I really like this because it gives some much-needed texture to human religious beliefs.
Yeah. One of the things I dislike a lot about Inheritance is the complete lack of texture to the rituals people perform. So I added something.
I wasn't necessarily thinking of humans in Alagaesia as a whole, though, just wherever Galbatorix is from. His people believe that for the dead to enter the afterworld, their body has to be burned because the smell of burning flesh is the payment the Old Folk demand to carry their spirits across the threshold. In times where it's not possible to do so you can inscribe a rune in blood to indicate that you're taking the debt on to yourself, to be paid when you die.
This is considered self-sacrificial behavior because the Old Folk are exacting in terms of measures and agreements and payments, but it's also considered honorable if you can't burn someone's body.
I'm not 100% sure what the Old Folk are, but I was thinking of fairies when I wrote it.
Galbatorix doing his best to honor Jarnunvösk here adds some detail, as well as being appropriately heartrending for the scene.
Yeah. I'm glad that came across. I don't think I conveyed the full measure of horror associated with having a partner of your mind die. His desperate attempts to delude himself into thinking she lives - and his far-too-present sanity preventing sinking into that daydream - are the best I could do to really convey that part of him is severed now too.
There's a lot of suicidal ideation in here too. There's also a lot of Galbatorix tricking his brain into letting him live another day. This is someone who wants to live, but who thinks they don't deserve to.
And he does the same for his friends. I already feel far more sympathy for your Galbatorix than I ever did for Eragon.
He's the last survivor of their expedition. It'd be dishonorable if he didn't, and in that moment I don't think he's able to cope with doing one more thing he'd have to reproach himself for. Though, before you feel too much sympathy for him, this is still the man who did all of the I think three bad things he did in canon. So, you know, he's much more evil than murder-happy Eragon.
The voices have a good point here.
A lot of times, when hallucinations of voices or images show up in media it's constantly just "Blood, blood, blood, kill, death". But hearing voices or having intrusive thoughts or seeing things that aren't there are all...interpretations your brain is doing. Sometimes those interpretations are based on things that are actually happening which you and your waking mind have not yet noticed.
So I wanted to portray the auditory and visual hallucinations Galbatorix is experiencing in this fic as part manifestation of one emotion or anything (guilt, fear, missing Jarnunvösk, suicidal ideation), part subconsciously noticing things (Patterns in the mind that point to a true name, the power issues associated with the elven council deciding for the dragons), and part intrusive nonsense thoughts he can't get out of his head (Cake-as-shampoo lived in my own head for a blessedly brief few hours).
One thing I also wanted to convey, which I don't know if I got across right, is that when you hallucinate something you usually have physical and emotional reactions to it as if it were real even if you know intellectually that it is not.
One final thing is that I tried to have Galbatorix's hallucinations become less unpredictable and intense closer to the end of the story. Whatever reason you're having hallucinations, they become more manageable once you have a support network (Shruikan, girlfriends though they didn't come up here) and a safe place (Galbatorix's citadel) and are able to limit the stresses in your life (Galbatorix is quite an absent ruler).
I love this bit of characterization for Shruikan.
Yeah. It's been my Shruikan headcanon for ages and it's great to finally write it down.
I suspect an Urgal would be similarly separated from "people," and wonder where Galbatorix would place other sapients such as dwarves, Shades, and Ra'zac.
I wasn't sure why I separated it in the moment. I suppose some part of me knew it made sense for the character. Galbatorix would, I think, separate Shades and dwarves from "people" in addition to urgals.
Shades are quite clearly unreliable monsters, he has to have some personal understanding with Ra'zac, and he likely doesn't have any in-person interactions with dwarves.
And in his moment of ultimate pain, he goes back to events and beliefs that shaped him.
One thing I was unsure about when writing this was what exactly the empathy spell does.
Is he having this experience because the spell is forcing him to suffer the pain of his subjects, who are being brutally murdered by the Varden as this happens? Or is he having this experience because by his religious beliefs this is what Jarnunvösk would be going through every second her debt is unpaid and she cannot fully pass to the Afterworld? In short, is the spell forcing him to experience real pain and trauma or is it reacting with his mental illnesses?
I think the scene works with either interpretation.
