pendell
2013-08-23, 07:46 AM
So I'm reviewing the current book, based on what we know now. And now some of Tarquin's actions and motivations become clear.
He did not know, at first, any more about the story than a first time reader did, other than his son was in it. He still has some misconceptions, as he believes Elan is the leader of the OOTS.
He didn't find the full story until Nale was captured and interrogated.
As of 913, it appears that Tarquin has already considered Nale's plan and dismissed it. The plan has "too many moving parts". From their initial discussion, Tarquin is already planning to destroy the gate himself. He doesn't need that power to accomplish its goals, and leaving it around for a scenery-chewing villain to destroy the world isn't a great idea. The gate is a net minus to him, so logically his choice should be to destroy it.
So why bring in an entire second party to interfere with Elan's? Why go to the pyramid yourself when the heroes are already going to do pretty much what you intended to do anyway?
That brings us down to Tarquin's true hidden agenda, an agenda hidden from everyone else, even from the members of his own party:
For Nale .
Tarquin's true hidden purpose in these events is to bring about the forgiveness of Nale and his re-integration into Team Tarquin as a player.
And so to do this, he comes up with a reason as to why TT has to seize the gate. Because Nale alone has the details they need for this purpose, this gives him a reason to keep Nale alive. So he sends Nale out with orders to secure the gate. If Nale succeeds and plays well, Tarquin has business reasons to keep Nale alive and to get TT to call off the Vendetta. Business before pleasure. Nale's success on top of his indispensable knowledge means he is an asset worth keeping around, from the perspective of the rest of TT.
Which tells us that the rest of TT is somewhere along the lawful evil/neutral evil/lawful neutral axis.. A chaotic evil character such as Belkar couldn't survive very long in such a framework, and a character of any good alignment would not be a part of a scheme to build an empire with thousands of human sacrifices a day. But that's an aside.
So ultimately Tarquin *doesn't* care about the gate at all. The only thing he could get from this that he didn't actually get was the opportunity to study it firsthand, but that's strictly bonus. The real important thing, the thing that's brought him to move these machinations in the first place , is to save his son.
Had Nale succeeded in capturing the Gate, Tarquin would have kept it intact only so long as it gave his son a reason to be indispensable. Once his son was accepted on his own terms, the gate could be eliminated.
This, then, is the hidden machinations, the plan within a plan within a plan. The Japanese used to say that a man should have three hearts: One he shows to the world, one he shows to his friends, and one he shows only to himself. This, then, is the heart of Tarquin: What he shows the world is that he is the bloodthirsty general ruling an evil empire. What he shows his friends is the scheming macchiavellian who puts business before pleasure. But what he shows himself -- what he finally shows to Nale in this last strip -- is a man who deeply, deeply loves his sons and will do anything for them.
A man who is willing to move the entire EOB army into the middle of worthless desert for one reason, and one reason only: To save his son.
A man who took up his axe again and went into battle as he has not done in years for one, and only one reason: To better ensure his son's success, and his re-acceptance back into Team Tarquin.
And yet all of his machinations are brought low by a fatal flaw: Nale. From the viewpoint of Team Tarquin, Nale is simply not salvageable. Not only has he failed in the objective, not only has he lost the entire rest of the team, he's indulged in a bit of fratricide and killed off one of their truly useful members, one who was a personal friend to many of them.
And from the moment the army marches on panel, Nale makes it worse. He opens his mouth when he should have kept it shut, forces the psionic to remove any possible doubt as to his actions, then boasts about it. Then slaps away any offer of assistance from the ONE man left in the world who can and will help him.
If this were a job interview, this would be a point where the interviewee not only moons all the interviewers but takes pains to show youtube videos of the person who sponsored him to the interview in the first place doing terrible things with a hamster.
So when Tarquin kills Nale, it's not just killing Nale. It's also an admission of defeat : In the inner game on which Tarquin was willing to bet the lives of his friends and even his own life (by directly stepping into the fray) , Tarquin has lost. Completely. He's failed to bring about his sons' forgiveness. He's failed as a father. Failed in every conceivable way that matters, to a man.
Tarquin never cared about the gate save as a stepping stone in his Macchiavellian plan to end the feud between Team Tarquin and his own family. That was what he cared about. So when he stabbed Nale, for the first time in strip he has admitted defeat, and in many ways lost everything he ever cared for.
...
