Ramblers Rising - Red Rising Chapters 20-22

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[00:01:15] Hello and welcome to a new episode of Ramblers Rising. I'm your host Richard.

[00:01:20] And I'm your other host Aaron. Today we're gonna be going over chapters 20-22 of Red Rising.

[00:01:27] Richard, how you doing today?

[00:01:29] I'm doing so amazing. How are you doing?

[00:01:32] You know, I have never been better in my entire life.

[00:01:39] Really? That's a pretty hard bar.

[00:01:40] Because we're talking about some fire chapters of Red Rising.

[00:01:44] I'm inclined to agree with you. I mean, we just ended on kind of a crazy point with the passage, you know.

[00:01:51] Everyone has to murder someone else to survive. Kind of Hunger Games-y.

[00:01:56] Yeah, that's kind of wild that they start off their time in the Institute with a murder, but it really gets them into the whole mode of being cold-hearted.

[00:02:07] Or cold, yeah. Cold-blooded killers, I guess.

[00:02:11] Yeah, the peerless scarred machine at work really is something. I mean...

[00:02:16] It really is something. I'm sitting here drinking my coffee this morning out of my French press.

[00:02:23] Not directly out of my French press, but, you know.

[00:02:27] Drinking my French press coffee.

[00:02:30] It is 12.16 in the afternoon, however.

[00:02:34] I woke up at 1pm yesterday. I don't think we can talk about that.

[00:02:41] I felt like a piece of garbage yesterday. Oh my god.

[00:02:45] You do work until, like, fucking 1 o'clock in the morning.

[00:02:50] I only work until midnight, bro. It ain't that bad.

[00:02:53] Only until midnight. Only until midnight.

[00:02:56] Yeah, that's not bad at all.

[00:02:58] Dude, I would get out of fucking Tully's later, because we'd have people staying until midnight, and then cleaning up after, you know, 15 people.

[00:03:07] Ugh. Terrible.

[00:03:09] That's very true.

[00:03:11] I do not miss the restaurant business.

[00:03:13] No, that's, uh...

[00:03:15] The restaurant business is rough, bro.

[00:03:17] Especially in customer service.

[00:03:19] Yeah.

[00:03:21] Yeah, uh, people suck.

[00:03:22] I'm not gonna lie.

[00:03:24] People suck, indeed.

[00:03:25] Yeah, when you're in the front of house, you have all of the assholes on your back all the time,

[00:03:30] and then when you're in the back of house, you have to deal with just so much shit.

[00:03:37] I swear the amount of times that people send back food and it's completely fine is just, it's wild to me.

[00:03:43] Oh yeah, we would have people send back food that they didn't even touch.

[00:03:47] That's called free food.

[00:03:49] If I put it on the table and they send it back before I walk away, and I don't see them put their hands on it at all,

[00:03:56] it just doesn't look great to them, that is free fucking food.

[00:04:00] I don't care what anyone says.

[00:04:03] Richard, we've been playing some Crusader Kings 3 lately, haven't we? With Chase.

[00:04:08] We have, and in that Lord of the Rings mod, I am wreaking havoc as Sauron.

[00:04:15] Yeah, you started as the most overpowered character in the whole game, and...

[00:04:20] I'm also bad at the game, so...

[00:04:24] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever excuse you need to sleep at night.

[00:04:29] Didn't stop me from assassinating you, and then also Aragorn as soon as he became the High King.

[00:04:35] That's very true. You did all that.

[00:04:38] Yeah.

[00:04:39] Oh, some good news. I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but...

[00:04:44] Chase now has my copy of Red Rising.

[00:04:46] I don't know if you did, but he told me about it when he was beating my ass in Dragon Ball.

[00:04:51] So, we good. I know about that one.

[00:04:54] Yeah. So, maybe on one of these episodes, we're gonna, at some point, have Chase on if he catches up to us, or...

[00:05:00] Perhaps. We'll see. We'll see. Depends on if he actually...

[00:05:04] Buddy, you might have to finish Golden Sun, then, before we start it, so that he can catch up with us.

[00:05:09] That's true. That's true. I might have to. I might have to get ahead a little bit.

[00:05:14] Unbelievable. Still can't believe you haven't finished it. Such a good book.

[00:05:18] Listen, I said I was gonna save it, but now I might have to change my plans just a little bit.

[00:05:22] But...

[00:05:22] It's the best book around?

[00:05:24] From the concept of books? Or from the standpoint of books?

[00:05:28] Is it a concept of a book?

[00:05:31] Or is it a full book?

[00:05:32] I have concepts of a book, yes. It's a full book. It's a peak full book, actually.

[00:05:38] Yeah.

[00:05:39] Just like you, when we play Crusader Kings and you have concepts of a murder plot.

[00:05:43] I'm assassinating Galadriel next.

[00:05:47] I have to wait.

[00:05:47] You're not gonna get to her.

[00:05:48] You're not gonna get to her.

[00:05:49] Ah, yeah, no. The success chance is negative 200-something percent, but...

[00:05:53] I feel like if I wait it out, it'll go up enough.

[00:05:57] I'm playing as an orc and I'll defend her, bro. You're not getting to her.

[00:06:01] I'll assassinate you, too.

[00:06:02] You already did twice.

[00:06:05] I only did once.

[00:06:06] Yeah, that's what you say.

[00:06:08] I didn't knowingly assassinate you a second time.

[00:06:11] I'm not gonna lie. I was just assassinating random leaders, but...

[00:06:15] You really were.

[00:06:17] That was its own thing.

[00:06:18] Well, yeah, and then I have a...

[00:06:19] All of the Gondorians, like, rebel every once in a while, so I just assassinate the sleeve leader.

[00:06:24] And then we're back to normal.

[00:06:26] So, yeah.

[00:06:27] We should probably get onto some Red Rising before...

[00:06:30] Yes, because I could yap about this forever, but we should stop.

[00:06:33] Thank you for stopping me.

[00:06:36] So, Richard, where are we starting off here in Chapter 20, the House Mars?

[00:06:41] We're starting off with Darrow.

[00:06:43] He's just standing over Julian's, as Darrow puts it, extremely disfigured corpse that not even Cassius would recognize.

[00:06:50] And my goat has great eyesight, so that's kind of fucked up.

[00:06:54] It is. All the Golds have great eyesight, right?

[00:06:57] Well, yeah, but especially Cassius, because he's my beloved Pookie Bear.

[00:07:03] Oh my god. Number one Cassius Glazer.

[00:07:05] I am on that shit till I die.

[00:07:09] Darrow kind of has this realization that the society, while the low colors and non-golds of the world are really...

[00:07:20] They're the main victims, but the society kind of fucks with everyone.

[00:07:24] You know, they are constantly just...

[00:07:29] Everyone is a target for the most powerful in this society.

[00:07:33] Even the ones that you think are at the very top, they're not invincible.

[00:07:40] No, not at all.

[00:07:42] They really do get kind of screwed over, all in the name of Darwinism.

[00:07:48] This whole...

[00:07:49] I mean, really, the whole concept of this book is really just taking social Darwinism to the absolute, like, blown-out-of-proportion, maximum, like, fucked-up way that you can think of it.

[00:08:04] Which, it's already a really fucked-up concept, but just taking that to an even more extreme level is...

[00:08:11] You got Red Rising.

[00:08:13] And it's an interesting little case study that Pierce Brown gives us.

[00:08:19] Yeah, I mean, it's...

[00:08:22] It definitely makes you think, especially moving forward in the books.

[00:08:26] It gives Darrow even more of a claim to destroy gold society.

[00:08:31] I mean, it's kind of real.

[00:08:33] It's kind of real as fuck.

[00:08:34] Mm-hmm.

[00:08:36] Yeah.

[00:08:36] I mean, Darrow really ponders his own morality in this, because he's just killed someone that, for all intents and purposes, despite the fact that he was a gold and probably was doing some asshole shit, was fairly innocent.

[00:08:51] And so he just...

[00:08:53] He's killed this person.

[00:08:55] And he reflects on EO's dream.

[00:09:00] And, Richard, do you have anything else to add to his little moment of reflection here?

[00:09:06] Not too much, but he kind of...

[00:09:09] And I should have put this in the outline.

[00:09:10] He kind of resents EO here a little bit for, like, putting him on this path.

[00:09:17] He...

[00:09:17] You know, he's pissed about it.

[00:09:19] And all he can think about when he thinks of murdering Julian is pulling her legs.

[00:09:25] Like, I shouldn't say all he thinks about, but it's a big part of what he's thinking about, like, pulling her legs.

[00:09:31] Like, this is now the second person he's killed.

[00:09:34] Granted, the first one, it was a different situation, but he just thinks about how he doesn't want to kill people.

[00:09:41] And I kind of forgot about this, because Darrow is a bloodthirsty motherfucker after book one.

