Clyntahn's most disturbing comment to date (SPOILER)

One exchange by Clyntahn above all others stood out to me in HFQ. It's on page 520 of the hard copy, and on page 632 (632???) of the Adobe e-reader download:

“Don’t think I won’t [take complete control of the Jihad] if you push me to it, Rhobair,” the Grand Inquisitor said finally, his voice soft. “Because I will. Believe me, I will. You may even be right about what will happen if I do, but if I look around and all I see is that we’re going to be defeated anyway, that decision will make itself. You and Allayn and all of your ‘technicians’ may believe you’re indispensable to the Jihad’s victory, but I know better. I know that God will not suffer Himself to be defeated. Yes, He wants His mortal servants to live up to His law and shoulder the tasks He sets before them. And, yes, the Jihad may be His way of testing our worthiness. But in the final analysis, He will have the victory, whatever He must do to bring that about. So if it comes to the decision point, if I’m—if the Inquisition is—forced to take complete direction of the Jihad because the rest of you have failed Him and my Inquisitors, then I know—I know—God will do whatever it takes to give Mother Church the victory.”

He sat back from the conference table, his eyes hard and flat, and silence enveloped the richly appointed chamber.

Sounds like Clyntahn may have access to some tech, as Grand Inquisitor, that no one else knows about. Scary, scary stuff, if true....

Or it's another sign that he's gone completely insane.

XofDallas wrote:Sounds like Clyntahn may have access to some tech, as Grand Inquisitor, that no one else knows about. Scary, scary stuff, if true....

XofDallas wrote:One exchange by Clyntahn above all others stood out to me in HFQ. It's on page 520 of the hard copy, and on page 632 (632???) of the Adobe e-reader download:

“Don’t think I won’t [take complete control of the Jihad] if you push me to it, Rhobair,” the Grand Inquisitor said finally, his voice soft. “Because I will. Believe me, I will. You may even be right about what will happen if I do, but if I look around and all I see is that we’re going to be defeated anyway, that decision will make itself. You and Allayn and all of your ‘technicians’ may believe you’re indispensable to the Jihad’s victory, but I know better. I know that God will not suffer Himself to be defeated. Yes, He wants His mortal servants to live up to His law and shoulder the tasks He sets before them. And, yes, the Jihad may be His way of testing our worthiness. But in the final analysis, He will have the victory, whatever He must do to bring that about. So if it comes to the decision point, if I’m—if the Inquisition is—forced to take complete direction of the Jihad because the rest of you have failed Him and my Inquisitors, then I know—I know—God will do whatever it takes to give Mother Church the victory.”

He sat back from the conference table, his eyes hard and flat, and silence enveloped the richly appointed chamber.

Sounds like Clyntahn may have access to some tech, as Grand Inquisitor, that no one else knows about. Scary, scary stuff, if true....

I thought exactly the same thing when I read this. Or maybe RFC is just teasing us?

I think that Clyntahn is just crazy. His precious inquisition in his mind is the pinnacle of the church, and his inability to think that he may be wrong is what's driving this quote. If he had other options he probably would have them by now. Spoilers: he shows doubt / fear to rayon. Interested in rayno's long term reaction to that emotion.

I think that if he were able to call down the Rakuri then he already would have, so I think that he meant that the others will be removed from power by the inquisition and the inquisition will also take over complete control of the armies of the temple instead of just being intendents with them.

I think that Clyntahn taking complete control off the Jihad would be great for Charis and Siddarmark. I mean, prisoners are already being shipped to Zion to face the Punishment of Schueler. And citizens in occupied areas of Siddarmark have already been shipped to concentration camps. All this has happened with the full Go4 still running things. From the atrocity standpoint, I don't see where it can get much worse if Clyntahn were solely running things. Especially since much of the occupied area of Siddarmark has been reclaimed.

But lets face it, there is a huge upside to the allies if Clyntahn takes sole power. He is not good at all in economics or military strategy. In fact, his decisions have largely hampered both Duchairn and Maigwair. For example, they wanted to pull back Wyrshym as soon as Five Forks fell. But Clyntahn over-rode them and order the army to stand fast. Which led to a military disaster. And this is just one example of many of his faulty military judgment. There have been multiple instances in previous books where Duchairn and Maigwair have talked him around to their point of view. Without Duchairn and Maigwair to moderate his ideas, Clyntahn's decision making over the last few books would have been worse than what actually happened.

