Clyntahn's last words were said in public

What's going through the minds of everyone who heard the former Grand Inquisitor say something to the effect "I thought the Writ was true"?

I suspect Stohnar's thoughts would have been shared by most.

IE "He was driven insane at the thought of being executed."

Expert snuggler wrote:What's going through the minds of everyone who heard the former Grand Inquisitor say something to the effect "I thought the Writ was true"?

DrakBibliophile wrote:I suspect Stohnar's thoughts would have been shared by most.

IE "He was driven insane at the thought of being executed."

Expert snuggler wrote:What's going through the minds of everyone who heard the former Grand Inquisitor say something to the effect "I thought the Writ was true"?

But it is a thread you can start pulling on. A whispering campaign to the effect of "He was the Grand Inquisitor. What did he know that we don't? "

Good Point.

fallsfromtrees wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:I suspect Stohnar's thoughts would have been shared by most.

IE "He was driven insane at the thought of being executed."

But it is a thread you can start pulling on. A whispering campaign to the effect of "He was the Grand Inquisitor. What did he know that we don't? "

fallsfromtrees wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:I suspect Stohnar's thoughts would have been shared by most.

IE "He was driven insane at the thought of being executed."

But it is a thread you can start pulling on. A whispering campaign to the effect of "He was the Grand Inquisitor. What did he know that we don't? "

May be. Then again may be not. I have a feeling that most will likely dismiss them as either the insane ramblings of a mass murderer who finally cracked under the reality of his impending execution or else a coward, begging for his life for the last time. Either explanation is easier than something far more profound and theologically problematic as a challenge to the very truth of the Holy Writ. I suspect that very few people would fall in this third category, constantly seeking to know whether he meant something else. Indeed, the only sort who might go down that route are conspiracy theorists whom few would take seriously.

thanatos wrote:
May be. Then again may be not. I have a feeling that most will likely dismiss them as either the insane ramblings of a mass murderer who finally cracked under the reality of his impending execution or else a coward, begging for his life for the last time. Either explanation is easier than something far more profound and theologically problematic as a challenge to the very truth of the Holy Writ. I suspect that very few people would fall in this third category, constantly seeking to know whether he meant something else. Indeed, the only sort who might go down that route are conspiracy theorists whom few would take seriously.

Ah - what a nice world Safehold is. Where we can still have some vague hope that those words may end up having some impact at some point.

If something like that happened RL in the age of fake news everything would become so muddled that everybody would end up believing what they have always believed and tune out what they don't like - especially potentially inconvenient truths.

True enough, but it's a safe bet that there will be a few who take it seriously. And that they'll crop up in the oddest places - inside the SSK & Helm Cleaver seem the most likely, but there are also those who've interacted a fair bit with the Seijin in one of their more spectacular manifestations. And there will simply be those who look around them and say 'what if...', and find that it solves a conundrum.

Few, very few, but more than none.

thanatos wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:But it is a thread you can start pulling on. A whispering campaign to the effect of "He was the Grand Inquisitor. What did he know that we don't? "

May be. Then again may be not. I have a feeling that most will likely dismiss them as either the insane ramblings of a mass murderer who finally cracked under the reality of his impending execution or else a coward, begging for his life for the last time. Either explanation is easier than something far more profound and theologically problematic as a challenge to the very truth of the Holy Writ. I suspect that very few people would fall in this third category, constantly seeking to know whether he meant something else. Indeed, the only sort who might go down that route are conspiracy theorists whom few would take seriously.

They probably just concluded that he went mad by trying to justify his actions by the Writ - hence the Writ reference. Quite fortunately Clyntahn was shattered enough and have no time to compose himself. Otherwise... things may went unpredictable; he may actually compose the speech integral enough, so many would start to wonder: "this didn't look like a just mad rant... And he claimed that seijins revealed the truth to him... and we knew, that seijins visited Clyntahn... hm, whats going on, actually?"

"The man was such an egomaniac that he'd sooner believe that God lied to the world than that he had done anything wrong!"

I suspect most who heard Clyntahn say that figured that he thought HIS interpretation of the Writ was true - that God's will was whatever Clyntahn thought it ought to be.

When you put down a rabid dog you don't pay too much attention to its last growls and howls. You just kill the cursed thing.