[00:09:47] I mean, even in book one, but afterwards, he's kind of crazy with it.

[00:09:51] Yeah, it's such a huge leap from the mercy kill that we saw with EO.

[00:09:59] And it's just such a jump to now this, which is straight-up murder.

[00:10:04] There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

[00:10:07] He's just murdered someone, and that's going to change him forever.

[00:10:13] Yeah, it definitely...

[00:10:15] Once he kind of...

[00:10:16] I don't want to say overcomes his moral struggles, because he doesn't really do it in a good way.

[00:10:22] But, once he overcomes his struggles with this, he kind of locks in, eventually, and really starts to just, you know, accept that if it's what has to happen for the sons of Ares' vision to actually be realized, then he's going to do it.

[00:10:45] Yeah, I mean, he's said before, like, why do I want to do bad things?

[00:10:52] Yeah.

[00:10:53] What's the exact quote? Do you know?

[00:10:55] If I'm a good man, then why do I want to do bad things?

[00:10:58] It's in a lot of edits.

[00:10:59] Yeah, and thinking back to that, I don't know that I really believe that he wanted to do bad things off the get-go.

[00:11:09] I think that maybe he had that anger in him, he might have had the impulse for revenge.

[00:11:15] But you have this moment here where he's killed a gold, and he feels bad about it.

[00:11:21] He doesn't feel good about this.

[00:11:23] This isn't a choice that he wanted to make.

[00:11:26] It's a choice that was forced on him, to kill or be killed.

[00:11:29] And I think that at this point in the story, he's still not, he doesn't have that piece of him that wants to, that deeply and genuinely wants to do bad things.

[00:11:45] I think that maybe he believes that he does, but it might just be surface-level anger that he's blowing out of proportion, because he does feel bad about it.

[00:11:54] Yeah.

[00:11:55] I would say right now he's conflicted, and the end result of this inner conflict that he deals with is he kind of, and I feel like this is more of, this is a trope in a lot of stories similar to this.

[00:12:08] He kind of develops two different personalities.

[00:12:12] He's Darrow, Darrow Lycos, of course, my goat, but then he's also the Reaper.

[00:12:19] You know what I mean?

[00:12:20] He kind of flips between those two.

[00:12:22] Yeah.

[00:12:23] Although you might not see it as much yet, but there are definitely chapters in later books where he's like, in one position, he's just like, oh, I don't really want to have to kill anyone.

[00:12:35] And then in the next chapter, he talks about how he, and this is a direct quote, weaves people into his twitching meat carpet.

[00:12:46] Like, Darrow's a tweaker sometimes.

[00:12:49] Yeah, he has that bloodthirst to him eventually, and he develops that.

[00:12:57] I think that it's very much a learned thing for him throughout his time as a child going through what he went through on Mars, and then his time in the Institute really is going to drill that into him to be this cold-blooded killer.

[00:13:14] And, yeah, I just, it's very, it's kind of sad to see him fall so far into this hateful and vengeful creature.

[00:13:29] Yeah.

[00:13:30] I mean, he's still, he, I'm, I'm glad that he doesn't like abandon his humanity completely because it would make him a very hard to like character.

[00:13:40] Because even though he, yes, he's a fucking violent creature, he is intent on slaughtering a lot of golds, a lot of peerless.

[00:13:50] Because he, he still has that humanity, he still has that drive to accomplish his wife's dream.

[00:13:58] And it really, I don't know, that's why I would consider him like a morally gray character because of, but even then, from an outside perspective, Darrow would be seen as just a warmonger.

[00:14:09] Yeah.

[00:14:09] So, it's, it's kind of crazy.

[00:14:11] It really is.

[00:14:13] We get a pretty significant character introduction, or actually, we get a few character introductions in this chapter now.

[00:14:21] Yeah, we do.

[00:14:22] So, um, the next person we meet is actually Roke, Roke Alphabiai, the poet, is his, uh, his call sign.

[00:14:30] And his first, like, major quote is,

[00:14:34] If you are thrown into the deep and do not swim, you will drown.

[00:14:38] And he tells Darrow to keep swimming.

[00:14:41] And that's...

[00:14:42] I don't, I don't care that you don't like him.

[00:14:44] I, I think he's a pretty cool character.

[00:14:47] Okay.

[00:14:48] I think he's decent, but I think there's a lot better characters.

[00:14:53] There's just something so cool about, like, a warrior poet character.

[00:14:57] I mean, you think of Vivek from The Elder Scrolls, and I don't know.

[00:15:01] Something about it is just, it, it scratches an itch.

[00:15:05] I'm with you, and I get it.

[00:15:08] To me, Roke is just not that character as much as he should be, I guess.

[00:15:14] But, I don't know.

[00:15:16] Yeah.

[00:15:16] He takes certain actions in the books.

[00:15:21] You know?

[00:15:22] Yeah.

[00:15:23] Yeah, he does.

[00:15:25] And then he, or not Roke, but Darrow sort of meets the surviving crew.

[00:15:32] Richard, you want to walk us through who he sees here?

[00:15:36] Of course.

[00:15:37] We see Severo again.

[00:15:39] You know, my, one of my favorite characters, and one of your favorite characters too, I'm sure.

[00:15:45] He's like the small kid who kind of acts a little uncivilized.

[00:15:49] Not even by gold standards, but by Darrow's, you know, like red standards.

[00:15:54] He kind of acts a little, well, weird, a little silly.

[00:15:57] There's Titus, who's just this hulking mass of muscle.

[00:16:02] Like, taller than Darrow, stronger than Darrow.

[00:16:05] And we've established that Darrow's pretty, pretty built.

[00:16:08] There's this small girl who follows Roke around.

[00:16:11] Her name's Leah.

[00:16:11] And then, of course, Antonia, our Julii survived as well.

[00:16:17] We learned, we met her last chapter two or last week, whatever.

[00:16:22] Yeah.

[00:16:23] And then, of course, my beloved goat Cassius survives and he is just looking for Julian.

[00:16:29] And he asks Darrow if Darrow has seen him or knows anything about him.

[00:16:33] And Darrow just kind of lies right to his face.

[00:16:36] Cassius is then given some false hope.

[00:16:39] And everyone starts to gather and no Julian.

[00:16:43] I'm sure he's just been inducted into one of the other houses.

[00:16:47] He's surely fine.

[00:16:50] Well, no, they know that Julian was inducted into Mars.

[00:16:54] Maybe they, maybe they changed it.

[00:16:56] But he's sure, he's surely fine, right?

[00:16:58] Oh, yeah, of course.

[00:16:59] Except he isn't.

[00:17:01] Because Darrow murdered him brutally.

[00:17:06] Fitchner announces that Priam is dead and justifies the whole process of the passage with fucking statistics.

[00:17:15] Which, yeah, he's like, the, the, the surviving members were in the top 1% of applicants.

[00:17:21] And the guys who died were in the bottom 1%.

[00:17:23] So it was all right.

[00:17:25] Yeah, I mean, as soon as you start looking at people as statistics, you know that this group of people is just evil.

[00:17:33] You'd, as soon as you take away their humanity and start assigning statistics and numbers to human beings, it's immediately stripping them of their humanity.

[00:17:44] Which is, it's so interesting to me the way that it's constantly, this book is always moving the bar of who is allowed to live and be free and who isn't.

[00:18:02] Like, you think that the golds are, they're the ruling class, they're the ones who are safe.

[00:18:06] And then they move this bar where these kids are now dying and they're all golds.

[00:18:11] And it's just, the society takes and takes and takes and gives nothing back to the people.

[00:18:18] Yeah, the society, for all its, uh, what's the word I'm looking for here?

[00:18:25] Can't think of it.

[00:18:26] For all its preaching about how fucking awesome it is and how golds are on top always, it, it really doesn't live up to that.

[00:18:35] Because, I mean, shit.

[00:18:36] Like you said earlier, like these kids, half of the class just got murdered.

[00:18:41] That's 600 people that could have at least done something with their lives.

[00:18:45] But nope.

[00:18:46] Gotta murder them.

[00:18:48] And we get an introduction to what's going to be the setting for the majority of the rest of this book.

[00:18:57] Uh, Richard, you want to tell us a little bit about this place?

[00:19:01] Yeah, the Val Marineris.

[00:19:03] Uh, that's the, that's the pronunciation of the audio book.

[00:19:05] Don't at me.

[00:19:06] If you, if you think I'm wrong, I don't care.

[00:19:08] Uh, it's this big ass valley, you know, completely terraformed.

[00:19:12] And there's 12 castles.

[00:19:14] And that's, you know, one castle for each of the 12 houses.

[00:19:19] And, uh, Castle Mars is pretty big.

[00:19:22] I mean, they go into a lot of detail.

[00:19:24] We're not going to do that just because it'd be a little, little much.

[00:19:28] But, um, it's a big castle.

[00:19:30] It's an awesome castle ripped straight out of, like, Arthurian myth.