Or at least half of it. He still has his OTHER son. And if I were Elan, I would get just as far away from him as I could , as fast as I could.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
He did not know, at first, any more about the story than a first time reader did, other than his son was in it. He still has some misconceptions, as he believes Elan is the leader of the OOTS.
He didn't find the full story until Nale was captured and interrogated.
As of 913, it appears that Tarquin has already considered Nale's plan and dismissed it. The plan has "too many moving parts". From their initial discussion, Tarquin is already planning to destroy the gate himself. He doesn't need that power to accomplish its goals, and leaving it around for a scenery-chewing villain to destroy the world isn't a great idea. The gate is a net minus to him, so logically his choice should be to destroy it.
So why bring in an entire second party to interfere with Elan's? Why go to the pyramid yourself when the heroes are already going to do pretty much what you intended to do anyway?
That brings us down to Tarquin's true hidden agenda, an agenda hidden from everyone else, even from the members of his own party:
For Nale .
Tarquin's true hidden purpose in these events is to bring about the forgiveness of Nale and his re-integration into Team Tarquin as a player.
And so to do this, he comes up with a reason as to why TT has to seize the gate. Because Nale alone has the details they need for this purpose, this gives him a reason to keep Nale alive. So he sends Nale out with orders to secure the gate. If Nale succeeds and plays well, Tarquin has business reasons to keep Nale alive and to get TT to call off the Vendetta. Business before pleasure. Nale's success on top of his indispensable knowledge means he is an asset worth keeping around, from the perspective of the rest of TT.
Which tells us that the rest of TT is somewhere along the lawful evil/neutral evil/lawful neutral axis.. A chaotic evil character such as Belkar couldn't survive very long in such a framework, and a character of any good alignment would not be a part of a scheme to build an empire with thousands of human sacrifices a day. But that's an aside.
So ultimately Tarquin *doesn't* care about the gate at all. The only thing he could get from this that he didn't actually get was the opportunity to study it firsthand, but that's strictly bonus. The real important thing, the thing that's brought him to move these machinations in the first place , is to save his son.
Had Nale succeeded in capturing the Gate, Tarquin would have kept it intact only so long as it gave his son a reason to be indispensable. Once his son was accepted on his own terms, the gate could be eliminated.
This, then, is the hidden machinations, the plan within a plan within a plan. The Japanese used to say that a man should have three hearts: One he shows to the world, one he shows to his friends, and one he shows only to himself. This, then, is the heart of Tarquin: What he shows the world is that he is the bloodthirsty general ruling an evil empire. What he shows his friends is the scheming macchiavellian who puts business before pleasure. But what he shows himself -- what he finally shows to Nale in this last strip -- is a man who deeply, deeply loves his sons and will do anything for them.
A man who is willing to move the entire EOB army into the middle of worthless desert for one reason, and one reason only: To save his son.
A man who took up his axe again and went into battle as he has not done in years for one, and only one reason: To better ensure his son's success, and his re-acceptance back into Team Tarquin.
And yet all of his machinations are brought low by a fatal flaw: Nale. From the viewpoint of Team Tarquin, Nale is simply not salvageable. Not only has he failed in the objective, not only has he lost the entire rest of the team, he's indulged in a bit of fratricide and killed off one of their truly useful members, one who was a personal friend to many of them.
And from the moment the army marches on panel, Nale makes it worse. He opens his mouth when he should have kept it shut, forces the psionic to remove any possible doubt as to his actions, then boasts about it. Then slaps away any offer of assistance from the ONE man left in the world who can and will help him.
If this were a job interview, this would be a point where the interviewee not only moons all the interviewers but takes pains to show youtube videos of the person who sponsored him to the interview in the first place doing terrible things with a hamster.
So when Tarquin kills Nale, it's not just killing Nale. It's also an admission of defeat : In the inner game on which Tarquin was willing to bet the lives of his friends and even his own life (by directly stepping into the fray) , Tarquin has lost. Completely. He's failed to bring about his sons' forgiveness. He's failed as a father. Failed in every conceivable way that matters, to a man.
Tarquin never cared about the gate save as a stepping stone in his Macchiavellian plan to end the feud between Team Tarquin and his own family. That was what he cared about. So when he stabbed Nale, for the first time in strip he has admitted defeat, and in many ways lost everything he ever cared for.
...
Or at least half of it. He still has his OTHER son. And if I were Elan, I would get just as far away from him as I could , as fast as I could.
Respectfully,
Brian P.