"Waise neiat"
I probably should have included this line. But I'm satisfied with the story as it is.
no subject
Yeah. One of the things I dislike a lot about Inheritance is the complete lack of texture to the rituals people perform. So I added something.
I wasn't necessarily thinking of humans in Alagaesia as a whole, though, just wherever Galbatorix is from. His people believe that for the dead to enter the afterworld, their body has to be burned because the smell of burning flesh is the payment the Old Folk demand to carry their spirits across the threshold. In times where it's not possible to do so you can inscribe a rune in blood to indicate that you're taking the debt on to yourself, to be paid when you die.
This is considered self-sacrificial behavior because the Old Folk are exacting in terms of measures and agreements and payments, but it's also considered honorable if you can't burn someone's body.
I'm not 100% sure what the Old Folk are, but I was thinking of fairies when I wrote it.
Galbatorix doing his best to honor Jarnunvösk here adds some detail, as well as being appropriately heartrending for the scene.
Yeah. I'm glad that came across. I don't think I conveyed the full measure of horror associated with having a partner of your mind die. His desperate attempts to delude himself into thinking she lives - and his far-too-present sanity preventing sinking into that daydream - are the best I could do to really convey that part of him is severed now too.
There's a lot of suicidal ideation in here too. There's also a lot of Galbatorix tricking his brain into letting him live another day. This is someone who wants to live, but who thinks they don't deserve to.
And he does the same for his friends. I already feel far more sympathy for your Galbatorix than I ever did for Eragon.
He's the last survivor of their expedition. It'd be dishonorable if he didn't, and in that moment I don't think he's able to cope with doing one more thing he'd have to reproach himself for. Though, before you feel too much sympathy for him, this is still the man who did all of the I think three bad things he did in canon. So, you know, he's much more evil than murder-happy Eragon.
The voices have a good point here.
A lot of times, when hallucinations of voices or images show up in media it's constantly just "Blood, blood, blood, kill, death". But hearing voices or having intrusive thoughts or seeing things that aren't there are all...interpretations your brain is doing. Sometimes those interpretations are based on things that are actually happening which you and your waking mind have not yet noticed.
So I wanted to portray the auditory and visual hallucinations Galbatorix is experiencing in this fic as part manifestation of one emotion or anything (guilt, fear, missing Jarnunvösk, suicidal ideation), part subconsciously noticing things (Patterns in the mind that point to a true name, the power issues associated with the elven council deciding for the dragons), and part intrusive nonsense thoughts he can't get out of his head (Cake-as-shampoo lived in my own head for a blessedly brief few hours).
One thing I also wanted to convey, which I don't know if I got across right, is that when you hallucinate something you usually have physical and emotional reactions to it as if it were real even if you know intellectually that it is not.
One final thing is that I tried to have Galbatorix's hallucinations become less unpredictable and intense closer to the end of the story. Whatever reason you're having hallucinations, they become more manageable once you have a support network (Shruikan, girlfriends though they didn't come up here) and a safe place (Galbatorix's citadel) and are able to limit the stresses in your life (Galbatorix is quite an absent ruler).
I love this bit of characterization for Shruikan.
Yeah. It's been my Shruikan headcanon for ages and it's great to finally write it down.
I suspect an Urgal would be similarly separated from "people," and wonder where Galbatorix would place other sapients such as dwarves, Shades, and Ra'zac.
I wasn't sure why I separated it in the moment. I suppose some part of me knew it made sense for the character. Galbatorix would, I think, separate Shades and dwarves from "people" in addition to urgals.
Shades are quite clearly unreliable monsters, he has to have some personal understanding with Ra'zac, and he likely doesn't have any in-person interactions with dwarves.
And in his moment of ultimate pain, he goes back to events and beliefs that shaped him.
One thing I was unsure about when writing this was what exactly the empathy spell does.
Is he having this experience because the spell is forcing him to suffer the pain of his subjects, who are being brutally murdered by the Varden as this happens? Or is he having this experience because by his religious beliefs this is what Jarnunvösk would be going through every second her debt is unpaid and she cannot fully pass to the Afterworld? In short, is the spell forcing him to experience real pain and trauma or is it reacting with his mental illnesses?
I think the scene works with either interpretation.
"Waise neiat"
I probably should have included this line. But I'm satisfied with the story as it is.