[00:19:35] Okay?

[00:19:35] That's the best way to describe it, I feel like.

[00:19:38] Mm-hmm.

[00:19:39] Yeah, it's pretty, they describe it in very high detail.

[00:19:43] It's almost like a George R.R. Martin description of, like, the fucking dinner table when he goes into all of his descriptions.

[00:19:50] That's kind of how Pierce Brown goes into this castle.

[00:19:55] Yeah.

[00:19:56] Um, after we get our introduction to the 12 castles for the 12 houses, we see Cassius finally accepting that Julian is dead.

[00:20:05] And he kind of crashes out justifiably because his twin brother is dead.

[00:20:11] And he attempts to get everyone to admit who killed Julian.

[00:20:16] Does anyone fess up?

[00:20:18] Uh, no, actually.

[00:20:20] He does.

[00:20:21] He fesses up that he killed some dude that he played, like, I don't, I don't know, some games with when he was a kid.

[00:20:29] Like, not childhood friends, but they used to be friends.

[00:20:33] And he just fucking brutally murdered this kid.

[00:20:35] And everyone just kind of decides to fuck off.

[00:20:39] Uh, it's, it's really not, it doesn't work.

[00:20:44] And we see that, like, this, the passage has already, you know, sown those seeds of distrust.

[00:20:52] Yeah, I mean, you have Cassius who is now paranoid about the fact that any one of the people who he has to rely on with his life, he has to trust these people with his life.

[00:21:05] Any one of them could be his brother's murderer.

[00:21:07] Yeah, and I think he makes the right choice, trusting Darrow.

[00:21:11] Darrow would never.

[00:21:13] I mean.

[00:21:13] He truly wouldn't.

[00:21:15] He truly wouldn't.

[00:21:16] Yeah.

[00:21:17] What if the, the passage, what if the true good ending is, they all just refuse to fight each other.

[00:21:25] And that's how they pass the test.

[00:21:26] I think they all die.

[00:21:27] I think, I think that's what would happen, given gold society.

[00:21:32] Always have to ruin the good ending.

[00:21:35] Yeah.

[00:21:36] Do you remember who Severo killed?

[00:21:38] I feel like it gets explained.

[00:21:40] Fuck.

[00:21:41] I don't think it was anyone of, like, great importance to the story.

[00:21:45] Okay.

[00:21:46] I, at least, I don't remember it being someone significant.

[00:21:49] I think that it was just, we might have gotten a brief introduction to that person, but I don't think that it was anyone big.

[00:21:56] Okay.

[00:21:58] Yeah.

[00:21:58] Everyone separates into their little cliques, their little groups, and they find a place to sleep in the castle.

[00:22:06] Yeah.

[00:22:07] And they, they go to bed for the night.

[00:22:09] Their first, first night in the house Mars castle.

[00:22:13] Yeah.

[00:22:13] Yeah.

[00:22:13] They, they all go to sleep and Fitchner tells them that the next day is, obviously before they go to sleep, I'm out of order.

[00:22:20] Uh, Fitchner tells them that the next day will be orientation.

[00:22:24] And that's where we start chapter 21, our dominion.

[00:22:29] Aaron, you want to start us off?

[00:22:31] I do.

[00:22:32] Fitchner takes the kids on a tour of the area and kills a deer making Goblin drag it back to castle Mars.

[00:22:39] So they get a little bit, not only a tour of the area, but they also get, I'm sure what is their first introduction to hunting.

[00:22:48] I would imagine that most of them haven't had to gather food for themselves being born into the high society.

[00:22:55] But have you ever been hunting?

[00:22:58] No, I haven't actually.

[00:23:00] How about you?

[00:23:02] Um, see my family all hunt.

[00:23:06] I personally, I'm not into it.

[00:23:09] I, I, the idea of having to kill something and then drag it back.

[00:23:16] And prior to that sitting in a tree for six hours, I don't know.

[00:23:22] It's just not, nothing about it sounds appealing to me.

[00:23:25] Wow.

[00:23:26] Not even a true Goblin fan.

[00:23:28] A true Goblin fan would be itching to brutally murder an animal.

[00:23:32] A Goblin fan certainly would be.

[00:23:35] Uh, and well, Goblin is a great character.

[00:23:37] I don't know that I resonate with him on a spiritual level.

[00:23:42] No, really?

[00:23:42] You don't?

[00:23:43] You don't want to do some of his, his, um, other hobbies?

[00:23:46] His other, he loves horses.

[00:23:50] He, ah, fucking hell.

[00:23:52] Oh my God.

[00:23:53] That's not even the worst thing that they do in this series by a long shot, bro.

[00:23:58] Um, just to clarify, there is no bestiality.

[00:24:02] Yeah, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:24:03] That might've, that might've sounded like it.

[00:24:05] That sounded really bad.

[00:24:06] There is, there is none of that happening.

[00:24:08] So, um, just, just to clarify.

[00:24:11] Yeah.

[00:24:11] But Mars Castle is in between two rivers in sort of a highlands type of area, just to give

[00:24:19] you guys an idea of the geography of the area.

[00:24:23] The whole valley is set up in a way where it's pretty big, right?

[00:24:28] Like they, there's a fair amount of distance between each of the castles.

[00:24:31] Yeah.

[00:24:31] They can only really see, they only see one of their neighbors from, they can only see

[00:24:36] it from the borders of their area.

[00:24:38] And that is how series.

[00:24:40] Yeah.

[00:24:41] And there is that house.

[00:24:44] Do they really have too much significance in the story?

[00:24:47] There is, uh, a little bit.

[00:24:50] Minerva is more important.

[00:24:51] I'd say like the top four houses that we're going to care about are obviously Mars because

[00:24:57] my beloved Pookie Dara is part of heart house Mars.

[00:25:01] Uh, then we got series Minerva and I want to say it's house Pluto.

[00:25:05] Pluto.

[00:25:06] Okay.

[00:25:07] I don't remember if you know who I'm talking about.

[00:25:09] I mean, I, I think you do.

[00:25:10] Yeah.

[00:25:11] The bad guy.

[00:25:13] Yeah.

[00:25:15] And there's a really, there's a floating castle in the sky, which is called Olympus kind of

[00:25:22] going back to the whole theme of the gods that, um, the society really enjoys putting out

[00:25:28] there.

[00:25:29] Yeah.

[00:25:30] And that's where the proctors just kind of sit on their asses.

[00:25:34] Exactly.

[00:25:34] Sit on their asses and watch the houses duke it out with each other, occasionally offering

[00:25:40] some help and guidance, but really they're just, these kids are on their own and the proctors

[00:25:46] are just watching them.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:48] How do I get that job?

[00:25:49] How do I get a job where I just sit up in a castle and do nothing all day and get paid

[00:25:53] to do it?

[00:25:54] Yeah.

[00:25:54] I don't know.

[00:25:55] Fitchner is a lucky bastard, but I, I love the concept of Olympus.

[00:25:59] I feel like it is a really cool, it's just cool, man.

[00:26:02] Like, I don't know how to explain it.

[00:26:04] Yeah.

[00:26:04] Do we get any kind of explanation?

[00:26:06] Is it floating?

[00:26:07] Like, is it some sort of anti-gravity thing?

[00:26:10] Is it on maybe a mountain?

[00:26:12] Like, what is the deal with it?

[00:26:13] So I think the way it works, I don't know how, if they do explain it, but you know, like

[00:26:18] how they have like grab boots and stuff that allow them to float.

[00:26:21] I'm assuming it's just that technology on a bigger scale.

[00:26:25] Hmm.

[00:26:26] Okay.

[00:26:27] That's what I was imagining, but I wasn't sure if I just had a completely wrong idea in

[00:26:32] my head.

[00:26:33] No, I just see it.

[00:26:34] The way I see it is just a big floating castle in the sky.

[00:26:38] Like just as simple as that.

[00:26:40] And I'm assuming it's got grab drens or whatever on the bottom, but who knows?

[00:26:45] For sure.

[00:26:47] And we already talked about how Fitchner reveals that the Proctors really don't help out at all.

[00:26:53] But yeah, I think the most he, sorry, the most he does is kill that deer.

[00:26:58] Although he does kill it in a cool way.

[00:27:00] In my opinion, he uses his razor.

[00:27:02] He wraps the whip around the deer's neck and then he clicks a button and it like, it

[00:27:08] tightens or whatever and kills the deer instantly.

[00:27:12] And like, that's awful and terrible, but I love razors.

[00:27:15] They're so cool.

[00:27:16] They are.

[00:27:18] Imagining the razors in my head is always, it's so fun.

[00:27:22] It's, it's just really, it sparks your imagination as a reader.

[00:27:26] Yeah.

[00:27:26] I, and also they're just like super strong.

[00:27:29] They're like stronger than diamond, I think.

[00:27:32] Hmm.

