Dragons of Autumn Twilight Re-Read: Chapters 11 & 12: The Last Homely House...or Something Like That

So the Fellowship...wait, I mean the companions...gets to rest and recover at Rivendell...wait, I mean the forested glade of Elrond...wait, I mean the Last Unicorn...wait, I mean the Forestmaster, who casts some very un-D&D like magic and makes some pretty heavy handed foreshadowing about our knight in sour armor. 

This chapter is loaded with some great foreshadowing (am I cheating again by talking about stuff I know is going to happen?) of events in later books, especially involving Sturm. The interesting thing that happens is that Goldmoon, for all her royalty and being the one with the Blue Crystal Staff is barely paid attention to by the Forestmaster. Maybe this is where destiny is being emphasized: Tanis and Raistlin are the more "important" companions. The choice to go to Xak Tsaroth (one of the great city names in the history of fantasy) is one that bothers me a little. I mean wouldn't they know about Xak Tsaroth...again, it reeks of inexperience. We're led to believe that these characters are experienced, yet they don't seem to know a lot. 

I realized something about Flint while reading this chapter. I can't say if it was because of something specific I read or just a random thought. All he's done is grumble and grouse. The Companions don't seem to think much of him as a fighter and when factoring his age, it's pretty much implied that he's not much of an experienced fighter. He's just a travelling salesman that had to fight a little here and there to pay the bills or protect his goods. That's how the Companions came into his company. It's a pretty interesting angle when you think about it.

I enjoyed when they all blurted out what they thought they should do next,it revealed each of the characters motivations and desires in a very compact, economic piece of narrative. It actually shows some of the talent that we all seem to remember that may not have actually been there at first. But then the group dynamic comes to the fore and we see why Tanis and Raist are the most important. They are Picard and Riker. Kirk and Spock. Tanis is the respected warrior and leader and Raistlin is the XO not afraid to say what Tanis might not want to hear. They need to be in Xak Tsaroth at an appointed time and as much as Tanis wants to go see the girl he was going to spurn but is now having second thoughts about because his first choice left him twisting in the wind, which is kind of a dick move when you think about it. And then they jump the "walking, always walking" feeling in so many epic fantasies: they hitch a ride with flying horses. I refuse to call them pegasi. I have to wonder how much of an influence the original Clash of the Titans had on this part considering it would have been on an almost constant loop on HBO at the time they were writing this. 


The remnants of Que-Shu is the strongest writing so far in the story. It captures the horror of what happened and the Companions reaction to it as well as anything I've read. Granted someone like Martin would've taken seven different POV characters through the village at different times, all just missing one another by a few moments time. But the scenes are gutwrenching and revealing. The give some depth to the characters that wasn't there before and confront the readers with a real sense of dread...holy cow, is this the embryonic stages of grimdark before our eyes. My God, it's full of dark.