instance? That, instead of micromanaging things on such a small scale.
Besides, the brothers aren't the only control freaks. The Pen is just as much a control freak and Rule follower as Rise Rhian and Fall Rafal are, despite having set the Rules by itself. (But, does it only follow its own established Rules when it's convenient?)
The Pen has such a low threshold for minute things being off, for misalignment. (Probably because it's the details that make a story worth telling.) Like: oh, that brother cheated? Let’s wait—for the other one to cheat, too, before we let anything else change. No preventative measures. Nothing, nil.
Things are stagnant until both brothers comply with or rather, fall into, the equality trap. A trap which probably makes them less equal in some contradictory fashion!
Dealing with that high level of scrutiny, all to live under the tyranny of Pen? It must be suffocating. And they had different needs. So, they didn’t need the same treatment all the time. They could’ve benefited from inequality as long as they were both served according to who they were.
How flagrantly wrong everything in the duology went plot-wise is at the very least evidence for how not every quality can be saved by or reduced to numbers and systemized for the world's convenience. And, as a storyteller, the Storian probably should've known this, to let faces be faces, instead of more statistics piling up. Though, I'm sure its reasons for withholding "character" names were more to generate further drama and suspense or to implant ideas in people's heads, not weak writing.