[00:27:33] Hmm.

[00:27:33] Yeah.

[00:27:35] So Goblin being the little Goblin, he is forgot the deer.

[00:27:40] And then he's, he mentions that they could always eat wolves, which is a subtle bit of

[00:27:45] foreshadowing, but yeah, he basically, he kind of screwed the pooch on that one.

[00:27:52] Which he would also never do.

[00:27:54] No, no, he would not, he would never actually.

[00:27:57] No, no.

[00:27:58] But yeah, I gotta, I gotta keep making reference to your, to what you were trying to paint.

[00:28:03] You were, you're trying to paint Goblin a bad light.

[00:28:06] How dare you?

[00:28:06] I was, I was trying to do a little bit of foreshadowing without giving away too much.

[00:28:10] And it just sounded like I was implying that Goblin likes to engage in unsavory activities.

[00:28:17] Yeah, you're not taking yourself out of this hole.

[00:28:20] He does engage in unsavory activities, but not of that kind.

[00:28:23] Anyways.

[00:28:23] No, just like the murder kind.

[00:28:26] Just the murderous kind, which all the golds kind of are engaging in that.

[00:28:30] It's normal for them.

[00:28:32] I mean, he's silly about it.

[00:28:33] He's silly about it, you know?

[00:28:35] Yeah, you know, murdering in a silly way.

[00:28:38] Darrow and Cassius race towards a house series feast and the Sarah's students are lying in

[00:28:45] wait.

[00:28:46] Darrow and Cassius fight back against them and win.

[00:28:49] Darrow taking a curved blade from them as they incapacitate.

[00:28:53] The golds of the rival clan or rival house.

[00:28:57] Yeah.

[00:28:57] And this whole fighting back against an ambush and Darrow getting his curved blade.

[00:29:03] This is how Darrow sort of starts to become known as the Reaper with this curved blade of

[00:29:08] his, which is, it's just sick as fuck.

[00:29:11] I love the Reaper.

[00:29:12] Such a good nickname.

[00:29:14] And like the offshoots of it too are weird.

[00:29:17] My favorite one though, is what the obsidians call him.

[00:29:20] They call him Tyr Morga, which I don't know directly what it means.

[00:29:24] Dante told me one time and I forgot.

[00:29:26] I think it just means like the incarnation of Tyr who, you know, obsidians are based in

[00:29:32] Norse myth.

[00:29:33] So that's their God of war.

[00:29:35] That's kind of crazy.

[00:29:36] So is Tyr Morga, is that like, I know Tyr is a Norse God, but is that like some sort

[00:29:43] of Norse language that they're using or that they speak or is it something made up for this?

[00:29:50] Or do you not?

[00:29:51] I don't really know.

[00:29:52] I'm not going to lie.

[00:29:53] I should know more, but.

[00:29:56] I'm going to look it up right now.

[00:29:58] Do you want to get into the next point while I'm doing that?

[00:30:00] Yes.

[00:30:01] That sounds like a good idea.

[00:30:04] So yeah, they find out due to Fitchner and House Ceres Proctor, they're not allowed to

[00:30:10] kill each other, which is kind of stupid.

[00:30:13] I mean, it happens here and there regardless because I mean, it's a brutal, it's a brutal

[00:30:18] book.

[00:30:19] There's a lot of murder in this book.

[00:30:21] And so then the House Ceres Proctor kind of sends them away and Fitchner agrees.

[00:30:31] But Daryl and Cassius and Titus kind of want to stay.

[00:30:36] So more Ceres golds come and attack.

[00:30:40] They're on horseback because of course they get horses.

[00:30:42] Their Proctor cares more.

[00:30:44] And so House Mars has to retreat.

[00:30:47] Do you have an answer on that Tyr Morga?

[00:30:49] Yeah, I actually do.

[00:30:50] So according to a Reddit thread, which is the most reliable source of information, it literally

[00:31:00] like means just Tyr Morga is both a reference to the god Tyr, but it also apparently means

[00:31:10] Morningstar.

[00:31:12] Oh, that's fitting.

[00:31:14] Daryl kind of is called the Morningstar by a lot of people.

[00:31:18] Yeah.

[00:31:19] And Morningstar, you know, there's, that's also Lucifer.

[00:31:27] So got some interesting things going on there.

[00:31:30] What I love too is I like the other heavy biblical nickname they use for Darrow's opposition in

[00:31:39] the second trilogy.

[00:31:40] And that is the Lightbringer.

[00:31:42] And I feel like that's kind of an interesting way, like have Darrow be the Morningstar,

[00:31:46] but the other person is the Lightbringer.

[00:31:50] Like, I don't know.

[00:31:51] It's an interesting parallel for sure.

[00:31:53] It is.

[00:31:54] And I mean, I don't want to talk about it too much because I'm sure we'll get to it eventually

[00:31:58] in five years when we get to the second trilogy.

[00:32:01] But yeah, yes.

[00:32:04] Titus really, you can see his bloodlust.

[00:32:07] It's really, it's on full display.

[00:32:11] And not only is Titus's bloodlust on full display, but there's a clear divide between the two groups

[00:32:17] in House Mars.

[00:32:18] There's one group sort of following Titus and one group following Darrow, which I think

[00:32:24] that the main reason people are kind of following Darrow at this point is because he has that

[00:32:31] initial influence from being kind of the top of his class, right?

[00:32:36] Would you say?

[00:32:37] I would say it's that.

[00:32:38] And he's also, he's very charismatic.

[00:32:41] I mean, we don't see it as much yet, but he, once, once these groups kind of form, he is

[00:32:48] able to sway some people that are like on the fringes pretty easily where like Titus is

[00:32:54] trying to, but Titus is just like, I'm the strongest, Ra.

[00:32:59] And Darrow is like, I'm, I'm silly.

[00:33:01] You have to, you have to be on my side.

[00:33:03] I'm Darrow.

[00:33:04] And it works.

[00:33:05] Yeah.

[00:33:08] And I had a question for you.

[00:33:11] Oh boy.

[00:33:11] What do you got?

[00:33:12] If you were in House Mars, would you follow Titus or would you follow Darrow?

[00:33:19] Honestly, I, I guess it would depend like, am I one of the smart ones or am I one of the

[00:33:27] like the low drafts?

[00:33:31] See, that's the question to ask yourself.

[00:33:33] Isn't it?

[00:33:33] I'm a low draft.

[00:33:34] I'm a low draft.

[00:33:35] Do some introspection.

[00:33:38] I will the metal.

[00:33:39] I don't, I don't think so.

[00:33:40] I don't think I'd be making it to the Institute, but let's say on a fluke I did, I'd be in

[00:33:46] Titus's group because I'm an idiot.

[00:33:48] But what about you?

[00:33:49] Would you stand with my Pukiti, my beloved Darrow?

[00:33:52] Or I'd like to, I'd like to think I would be with Darrow, but I feel like my five, five

[00:33:59] self would be killed in the passage before I even got a chance to make that call.

[00:34:04] I fear.

[00:34:05] Yeah.

[00:34:06] I see you in the passage lights out, buddy.

[00:34:09] Yeah.

[00:34:09] I know that you've got it out for me.

[00:34:11] Backstabber.

[00:34:13] Yep.

[00:34:14] It's my legion of spies in, in CK three.

[00:34:21] Not the first time you've done that to me in a video game.

[00:34:24] You better watch your back.

[00:34:25] It won't be the last.

[00:34:27] It won't be the last.

[00:34:28] Don't worry.

[00:34:30] And the rules of this game are kind of explained now and Fitchner reveals that they win by conquering

[00:34:35] the other tribes, which they do by using their house standard.

[00:34:41] Wünschst du dir jemanden, der dich versteht wie kein anderer?

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[00:35:35] To make slaves out of the other gold kids.

[00:35:39] So they need to keep their standard protected.

[00:35:41] If someone captures that, they essentially don't have the ability to win anymore.

[00:35:46] They can always get it back or get another standard from another group.

[00:35:51] But if they lose that, it is basically in theory game over.

[00:35:56] It's practically over.

[00:35:57] It's practically over, yeah.

[00:35:58] Because I mean, typically if they're losing it, they're also getting branded by the other...

[00:36:03] Not really branded.

[00:36:04] The standard doesn't like brand you, brand you, but it does leave a mark so that they

[00:36:10] can tell that you're a House Mars slave or a House Ceres or Mederva or whatever the

[00:36:13] fuck else.

[00:36:14] Yeah.

[00:36:16] And you might have an answer to this.

[00:36:18] Is the mark that they get permanent?

[00:36:20] Like, is it going to be a mark of shame for them having been made a slave in the Institute

[00:36:24] for the rest of their lives?

[00:36:25] Or is it something that'll go away after?

[00:36:27] No.

[00:36:27] It goes away when they're done.

[00:36:29] Got it.

[00:36:30] Okay.