Don't get me wrong, I think that no matter what Charis and Siddarmark win the war. But I also think that if Clyntahn becomes the sole commander of the CoG then the war will be shorter and easier for them than it would be if the current Go4 remains in power.

Henry Brown wrote:I think that Clyntahn taking complete control off the Jihad would be great for Charis and Siddarmark. I mean, prisoners are already being shipped to Zion to face the Punishment of Schueler. And citizens in occupied areas of Siddarmark have already been shipped to concentration camps. All this has happened with the full Go4 still running things. From the atrocity standpoint, I don't see where it can get much worse if Clyntahn were solely running things. Especially since much of the occupied area of Siddarmark has been reclaimed.

But lets face it, there is a huge upside to the allies if Clyntahn takes sole power. He is not good at all in economics or military strategy. In fact, his decisions have largely hampered both Duchairn and Maigwair. For example, they wanted to pull back Wyrshym as soon as Five Forks fell. But Clyntahn over-rode them and order the army to stand fast. Which led to a military disaster. And this is just one example of many of his faulty military judgment. There have been multiple instances in previous books where Duchairn and Maigwair have talked him around to their point of view. Without Duchairn and Maigwair to moderate his ideas, Clyntahn's decision making over the last few books would have been worse than what actually happened.

Don't get me wrong, I think that no matter what Charis and Siddarmark win the war. But I also think that if Clyntahn becomes the sole commander of the CoG then the war will be shorter and easier for them than it would be if the current Go4 remains in power.

HenryBrown, I would agree with your conclusions if ... if... Clyntahn does not have access to pre-Awakening technology that could be used against the Charisans - technology such as the kinetic and other strikes that created Armageddon Reef. He wouldn't even have to believe it's technological - it could be "Langhorne's Final Solution" button, or lever, or some such.

I totally agree that in the absence of any such access, Clyntahn in total control would hasten his demise. But that's the question. Is Clyntahn alluding to some such access? If so, it would be the equivalent of letting a child prone to tantrums play with armed thermonuclear devices.

If Clyntahn had access to "angel tech," he'd have already used it based on how poorly things have gone. It'd let him squash Charis and nothing could appeal to his ego more than being able to say that he was the mortal who called down Langhorne's own Rakurai. For someone like him, it'd be orgasmic. And it'd strengthen his iron grip on the Church and Safehold at large by giving him explicit, divine approval. He already sees his will as God's will; access to any TF tech would just make it official.

But I think there's a simpler explanation for why he doesn't have access to the OBS: it'd be bad storytelling. The OBS could wipe out the entire EoC immediately. At that point, that's it. The end. Once the Rakurai smited Charis, even if it was just a single city that was hit instead of the entire Empire (unlikely), it'd make a reveal impossible. "Oh, you say the Writ is a lie? Didn't the Rakurai just smite your Delthak works? Shan-wei, get thee behind me." Weber rejected Nimue just waking up and using TF tech to eliminate the Church in an afternoon, this'd be no different.

That passage is so explicit that I think it's a clear foreshadowing of what's to come, especially considered alongside a few others that suggest the rest of the Go4 is thinking about Clyntahn's inevitable betrayal and are working on plans to survive it. And the threat about the technicians working for the Church is also pretty explicit, too.

Once thing are bad enough, he's going to take control of the Jihad. And if past history is anything to go by, when a dictator is dealing with things (particularly threats) outside his control, he's going to compensate by lashing out against whatever he does have control over. That's going to bode very, very poorly for the Church's technicians since he can't get at Charisian ones, and the Jihad in general.

Now we just have to wait around a year and a half to find out. Sigh.

Well, I know quite a few people on this world, on a personal level, who's faith is as rock solid Clyltahn's. They believe that everything is decided by divine will and as such, cannot fail...until it does, then it's nothing more than a divine test to their faith...lol. I don't believe he actually has the any level of control on any technology, as he would have already used it.

...but what if he's part of a family line that has a legend of the Archangels returning in the Church's greatest hour of need?

We already know that something is under the Temple...

...and nowhere has Weber said that there is only one Key...