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"Simony" Analysis and Trivia
If anyone’s interested, this is just a look behind the curtain of my thought process surrounding “Simony,” my speculative, Fall prediction fic. Except, it takes place during Rise, if an alternate series of events were to occur. I would suggest reading my fic before reading this post if you haven't, so you aren’t confused.
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Rhian looked ethereal in the light, like a spirit. - Foreshadowing his death.
The walls behind him looked more the pure white of sugar glass, with distortions and cracks. - Imagery to represent Good’s and Rhian’s corruption.
There’s a lot of light-and-dark, black-and-white, shadow-and-sun imagery. This was intentional because I wanted a literal Halo Effect to apply to Rhian as people who are attractive are often judged as more innocent and honorable. At the same time, he’s also being backlit, so a shadow is cast on his face, to signify his turn. Additionally, when I described him from Rafal’s perspective across the room, I not only wanted to emphasize attractiveness but light that could burn out your corneas, if given the chance. Hence, how Rafal would react to the glaring light. He’d probably squint, or not be able to look at it head on. I also have in mind how when you narrow your eyes at light, you tend to see alternating flashes of red and black in your field of vision. So, that could also extend to literally “seeing red,” conveying anger.
Rafal’s figurative “death” of the soul is by burning alive. I repeatedly used the word burn and the adjacent imagery to signify this. This idea is also associated with the persecution of Evil in the tales through burning witches on pyres.
Rhian’s death is by “drowning,” in a way. He may have choked on his own blood, or I’d prefer the interpretation of Rafal’s fatal blow to the heart ending his life, to serve symbolism around matters of the heart. Rhian’s own figurative heart could have proven fatal one day, if he fell in love with someone worse. Even Vulcan was about to kill him. Also, drowning is the same fate Rafal would have had if he had lost to James Hook in the sea.
When Rafal says: “Where’s your right hand?” I originally intended for it to just be a way to ask Rhian: “Where’s your second-in-command (meaning: Dean Hook)?” The phrase right hand would have been interchangeable with any synonym. Though coincidentally, I discovered that this was an unintentionally fitting choice of words. The original Captain Hook’s right hand in Peter and Wendy was replaced by a hook, so Rhian’s figurative “right hand” has been replaced by a Hook, James Hook.
Rafal felt like he’d been impaled. - A reference to Rafal’s sacrifice in Rise.
“I fix everything.” Rafal berated. “And then what? Do I get any credit? I don’t care whether I do.” - I let Rafal be a hypocrite here because it humanizes him. (Rhian gets his hypocritical moment in the sun later. It’s meant to showcase that they’re both in the wrong.) I think it shows how skewed his perspective has become, maybe, ’cause he does want recognition? But anyway, Rafal is far gone, too steeped in his pride (and his probable superiority complex) as compared to canon Rafal.
Do you want your subordinates to hail and herald you like a martyr, Rhian? - Foreshadowing Rhian’s death, again.
To let rot and turn to dust in the storybooks. - A reference to Rafal’s demise in TLEA.
Approaching smoothly, he loomed over Rhian, and hooked his hand under Rhian’s chin, - A reference to James Hook.
“I almost drowned to know that which you don’t.” He dropped his hand, and Rhian’s head nodded forward like a sodden mass. - Drowning, heavy imagery, and the effects of Rhian's magic-induced paralysis.
Rhian quailed in Rafal’s grip. - Rafal’s bird motif.
Rafal’s suit flickered to black for a moment, burnt and blackened, a scorched figure against the white, and Rhian shook his head vaguely, as if to dislodge water. Surely, he was hallucinating. - Another reference to Rafal’s burning-to-ash death in TLEA, foreshadowing Rafal wearing all-black eventually, and drowning imagery.
He was hollow and numb, like an effigy. - A reference to how Rafal’s influence caused Sophie to feel emotionally-numb in TLEA, except this time it's his own soul cooling. Also, burning imagery in the bit about the effigy.
They were a specter of what they’d once been. - Rhian’s ghost foreshadowing.
And then, clarity in denial:
“I'm not Evil—I can't be," Rhian choked.
“And I'm not Good. I wasn’t, even when I had you.” Rafal’s finger burned with a black glow, blotting out the light in the echoing, empty room. He shot a Stun Spell at Rhian.
“I don't want to die.”
Rafal seized one of Rhian’s wrists to keep him from moving. “You’re human, Rhian,” Rafal said as he touched his brother’s face gently. “As in mortal.” He drew a dagger from his side, and held it steady above Rhian’s heart.
Did anyone catch this book 1 reference I alluded to?
This whole section is a backwards version of Agatha and Sophie’s final conversation in book 1 as Sophie dies. If it’s not a callback, then it’s a “call-forward.” First, Sophie gets over her delusions of Goodness and her denial of her Evil, at least partly by the end. Here, Rhian never has the time for that revelation. Agatha tells Sophie that she’s not Evil, she’s human, and brings her back to life. I decided to have Rafal use a spin on the familiar words. To echo them in a more sinister way because he’s paralyzed Rhian, and is about to kill him, not revive him. Thus, the meaning of human was twisted.