[00:36:30] I didn't know.

[00:36:31] That would be very in line with the Golds to do something like that, so I wasn't sure.

[00:36:35] Nah.

[00:36:36] What they get, if they were enslaved, what they are is they're like in the middle ranks.

[00:36:43] I think they make Peerless, but they're not like, you know, they're not Imperators.

[00:36:48] They're not Praetors.

[00:36:49] They're something lower.

[00:36:50] They're just like Legion Peerless, which are just like the front line fighters, but they're

[00:36:55] not commanders or anything, you know?

[00:36:58] That makes sense.

[00:36:59] They're still pretty high up for surviving the Institute and making their way through,

[00:37:03] but they're not the top of the top.

[00:37:05] They're not going to be the Arch Governor of Mars anytime soon.

[00:37:08] That's for sure.

[00:37:09] No.

[00:37:10] No, they're not.

[00:37:10] But then there's also like the people who get branded as slaves, but then they refuse

[00:37:17] to actually remain slaves.

[00:37:19] Those people don't get Peerless scars because they suck.

[00:37:23] Yeah, exactly.

[00:37:25] And this whole standard and making slaves and things like that out of your fellow Golds,

[00:37:34] that's going to be really big for pretty much the rest of their time in the Institute.

[00:37:39] So that's a good thing to keep in mind how the game is played and how this works.

[00:37:45] And I'm even hesitant to call it a game because it is kind of...

[00:37:49] It really isn't.

[00:37:50] It's just kind of a fucked up existence for a while.

[00:37:55] Yeah, because they're in the Institute for months.

[00:37:59] Nearly a year, I think.

[00:38:02] Yeah.

[00:38:02] It's incredible.

[00:38:03] And all this time, they're living in a medieval castle and basically living outside of modern technology

[00:38:14] and put back into the Middle Ages, which is, I think, a really interesting environment for them to be tested.

[00:38:22] Yeah, but that's why it works.

[00:38:24] Because, I mean, you take away all the fancy technology and whoever comes out on top is just...

[00:38:31] They're just built different.

[00:38:32] They're built for conquering.

[00:38:35] And that's what the Golds want.

[00:38:37] Yeah.

[00:38:37] Take away the technology.

[00:38:39] Take away the nepotism, in theory.

[00:38:43] Oh, yeah, in theory.

[00:38:45] Yeah.

[00:38:46] And see who's made of what.

[00:38:49] Yeah.

[00:38:50] Yeah.

[00:38:51] And this brings us to our final chapter of this week.

[00:38:55] Chapter 22, The Tribes.

[00:38:57] Richard, you want to start us off?

[00:38:59] Oh, yeah, of course.

[00:39:01] So they all wake up the following day and Fitchner, he's gone.

[00:39:05] Of course he is.

[00:39:07] He's just a silly little guy and he fucks right off.

[00:39:11] They wake...

[00:39:12] But after they wake up, they look around the castle a bit more and they notice that there's a map on the wall that wasn't there before.

[00:39:20] It's got really good detail of their keep.

[00:39:23] But then everywhere around their area is completely covered with the fog of war.

[00:39:29] And they kind of figure that it'll just...

[00:39:32] The map will fill itself in as they scout.

[00:39:35] And we find out later in this chapter, but I'll just say it now.

[00:39:39] They are right.

[00:39:39] It fills in whatever they go out and scout, pretty much.

[00:39:43] Very much like strategy video game rules, almost like with the fog of war and everything.

[00:39:50] It seems like...

[00:39:51] Yeah.

[00:39:52] Very strategy video game there.

[00:39:54] And...

[00:39:55] Yeah.

[00:39:57] Several...

[00:39:58] This motherfucker's already killed a wolf for breakfast barehanded.

[00:40:02] He's absolutely crazy.

[00:40:04] It's no wonder why he's the goblin.

[00:40:06] He is the bloody damn goblin of Mars, bro.

[00:40:09] I love him.

[00:40:11] I think you mean the gory damn goblin of Mars.

[00:40:13] No.

[00:40:14] I said what I said.

[00:40:16] I love the red dialect.

[00:40:18] I'm a ruster.

[00:40:20] Yep.

[00:40:21] And Cassius is really pushing for the tribe to decide on a leader.

[00:40:25] Does it seem like he has any favorites at the moment for who he wants to be the leader?

[00:40:30] Well, of course, his favorite is naturally him because, like I said, Cassius sucks in this book.

[00:40:36] Like, in terms of as a character, he's such a better character in the later books.

[00:40:42] He's very self-centered.

[00:40:43] And this is kind of why I like him more.

[00:40:46] Like, this is why I put him as my favorite character because of how he changes throughout the books.

[00:40:51] But, yeah, he wants it to be him.

[00:40:54] And he really does believe that he's in charge of Darrow's group.

[00:40:59] But that's because Darrow kind of – I don't want to say gaslights him to it, but he kind of does.

[00:41:05] Like, he makes Cassius suggest stuff, but then Darrow okays it.

[00:41:10] Or it's like what Darrow led him to.

[00:41:13] It's kind of weird.

[00:41:15] Yeah, it's kind of that idea of, like, Cassius is such a proud and – I don't want to say he's a little stupid, but maybe he is a little naive.

[00:41:29] And he kind of falls for Darrow's tricks of making him think that he's got all the power when in reality it's Darrow.

[00:41:37] Which is a really – it's a manipulation tactic as old as time.

[00:41:42] And Darrow just executes it perfectly on Cassius, at least for a little while.

[00:41:46] Then they start debating and tensions rise, of course, between Cassius and Titus.

[00:41:52] Because Titus – Titus kind of likes to imply that he brutally murdered Julian in this.

[00:42:01] Because he kind of – I don't remember what he says because I read this at three in the morning last night.

[00:42:06] But he implies it a little bit and then he just kind of puts the pressure on Cassius.

[00:42:12] And then he also – Titus also calls Darrow out.

[00:42:16] And this is kind of a weird exchange because Darrow kind of just stays silent twirling his sling blade.

[00:42:22] Which somehow lets him win.

[00:42:25] Like, I – I don't know. Darrow's too stylish, I guess.

[00:42:30] Yeah, Darrow did a money spread on IG and – I need to cut that out.

[00:42:37] Yeah, I don't think Darrow would post a money spread.

[00:42:40] I think he would post, like, a head spread, though, with a bunch of people's fucking heads because he's psychotic.

[00:42:46] Antonia says that the only leader should be chosen is the Primus sending them into a disarray until a Primus can be chosen.

[00:42:55] Which is obviously – that's a – it's a rough thing to suggest that they go leaderless until someone racks up enough points to become the leader.

[00:43:07] I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?

[00:43:08] My thoughts are on this.

[00:43:11] Simply put, Antonia is a manipulative asshole and I hate her.

[00:43:16] It's pretty simple.

[00:43:19] Yeah.

[00:43:20] She definitely – she's trying to create a little bit of chaos so that she can come out on top, I think.

[00:43:27] Yeah, and she kind of plays both sides throughout the book.

[00:43:30] I mean, I don't know.

[00:43:33] I just don't like her, man.

[00:43:35] I can't even – I can't even explain it because of – because of why I don't like her.

[00:43:41] Yeah.

[00:43:42] Yeah, we'll – we'll definitely see why later on.

[00:43:46] Like, we'll see why Antonia and Titus and a few of these other characters are just straight up awful.

[00:43:54] But we'll – we'll get into that in later chapters, I guess.

[00:43:57] I fear that you don't actually know why I hate her.

[00:44:01] Maybe.

[00:44:02] I have, like, a little bit of an idea just from her character so far, but I'm sure that there will be more reasons later on in the series.

[00:44:09] It's the last chapter of Golden Sun.

[00:44:11] Yeah.

[00:44:13] Cassius and Darrow's group runs out to counter what seems like a raid, and they start planning to scout the area.

[00:44:22] But there's – they also find some supply packs hidden around while they're scouting around.

[00:44:30] And Darrow and his company of soldiers, they find meds, which is just – that's a big boon for them to find medication.

[00:44:39] Yeah, they also find some, like, some matches, but they don't share those because, you know, no one else has – no one knows how to make a fire besides Goblin.

[00:44:50] And he's, you know, he's jerking off in the bushes somewhere.

[00:44:52] We don't know what he's doing.

[00:44:54] We do know that he does that at some point, though, because of later conversations.

[00:44:57] He's kind of a freak.

[00:44:59] Yeah, he is kind of a freak.

[00:45:04] No, he's a very freaky guy.

[00:45:06] I mean –

[00:45:06] He's a freak, for sure.

[00:45:08] Yeah, and Titus, while Darrow is leading his folks to do actual useful things, Titus is leading his low drafts, the majority of the House members.

[00:45:20] Severo just, like you said, is – he fucks off to the bushes somewhere, and Darrow and Cassius stick with their group.

