Speculation on the next in the Safehold series

MuonNeutrino wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:...They'll be looking for some flaw instead of sabotage.

That'd be the *rational* response. The problem is that at this point the inquisition has about as much contact with rationality as I do with Neptune. Look what happened the last time, when it *was* actually an accident!

Sure, someone (almost certainly *not* an inquisitor) might eventually notice a pattern. And then they're going to either mention it to someone and get told to shut up and/or disappeared, or they're going to keep their mouth shut for fear of the same. The inquisition will never believe it, and even if they did that wouldn't help all of the innocents that would be punished for the 'sabotage' long before anyone notices any pattern.

To the inquisition everything is enemy action until proven otherwise, and they have a very idiosyncratic definition of 'proof'. There's a reason that ever since Sarkyn Merlin has gone to incredible lengths to stay far away from any innocent towns and leave ample evidence of his own 'demonic' presence as opposed to anyone more mundane. If ammo dumps just started exploding, without incredibly clear evidence to the contrary the inquisition is *guaranteed* to jump to the conclusion of sabotage by locals, regardless of exactly how you do it.

Bluestrike2 wrote:Don't forget that the Inquisition has now reasoned out "proof" of demonic intervention based on the posters and where they're being put up (or not put up) even if it's not the sort of proof they can trumpet to the faithful.

They can have perfect, absolutely undeniable evidence that an incident truly was an accident, and still blame demonic intervention for the accident. Then it's the fault of the locals who invited the demons in and helped them. There's no way to get around that.

Well, there is one: army camps might be targets. The Inquisition will look for saboteurs, but they'll do so amongst the Church's armies. But you generally don't build encampments too far from the civilian populations you need to help support your logistics, so I don't see Merlin taking that sort of action unless there's no other choice.

Loren Pechtel wrote:

Bluestrike2 wrote:Don't forget that the Inquisition has now reasoned out "proof" of demonic intervention based on the posters and where they're being put up (or not put up) even if it's not the sort of proof they can trumpet to the faithful.

They can have perfect, absolutely undeniable evidence that an incident truly was an accident, and still blame demonic intervention for the accident. Then it's the fault of the locals who invited the demons in and helped them. There's no way to get around that.

Well, there is one: army camps might be targets. The Inquisition will look for saboteurs, but they'll do so amongst the Church's armies. But you generally don't build encampments too far from the civilian populations you need to help support your logistics, so I don't see Merlin taking that sort of action unless there's no other choice.

What's wrong with their conclusion here? I think they are being put up by "demonic" intervention--OWL's remotes.

n7axw wrote:

Dauntless wrote:
I personally expect Merlin and Nimue there at the end to see the destruction of the Gbaba. I can't see Merlin shutting down without witnessing that.

Don

-

Jeff Donohue wrote:I agree totally. Merlin has invested his soul, and while he might not be flesh and blood, I firmly believe that Merlin does indeed have one, into the resurrection of the TF, and with it, the defeat of the Gbaba. No, I cannot imagine Merlin, outside of his outright destruction, failing to see his mission through to the conclusion. After that, well...

MadAmos wrote:I could easily see, given the mention in book 1 of the PICA's repair capabilities, severe damage in the last pages and going inactive for a number of years. It would follow the mythological Merlin story.

Jeff Donohue wrote:I agree totally. Merlin has invested his soul, and while he might not be flesh and blood, I firmly believe that Merlin does indeed have one, into the resurrection of the TF, and with it, the defeat of the Gbaba. No, I cannot imagine Merlin, outside of his outright destruction, failing to see his mission through to the conclusion. After that, well...