“No, Rafal! I forgive you. I love you,” Rhian gasped. - Time for Rhian’s hypocritical moment! He’s trying to follow the Rules (Defend. Forgive. Help. Give. Love.) again in a slapdash way because he’s desperate to bridge the rift between him and Rafal. It’s too little, too late. This was his mistake. And, he’s coming from the wrong angle because he still believes he’s in the right, and that he’s the victim. To be fair, he is now. But, if anything, what Rafal wants is an apology from him. Though, they should both apologize, really.
Rhian’s body splintered into pure, golden light, dissipating in the air. - A reference to Rhian’s soul during the Circus of Talents. Also, it seemed fitting for him to return to magic, being a sorcerer himself.
The burning, bright blue sky - The imagery of Rafal's surroundings is intended to be unsettling because I think most murders take place under dreary, bleak, overcast skies, or any time the weather is poor, for obvious mirroring of the mood. Yet, a pleasant summer sky would make it seem like Rafal’s murder was impact-less, and hopefully, it would hurt him more to see that nothing has changed, except their relationship and his own internal conflict. In fact, probably something had to stay the same to reveal the internal turmoil and the changes to Rafal’s psyche. I just thought it made for a better contrast.
his face had gone white at the black depths of his soul. - Black and white imagery. And, now, Rafal has to play both roles himself, as one School Master ruling both Evers and Nevers without anyone to mediate him. This also acts as a tribute to the swans of the School crest.
His hands were pale, shaking, and blue-veined. - A nod to James Hook’s blue blood.
Once pillars, that stood for Good and Evil. Stable and constant. - I compared the brothers to pillars because I wanted the act of fratricide to feel like an act of seismic effects/proportions, shaking the Woods to its very core, overturning all existing structures and the preconceived notions of Good and Evil.
Also, I tried to mimic the mood/tone in book 1 from that scene where rain washes the glitter out of Sophie’s skin, and Agatha leaves her, taking the umbrella or something. There’s a rift between the two, and Agatha basically refuses to help Sophie anymore until Sophie listens to her, or helps herself.
Love had burned Rafal, every time, like a sorcerer of the New tales, lashed to a stake. - Burning imagery. Foreshadowing to what Rafal believes the new tales will be like because he's secured Evil’s losing streak. Also, a reference to the New Evil regime in TLEA.
Aside from “Fear and Loathing” by MARINA which I thought fit thematically, I think “the last beautiful thing I saw is the thing that blinded me” has visceral imagery that matched the concept of my imagery. Overall, the song is haunting, cinematic, and climatic.
My foot fell upon your grave
Like a pressure point
Hidden beneath the soil
Down came sheets of pouring hail
I sheltered in a church's arch within
From the shards of glass falling so pale
And I look up, and saw the sun
It separated all the colors
And the ice, into my eyes
It fell and left me blind
That was the last thing that I saw:
The fractured glass and its downpour
I felt the blood mix with the water
And I didn't see no more
The white light features here, as well as the ice in the person’s eyes. I connected this to the figurative ice in Rafal’s eyes. Also, the last beautiful sight a person has blinding them could refer to both Rafal’s “death” and Rhian’s death. They both see the other in their final seconds together, and the remnants of their beautiful relationship before Rafal resorts to extremist actions, subscribing to the weird, self-fulfilling, tragic prophecy that he neglected to tell Rhian about.
I was tempted to include more diction with religious connotations altogether, but mostly, I left it at cathedral and martyr. I thought acolytes in place of followers would be unsubtle, and a stretch to be in character with Rafal’s brand of mocking.
I also almost kept a reference to August Sader in how Rafal could have had a thought about how his brother was under his nose this whole time, his nemesis. And, how they were in a fairy tale. Anything could happen in a fairy tale. But, it felt too intentional, like he had a plan, and reasoning to back it up. So, it had to be cut. Rafal’s decision to kill Rhian was meant to be more of a split-second, impulsive one.
I just realized how horribly ironic it was when that Rafal was at his most Good in Rise, when he wasn't consciously trying to be Good or live up to an image, and that, in Fall, when he actually started trying to be the "Good" brother, he became worse!
And Rhian, initially, tried so hard for almost the whole time, correcting himself as he went, and went on a downward spiral instead.
(Incorrect) moral of the story: Stop trying to be a good person.
Though really, the "Good should be effortless and natural" narrative is false since Good is probably made up of more conscious decisions than Evil could be. And, at least in fiction, the dichotomy tends to be: Evil is instinctual and Good is humanity nobly rising above, rising to the occasion. Which, fine, that could mean Good is a few degrees more performative than Evil is. Doesn't matter though (in their world) as long as the actions and immediate consequences are Good.