[00:45:27] Antonia leads an even smaller group as a garrison to defend the House Mars castle,

[00:45:34] which, you know, they've all fallen into their specific roles of who's doing what with Darrow's group doing useful shit.

[00:45:45] Severo and his – I don't think that he quite has his own group.

[00:45:49] It's just him.

[00:45:50] It's just Severo.

[00:45:51] He is full lone wolfing it.

[00:45:54] It's – that was a reference.

[00:45:56] That was a reference.

[00:45:57] Hell yeah.

[00:45:57] Yep.

[00:45:58] Nice little bit of foreshadowing there again with the wolf.

[00:46:02] And what is Titus doing, man?

[00:46:04] What is he – is he doing anything useful at this point?

[00:46:07] He's like warmongering, I think.

[00:46:08] They don't really explain it.

[00:46:11] Like, explain what's up.

[00:46:13] I think he's just doing that.

[00:46:14] Like, he's trying to cement himself as the most powerful faction.

[00:46:21] That's really all we can kind of infer at this point.

[00:46:25] Yeah.

[00:46:25] You can tell that to Darrow, it really is life or death.

[00:46:30] Like, he understands what's at stake because there is more at stake for him than there is for anyone else.

[00:46:36] But for Titus, it really is just a game.

[00:46:39] It really doesn't feel as serious for him.

[00:46:41] He just wants to win.

[00:46:43] Yeah.

[00:46:44] It's definitely something.

[00:46:47] And they kind of plot.

[00:46:49] You know, Cassius and Darrow, they start planning some stuff.

[00:46:52] They agree that the house needs to be united very soon or, you know, they're going to lose.

[00:46:58] And, you know, Titus, as they say, he's got to be put in his place or put down.

[00:47:04] Cassius even suggests that they go into his bedroom at night and murder him.

[00:47:10] Yeah.

[00:47:11] Crazy, crazy suggestion.

[00:47:13] I mean, they've already been told, like, don't, you shouldn't be murdering your fellow golds.

[00:47:19] But, like, if you have to during this game, then I guess it's fine.

[00:47:24] But try not to is kind of the vibe that the Proctors gave them.

[00:47:30] Yeah.

[00:47:30] There's still a lot of strength.

[00:47:33] Like, deaths that I just didn't think would be there, you know?

[00:47:36] Yeah.

[00:47:37] And Roke realizes that the valley really is just a microcosm of the society as a whole,

[00:47:46] with the slaves that are taken from the other houses being the stand-ins for the low colors

[00:47:52] and whichever house is on top being a stand-in for themselves, the golds.

[00:47:58] So, I mean, this should be pretty obvious by this point, but Roke does give a little bit of an explanation for the reader of what the valley is, essentially.

[00:48:09] Yeah.

[00:48:09] I like the way he does it, too, because, like, Roke's a deep thinker.

[00:48:13] You know, he's the poet.

[00:48:15] So, it kind of works well for his character, too, to be, like, the philosopher of the group, I guess.

[00:48:23] Yeah.

[00:48:24] And I don't want to spoil it too much, but the metaphor or just the reality of the valley being a microcosm of the society,

[00:48:36] the actions that certain characters take in the valley are definitely going to be echoes of their larger actions later on in the story.

[00:48:47] Yeah.

[00:48:47] I'm just going to say it.

[00:48:48] Titus is awful in this book, all right?

[00:48:51] He really is.

[00:48:52] He sucks.

[00:48:53] I hate him.

[00:48:54] I hate him.

[00:48:55] Yeah.

[00:48:56] I mean, how could you not hate him?

[00:48:57] He's just such an ass.

[00:48:59] He really is, and I like that he's awful and that he doesn't get redemption, because if he did, like, I'd probably like him, because I'm a sucker for redemption arcs.

[00:49:12] And, ugh, I just hate him so much, dude.

[00:49:16] Yeah, Titus is an asshole, which, it's so, I love a character that's easy to hate.

[00:49:23] Call me a hater, but I love to hate.

[00:49:26] I'm clocking in for extra time, for overtime at my shift at the Hater building, bro.

[00:49:31] You have no idea.

[00:49:32] Call me the CEO of Hater Town over here, the way I'm hating on Titus.

[00:49:37] Of Hater Town.

[00:49:37] You know, I actually went to Hater Town.

[00:49:39] They had a statue of you in the town square.

[00:49:41] It was kind of crazy.

[00:49:42] Yeah.

[00:49:43] They didn't know you there.

[00:49:45] Not yet.

[00:49:46] I haven't made my hate clear enough.

[00:49:49] But I do have my characters that I hate.

[00:49:51] I hate Titus.

[00:49:52] I hate the Jackal.

[00:49:56] I hate pretty much any of the gold enemies that Daryl goes against.

[00:50:02] Ironically enough, I don't hate Nero Augustus as much as I hate some of the others.

[00:50:07] Yeah.

[00:50:08] I don't want to say too much about him because he's a major character in the second book.

[00:50:13] But he's just so pathetic.

[00:50:16] Like, I don't know.

[00:50:17] It's hard to hate him as much as you hate the other people just because he's...

[00:50:20] Yeah.

[00:50:21] Once you, like, see him in person more and not just as, like, this he murdered Daryl's wife figure, you really kind of see that he really is just a loser.

[00:50:33] Lamo.

[00:50:33] Lamo.

[00:50:34] Lamo.

[00:50:34] Wannabe.

[00:50:35] Yep.

[00:50:35] God.

[00:50:36] So stupid.

[00:50:37] It is.

[00:50:38] We've been keeping that going for a year now.

[00:50:41] Almost.

[00:50:41] We have been.

[00:50:42] It's probably been longer than a year, no?

[00:50:45] No, I want to say it was, like, right about when I went to D.C. last year and that was...

[00:50:49] Oh, that's right.

[00:50:50] That's right.

[00:50:50] It was right after I finished welding school.

[00:50:53] Stop, don't talk to me, loser, Lamo, wannabe.

[00:50:55] Daryl sees that he's at a disadvantage when Titus brings home the first slave of Mars, which gains him a ton of credibility, seeing as he's kind of made the first move to bring House Mars on top over the other houses.

[00:51:09] Yeah, he's kind of brutal with it, too, of course.

[00:51:12] Like, he's dragging this poor girl in by the hair.

[00:51:16] And...

[00:51:17] Yeah.

[00:51:17] Ugh.

[00:51:18] Yeah, he...

[00:51:20] Not only is he playing the game and, you know, taking the other golds as slaves, but he's just being such a dick about it.

[00:51:31] Like, he really is awful.

[00:51:32] I hate...

[00:51:33] Titus is truly just vile and sadistic.

[00:51:39] Yeah, I mean, there's...

[00:51:41] We learn why, but it doesn't justify it.

[00:51:45] Yeah, exactly.

[00:51:46] Like, there's...

[00:51:49] There's so many characters that have had awful lives and have grown up in these terrible conditions that grow up to be not like Titus.

[00:51:59] So, it really is just...

[00:52:02] You get an idea of where he's coming from with his horrible behavior, but, again, doesn't justify it whatsoever.

[00:52:10] Because you have characters who have been through worse things than him and have come out as better people.

[00:52:17] So...

[00:52:17] Yeah.

[00:52:18] I mean, will you consider, like...

[00:52:20] I feel like my top three for characters that have, like, been through it and are still awesome?

[00:52:26] We got Darrow, of course.

[00:52:28] We've got...

[00:52:29] I would consider Cassius.

[00:52:32] Yeah.

[00:52:33] Because of everything he goes through.

[00:52:34] And I would consider Mustang.

[00:52:37] And then we get the three, like, inverses to that are...

[00:52:44] Spoilers, Titus, and more spoilers.

[00:52:48] I can't really talk about the two spoiler characters at all, because...

[00:52:51] Yeah, yeah.

[00:52:52] Well, I know...

[00:52:53] You've met the one.

[00:52:54] I mean, he's the bad guy of this book.

[00:52:57] Yeah, we don't want to talk about him too much, though, because we haven't even gotten his introduction, I don't think.

[00:53:01] Like, we don't even know of him yet.

[00:53:03] He really doesn't even get much content, though, in this book.

[00:53:06] He really is kind of just at the end there, I feel like.

[00:53:10] Yeah, he very much is.

[00:53:11] He's more of a presence than he is a character.

[00:53:15] Absolutely.

[00:53:16] Yeah.

[00:53:17] These chapters are...

[00:53:19] It's like you jump right in.

[00:53:22] This is the meat of the book.

[00:53:23] This is...

[00:53:24] You're really into the Institute.

[00:53:27] And this is the main plot.

[00:53:29] I think that they do...

[00:53:30] They did a great job of setting everything up in the chapters that we looked at last week,

[00:53:35] and they did a really good job of explaining the rules of them in the Vale, or Vale Marinaris.

