Who is evil in the hallway?

[kippurbird]

ZOMBIES!! OOGGAH BOOGGAAHH!!

Good day today. Hit a little over a thousand words on writing.

Bad news: Anita Blake.

Chapter Forty One.




Randomly, they start talking about how Anita was going to bind Requiem to her forever. (YAY More slaves!) Requiem, by the way, I believe is right there with them with their super secret conversation in the hallway. Anita doesn't want to walk back to Jean-Claude's room for their secret conversation, thus letting other people who aren't around potentially hear them, even if the hallway is empty. Because that's how these things work.

Jean-Claude tells her that he's tried to teach Anita different ways to feed. Which she fails at. Makes me think she likes having it out of control. Despite all the protests and things like that if she doesn't actually try to take control of it, she probably doesn't want to and probably likes what it does to people. She can abuse them and things like that and shuffle off the blame on the arduer which she can't control.

In an interesting moment, Jean-Claude tells her she's doing it wrong.

"It is possible to know the innermost desire of a person. The ardeur can give you a glimpse into his soul."

"I know, that happens a lot."

He shook his head. "But that is exactly the point, ma petite, it should not happen a lot."

"But it does; that's how the arduer works when I feed completely."

He shook his head again. "Non, ma petite, it is not necessary to know someone's heart's desire to feed completely."

"It makes a better feeding, more energy, if you know their deepest wish and give it to them."

This isn't the end of the infodump, but it's enough to give an idea of what's happening. Anita is trying to justify her use of the arduer and Jean-Claude is telling her she's doing it wrong. However, this doesn't last too long.

He starts going through all the guys that she's fucking. First is Micah. See, Micah needed someone to help him protect his people and she needed a guy who just yes ma'med her instead of arguing with her. The arduer made him into what she needed him to be.

Strangely, she's actually horrified at this. "Are you saying that even now, he's like under my power? That that's why he never argues with me? That he's under a spell?"

Fortunately for her guilty conscious, they assure that it's okay. Micah even says, "Don't look so horrified, Anita."

See, it's okay that she did it to Micah, because she did it to herself too. She's Micah's perfect mate just like he's hers.

The same is with Nathaniel. His heart's desire was to be loved for himself and not his body, which Anita gave to him by not having sex with him for months.

Requiem tells her that, "...Your ardeur holds not just lust, Anita, but love, as Belle's ardeur did. As my Ligeia's ardeur did."

See! It's okay! She's loving people! It's okay that she totally mindfucks them and makes them her slaves addicted to her, by reaching down into their very soul and making them into what she needs. As opposed to Auggie, who just makes them love him and that's it.

Now, it's all right.

They continue to reassure her that her power isn't evil, even though she continues to protest otherwise. See this is the "You're not evil" assurance that the sidekicks do to the Heroine so that she knows that she's doing the right then and can feel good about her powers.

As Damien tells her, "You all love each other, isn't that more important that how you fell in love?" .... "Love is too precious to waste, Anita."

But what about Auggie?! How is this any different that what Auggie's done?!

Oh wait, I know. He's not the hero. He's just the guest star who Anita compares herself to and then is told, no she's not like him, no matter what she thinks. Thus making her better than the EVAL Auggie.

I know. It's stupid.

Speaking of Auggie, he hasn't said a damn thing this entire chapter. It's as if someone put pause on him, because I know he'd have something to say about the things they're talking about.

Perhaps next chapter.

Comments

[lccorp2.livejournal.com]

Because Anita is speshul, that's why. End of story.

*sigh*

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Oh. Right. Silly me. I keep on forgetting that one.

[smurasaki.livejournal.com]

Can you feed them all to your zombies? Please?

In the meantime, I'll be over here banging my head on the wall until the pain goes away. *sob* *thud thud thud thud*

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

*gives pillow to put between wall and head*

Zombies won't eat them. No brains.

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

I have a new goal in life. I want to be like Laurel K Hamilton. I even have it all planned out.

1 - Write good books that heaps of people like.
2 - Get paid a lot of money for said books.
3 - Use that money to fund lobotomy that removes any sense of class or taste, but leaves writing ability intact. This is tricky and delicate, and thus expensive. (Laurel skimped, and didn't get the BEST doctor, and the noob carved bits out of her ability to string together non-purple, completely coherent sentences)
4 - Write meaningless drivel that addicted fans lap up like spilled gravy.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

You could do that, but then I'd have to kill you.

You don't want that, do you?

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

To be perfectly honest, I don't really want either outcome.

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Wow. In-text, blatant proof that Anita really has mindraped these people, enslaved them, and fundamentally altered their psyches with magic. How sickening.

I actually have some characters with powers like that, but they're the villains. Because doing that to someone...*shudders* That's just--horrible. It's a violation of a person's very being. And she's supposed to be the heroine?

And why is she reassured by the people she's ardeur telling her it's okay? She needs people to tell her it's okay--so why wouldn't the ardeur make them believe it is?

She's essentially turned people who could have been loved and trusted friends and companions into...puppets. Their very feelings and beliefs, their personalities, EVERYTHING, is changed by the ardeur, acorrding to this chapter.

Freaking creepy as hell. O_o

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

And yet, Hamilton writes it as if it were all ok and hunkydory.

That's creepier.