[00:53:43] And I just...

[00:53:46] I think it's some great writing in these few chapters of getting us introduced.

[00:53:51] Truly is, and I'm not going to lie.

[00:53:52] I'd say almost all of these chapters are great writing, because I'm a Pierce Brown meat writer.

[00:53:58] Or Glazer.

[00:53:59] Either term.

[00:54:00] Both terms at once, even.

[00:54:02] Both at once.

[00:54:03] That's crazy.

[00:54:04] Okay, maybe not both at once.

[00:54:06] But the same way that you are the CEO of Hatertown, I am the CEO of Glazer City.

[00:54:13] I'm clipping that audio.

[00:54:16] Please don't.

[00:54:17] I don't like when you clip audios, because then Chase sends them to me.

[00:54:21] Yeah, and then you're out here claiming that I made an AI Richard.

[00:54:26] You did make an AI Richard.

[00:54:28] I don't know why you're fucking lying on the air right now.

[00:54:32] You know what?

[00:54:33] Maybe I will make an AI Richard, and then I won't need you on the podcast anymore.

[00:54:37] All right.

[00:54:38] Who's going to make the outlines?

[00:54:40] I'll just...

[00:54:41] I'll have AI Richard make it.

[00:54:43] You'll have it?

[00:54:43] Oh, it'll be even more incoherent?

[00:54:47] Maybe AI Richard will be more coherent.

[00:54:49] I don't know.

[00:54:50] I feel like I'm pretty silly with this.

[00:54:52] Like...

[00:54:54] You do...

[00:54:55] You've...

[00:54:55] You got...

[00:54:56] You get some good detail into these outlines.

[00:54:58] I do always enjoy reading whatever jokes you throw in here.

[00:55:02] Well, I'm just blatant.

[00:55:03] Like, Severo did fuck off.

[00:55:05] He's gone.

[00:55:06] We don't fucking know where he is.

[00:55:08] That's very true.

[00:55:11] I mean...

[00:55:12] What more can you say about these chapters?

[00:55:14] Severo kills a wolf with his bare hands for breakfast.

[00:55:19] Darrow lies about having killed Cassius' twin brother.

[00:55:23] And...

[00:55:24] You've got Titus being brutal and just the biggest dickhead asshole that you could possibly think of.

[00:55:31] So...

[00:55:32] Yeah.

[00:55:32] I don't know.

[00:55:33] Do you have anything to add about...

[00:55:35] About these few chapters?

[00:55:38] Um...

[00:55:39] Not too much, you know.

[00:55:40] Like you said, fuck Titus.

[00:55:42] He's an op, for real.

[00:55:44] Darrow lying about killing Julian will surely have no implications later on in the book.

[00:55:49] I mean...

[00:55:50] What kind of terrible writer would do that?

[00:55:52] That would actually make events have purchase in the story.

[00:55:56] I mean...

[00:55:57] That'd be...

[00:55:58] That'd be awful, wouldn't it?

[00:56:00] Yeah.

[00:56:01] And...

[00:56:01] Before we start getting into our wrap-up, Richard...

[00:56:06] There's some exciting things coming for Radioactive Ramblings, aren't there?

[00:56:09] I don't know what you're going on about, bro.

[00:56:12] I don't even know.

[00:56:15] We...

[00:56:15] At Radioactive Ramblings...

[00:56:17] We've been thinking for a while about what we can cover next as sort of mainline coverage.

[00:56:24] You know, there's not really shows out right now that we feel could be covered by us.

[00:56:32] And...

[00:56:33] Yeah, because other podcasts in the network are covering, like, the Penguin.

[00:56:37] Yeah.

[00:56:38] I feel like that's really one of the only big...

[00:56:39] And Agatha all along is or was getting covered.

[00:56:43] I don't know.

[00:56:44] I did not watch the show.

[00:56:45] Agatha all along is getting full coverage over on the Lorehounds.

[00:56:48] The Penguin is getting coverage by both the Lorehounds and...

[00:56:53] Properly Howard did a surprise drop of a Penguin review.

[00:56:58] So we figured that...

[00:57:01] We may do, like, maybe end of season.

[00:57:04] We might chit-chat about it briefly.

[00:57:05] But we're not going to be doing full coverage.

[00:57:08] So we've been racking our brains trying to think of what we can have going until February when Invincible comes out.

[00:57:15] Because we're definitely doing episode-by-episode coverage of that.

[00:57:19] Oh, of course.

[00:57:20] I'm so excited for Invincible, bro.

[00:57:22] Absolutely.

[00:57:23] And where we kind of landed on that was...

[00:57:26] We're going to be doing a few reviews over the next months, weeks, however long, of some Studio Ghibli movies.

[00:57:36] Which I haven't seen most of them.

[00:57:39] I've seen a few, obviously, because they're just so prolific in media.

[00:57:44] But, yeah.

[00:57:46] So the two of us and Chase are going to be hopping back on the mic, finally, the three of us back together, to review some Studio Ghibli movies.

[00:57:54] Yeah, we're going to be doing...

[00:57:56] I think How Was Moving Castles the first one, yes?

[00:57:59] Yes, you are absolutely correct.

[00:58:01] I think that that was what Chase chose for us as our first review.

[00:58:05] And we might do a little preview episode just to get the word out that we're doing a Studio Ghibli review series.

[00:58:12] But that might be our main content for a little while, just because we have a long interim and we still want to...

[00:58:20] We want to talk about shit.

[00:58:22] We enjoy getting in front of the microphone and rambling on and on about something that we enjoy.

[00:58:27] Oh, for sure.

[00:58:28] I would like to say, too, we do plan on at some point...

[00:58:33] I know we said we were going to do it and we never actually...

[00:58:35] We kind of had just too much going on at the time.

[00:58:38] We're going to do Elden Ring.

[00:58:39] We're going to do it.

[00:58:41] I swear.

[00:58:43] Are we?

[00:58:44] We're doing Elden Ring?

[00:58:44] We are.

[00:58:45] We are.

[00:58:45] We're going to do Elden Ring.

[00:58:46] All right?

[00:58:47] I have two outlines written.

[00:58:49] I have to revise the one outline because it's all about the Golden Lineage.

[00:58:52] Okay.

[00:58:55] That's fair.

[00:58:57] I have to revise the one outline, though, because that's about all the demigods, and I made that before Mesmer had lore, really.

[00:59:05] Yeah.

[00:59:05] So I got to rewrite that one.

[00:59:08] But we'll re...

[00:59:10] Because I think we recorded the first episode, but then the audio file wasn't good because me and Chase left before it uploaded.

[00:59:18] Yeah.

[00:59:19] That was my bad for not telling you not to leave.

[00:59:22] That was on me.

[00:59:23] But we will...

[00:59:24] Yeah, it's all your fault.

[00:59:25] We can re-record.

[00:59:25] Yeah.

[00:59:26] We can re-record at some point.

[00:59:27] I did have audio files for it, but they were just really poor quality, which none of us already...

[00:59:34] The three of us have fairly inexpensive microphones, so our audio quality is already just fine.

[00:59:41] Just barely well enough.

[00:59:44] But I do...

[00:59:46] Yeah, I think that if we do a little re-recording of it and get it out there, it would be awesome.

[00:59:52] Because I could yap about Elden Ring for so long.

[00:59:55] So that might be a series that...

[00:59:57] I don't know, maybe once a month an Elden Ring podcast.

[01:00:01] Yeah.

[01:00:01] Or...

[01:00:01] Same thing with Fallout lore, where it's a little bit more on the back burner.

[01:00:05] Like, every once in a while we'll drop an episode.

[01:00:07] Yeah, I feel like for the big lore things like those, it's just compiling the lore takes forever.

[01:00:14] Like, that Elden Ring one didn't take forever, that first one.

[01:00:18] But that's because I was dialed.

[01:00:20] I was dialed in so hard, and I wrote that thing in, like, two hours.

[01:00:25] I had, like, 18 tabs open on Google.

[01:00:29] I had the game open.

[01:00:30] I was looking for items.

[01:00:31] I spent 30 minutes killing the same enemy to get an item to drop so I could get the lore from it.

[01:00:39] Because I didn't feel like looking it up on Google.

[01:00:41] I don't know why.

[01:00:42] Don't ask me.

[01:00:43] I'm stupid.

[01:00:44] All right?

[01:00:46] No, that's so fair.

[01:00:46] I'm just dedicated.

[01:00:48] I'm dedicated.

[01:00:48] I feel like, especially with Elden Ring, if you go on YouTube and you watch a Vati Vidya video, like, there's so many great lore YouTubers out there for Elden Ring especially, that if we aren't bringing a unique spin to it and giving some information or presenting the information in a different way,

[01:01:11] I don't want to just rehash something that's already out there in a form that's probably better.

[01:01:17] So I think that having our own unique, more, I don't even want to say more in-depth, but just covering different, covering it from a different angle.

[01:01:27] Like, we need a unique take on it, and I feel like we are, we've got that a little bit.

[01:01:33] Yeah.

[01:01:34] What I like about the Elden Ring lore, though, one, obviously how complex it is.

[01:01:39] It drives me insane how complex it is, honestly, sometimes.

[01:01:42] But then the other part of it, too, is that there's a lot of room for, like, just theories.

[01:01:46] And I feel like between the three of us, we all have some pretty unique theories on what's going on in the lands between, you know, behind the scenes that we don't get any details on.

[01:01:58] Oh, I've got so many theories, man.

[01:02:00] Like, what do you know about blah, blah, blah?

[01:02:03] Melina.

[01:02:04] Like, we could cook.

[01:02:07] Yeah, like, she's...

[01:02:09] Okay, never mind.

[01:02:09] I'm not going to get into it, because then I'm going to have less to talk about on an Elden Ring podcast.

[01:02:13] But anyways...

[01:02:14] Yeah, shut up, idiot.

[01:02:16] Wow.

[01:02:17] So rude.

[01:02:18] I'm kicking you from the call.

[01:02:19] You didn't raise your hand to speak.

[01:02:22] Uh, I don't know how to...

[01:02:23] Oh, wait.

[01:02:23] I found it.

[01:02:24] I raised my hand to speak.

[01:02:26] Yep.

[01:02:26] Now I'm speaking.

[01:02:27] Fuck you.

[01:02:28] You don't have the talking stick.

[01:02:30] Aw.

[01:02:31] Aw.

[01:02:31] Can you drop it off real quick?

[01:02:34] Yeah, let me just take the seven-hour drive to Buffalo real quick.

[01:02:38] Oh, wait.

[01:02:39] You don't have a car, so you can't.

[01:02:41] I'll rent a...

[01:02:42] A car.

[01:02:44] Okay.

[01:02:45] I believe you.

[01:02:47] Will I even remember how to drive?

[01:02:49] I don't know.

[01:02:51] You should let me crash your car.

[01:02:53] Uh, no.

[01:02:54] Actually, I'm, like, almost...

[01:02:56] I have, like, two payments left, and then I'm done paying it off, so no.

[01:02:59] You cannot crash my car.

[01:03:01] I...

[01:03:01] Richard?

[01:03:02] This has been a fun episode.

[01:03:04] You want to let people know how they can get a hold of us so that they can be a part of

[01:03:08] the conversation.

[01:03:09] Oh, my God.

[01:03:10] I get to yap?

[01:03:11] Oh, my goodness gracious.

[01:03:12] That's my favorite part of this.

[01:03:13] All right.

[01:03:14] So, of course, as always, we are happy to bring you any content through Ramblers Rising

[01:03:20] or Radioactive Ramblings, and we are just so glad to have listeners like you guys for

[01:03:26] some feedback, you know, because I know I make mistakes a lot.

[01:03:31] You can email radioactive at thelorehounds.com to tell me and Aaron how bad or amazing or whatever

[01:03:38] we're doing.

[01:03:39] We do have a channel set up for Radioactive Ramblings in the Lorehounds Discord server.

[01:03:44] You could send us a message, chat about the show, tell us to cover something that maybe

[01:03:49] we missed or, you know, stuff like that.

[01:03:52] Give us suggestions for something you want to hear us talk about.

[01:03:55] Anything helps.

[01:03:56] We also have a contact form that you could leave or leave us a voicemail at thelorehounds.com.

[01:04:03] We also have a Twitter or X account, which is at Radioactive141.

[01:04:07] And we'd appreciate a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever other platform you guys

[01:04:13] are listening on.

[01:04:14] And we've been thinking about getting a TikTok going to get ourselves out there a little

[01:04:19] bit more just because I personally don't like Twitter that much, even though I'm the one

[01:04:24] who started our Twitter.

[01:04:26] I know.

[01:04:27] I just, every time I'm on there, I see a TikTok that hurts my brain.

[01:04:30] Why don't we do a Threads account?

[01:04:31] Threads is so, um, Threads is popping.

[01:04:35] No, I'm lying.

[01:04:37] Is it?

[01:04:38] But Threads was popping for like a week.

[01:04:41] Yeah.

[01:04:42] Threads is bad.

[01:04:43] Yeah.

[01:04:44] So if you, it will likely be the same handle at Radioactive141 when our TikTok is up.

[01:04:52] And hopefully I can get some fun little videos out for maybe some podcast clips.

[01:04:58] Should we have our fucking cameras on then?

[01:05:01] Would that be a better?

[01:05:02] Don't you not have a camera?

[01:05:03] I don't right now, but I could go buy one.

[01:05:06] It'd be like 20 bucks.

[01:05:08] I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.

[01:05:10] But I, for as far as clips go, I, I'll probably just do some edits or something with our voice

[01:05:18] over.

[01:05:18] I don't even know what I would do, but we'll see.

[01:05:20] We'll get into it.

[01:05:21] Before we let you guys go, I just want to let you all know what else the Lorehounds

[01:05:27] Barovian Broadcasting Network has going on.

[01:05:29] We're, we're always popping off with some stuff.

[01:05:32] The Lorehounds themselves are our parent podcast who makes all of this possible, both with

[01:05:38] the software that we use and just helping us get on our feet when we first started this

[01:05:45] podcast.

[01:05:46] They have coverage of Agatha all along.

[01:05:49] They have the Penguin.

[01:05:51] They're currently going through the Poltergeist movies for Halloween, which I just listened

[01:05:56] to the first review of their Poltergeist movies, and it's really entertaining.

[01:06:01] They've got some interesting things to say about the Satanic Panic in the 80s, and it's

[01:06:07] just, um, they've always got some fun spooktober stuff going on around Halloween.

[01:06:12] So go give them a listen.

[01:06:14] Listen to Agatha all along.

[01:06:16] Um, Properly Howard movie review.

[01:06:18] They're, I believe, still on hiatus.

[01:06:20] Richard, I see you have your hand raised.

[01:06:23] Yeah.

[01:06:23] Just curious.

[01:06:25] Why didn't we do anything for how, for October?

[01:06:28] This is, we, we could have been so smart.

[01:06:31] We can do something for Halloween.

[01:06:33] Yeah.

[01:06:33] Watch Terrifier, idiot.

[01:06:34] I'm kidding.

[01:06:36] We are not covering Terrifier because those movies are violent and disgusting and awful.

[01:06:41] I almost puked at the third one.

[01:06:44] I haven't seen any of them, nor do I really care to.

[01:06:46] Yeah, but Properly Howard, they're on hiatus, I believe, but they just dropped a surprise

[01:06:50] review of the Penguin.

[01:06:52] I don't know if they're planning on having any additional coverage, if they're going to

[01:06:55] do maybe a end of season check-in or something like that, but they're awesome.

[01:07:00] They're hilarious.

[01:07:00] Go give their podcast a listen if you haven't.

[01:07:03] Um, Alicia over on Wool Shift Dust, who is also one of the, uh, three lorehounds.

[01:07:09] She, I believe, is gearing up for some coverage of the new season of Silo, which is really

[01:07:15] exciting.

[01:07:16] Silo is an awesome sci-fi show on Apple TV+.

[01:07:19] So go give that show a listen if you haven't listened yet, and stay tuned for Silo season

[01:07:25] two coverage.

[01:07:27] Um, I believe the Star Wars Canon Timeline podcast, uh, by Alicia is coming back pretty

[01:07:32] soon as well.

[01:07:33] Mark and Nicole over on Nevermind the Music, the latest podcast from the network.

[01:07:38] They've got, uh, their season coming out, which is just awesome.

[01:07:42] I believe they're on episode 10 of their season.

[01:07:46] I'm not sure how many episodes they're going to have total, but super entertaining.

[01:07:50] They look at different genres of music and, uh, just really knowledgeable and funny people.

[01:07:58] So definitely give them a listen if you haven't.

[01:08:01] And Marilyn and Dr.

[01:08:03] Sarah Brown over on Rings and Rituals.

[01:08:05] Uh, now that the second season of the Rings of Power is over, I'm sure that they have some

[01:08:10] ideas cooking for how they're going to cover the second season later on.

[01:08:13] So stay tuned for news on that.

[01:08:16] And as always, Richard, let you know how you can get in touch with us, but all of the

[01:08:21] affiliate podcasts of the Lorehounds, as well as how you can get in touch with us, that's

[01:08:27] all going to be in our show notes.

[01:08:28] And we're just really grateful that you guys are listening every, every week we put out

[01:08:33] one of these and we just, we love having conversations with each other and with you guys.

[01:08:40] And it just, anytime that we hear from y'all, it really does make doing this so much more

[01:08:47] fun and we appreciate your listenership.

[01:08:50] So thank you.

[01:08:51] And we hope to see you in the next episode.