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes, it is. It goes beyond creepy into disturbing.

[easol.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to note that in Jim Butcher's superior series, doing this kind of thing is not just expressly forbidden and punishable by death, it rots and corrupts the soul of the person who does it, and drills holes in the mind of the victim.

That seems to be what happens here. But sadly, no instant death sentence for Anita yet.

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

Could it be that it has already rotted and corrupted the soul, and drilled holes in the mind, of Laurel K Hamilton? That would explain much.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

And why is she reassured by the people she's ardeur telling her it's okay? She needs people to tell her it's okay--so why wouldn't the ardeur make them believe it is?
Wait, you mean this isn't supposed to be our default reading? I thought it was beautifully creepy from the summary - that even as she protests, her zombies drone on "It's all right, Anita..."

...If that ISN'T supposed to be the default reading, it's creepy, but in a way directly reflecting on the author. >_

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Oh...I assumed it was meant to be more like 'Anita, you could never do anything wrong, and we're all A-okay!' At least, Anita doesn't seem aware of the possibility.

But maybe that's just my twisted mind...^_^;;;

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Nah, yours is almost certainly the right one. But when doing a casual reading, my mind always choses the most sane reading/explanation. :P I always ASSUME authorial intent is sane and crafty unless the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. For instance, when I first read Eldest, I believed Paolini did a beautiful job of giving Arya a major flaw, i.e. in portraying her as an utter condescending BITCH in the dwarven religion episode. I still swear that was intentional. -_-;; So I'm probably just seeing sanity where there is none. XD (For instance, I can't tell for the life of me if CC-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is actually TRYING to portray Simon and Ron as good people who just aren't OMG HAWT, or if she's trying to portray them as pathetic and majorly screwing up. XD)

[subieko.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I sometimes do that, sometimes not...depends on whether or not I'm aware of the author's likely intention. In Eldest...errrr, yeah, I still say that all the evidence is there that the elves are the true villains. XD (and sometimes I just pick the interpretation I like the best...^_^;;;;)

[amamelina.livejournal.com]

She's essentially turned people who could have been loved and trusted friends and companions into...puppets. Their very feelings and beliefs, their personalities, EVERYTHING, is changed by the ardeur, acorrding to this chapter.


Y'know, in the hands of almost any other auther, this would be cool. Think of the horror of not knowing how to turn off a power that made people into your slaves. Or the fun you'd have until you realized you could not keep up the responsibility. Or, how about, when she tries to get it under control and free her little mind slaves, they either revolt because they are brainwashed to love the status quo or they revolt and hate her for what she did (knowingly or unknowingly) to them.

Oh, the possiblities.

And why is she reassured by the people she's ardeur telling her it's okay? She needs people to tell her it's okay--so why wouldn't the ardeur make them believe it is?


That kind of made me scratch my head.
Anita: Oh noes! My speshel powers are making you into zombies who live only to serve me! You don't like it, do you?
Micah: (dead voice) I love it Anita. I love you.
Anita: No, really, how do you feel about it? I'm not a bad person, am I?
Micah: (dead voice) You are my everything, Anita. You can do no wrong.
Anita: Well, if my braindead zombies think I'm a good person, I must be.
Micah: (drools stupidly)

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

I have seen it done well in the hands of other authors. (Admittedly, in one story it was not actually happening, but the main character THOUGHT it was happening due to having no self-esteem and thus thinking people could only like him if we was subconsciously compelling them... In the other story, it was a permanent complete enslavement of one person, and was intentionally majorly fucked up.)

...Sadly, both were Harry/Draco fanfiction... O_o What is it with surprisingly good authors mobbing to the more WTF pairings in fandom?

[subieko.livejournal.com]

You're right--with a competant author, the ardeur would be fascinating to explore. She's compelled to do things that (supposedly) she doesn't want to do, but she's beginning to enjoy them on some level, the power enslaves people even if she doesn't want it to, but they're happy, but if they snap out of it (like London), they report how horrible it is...it really would be great if it was written well. Alas!

Zombies are always so comforting. DX

[malganis.livejournal.com]

You know, one of my favorite bands right now is Type O Negative, and their lead singer has been battling an addiction to alcohol and cocaine for several years now. He has said that every time he lapses into his old habits, he wakes up and it feels to him like he's died again.

I mean, I haven't even watched [i]Requiem for a Dream[/i], but I know it's a pretty harsh film about drug addiction and that it ends unhappily.

So if Anita is an ADDICT to sex, why is she being supported in her delusional and addictive behaviors by her own victims? This is such a creepy and revolting scenario that it's hard to comprehend how it could even work. If she's an ADDICT, why is there nothing in there that remotely resembles the consequences of drug addiction or sexual addiction or any other real-life human addiction? Isn't this a bit of a slap in the face to not only rape and abuse survivors, but those who are former drug users, as well?

I'm not saying it has to be an allegory for anything, but a little REALISM wouldn't hurt.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

It gets worse next chapter.

Really it does.

[bad-sonic-fics.livejournal.com]

See! It's okay! She's loving people!

Only if sex=love.

You know, I made an incubus OC with powers similar to this ardeur thing, but he's the bad guy in the story, not the admirable hero.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Only if sex=love.

You mean it doesn't?! You mean all those fan fics I've read have lied to me?!

*goes sob in a corner*