Ramblers Rising - Red Rising Chapters 26-29

[00:00:20] Hello and welcome back to a new episode of Ramblers Rising, our show where we talk about the world of Red Rising, go over chapters, and just kind of ramble. I'm your host, Richard.

[00:00:32] And I'm your other host, Aaron. Today we're going to be going over chapters 26-29 of Red Rising. We're getting into some interesting parts here. Richard, how are you doing?

[00:00:44] I am fan-fucking-tastic, as per usual. How are you doing?

[00:00:47] You know, I'm not doing too bad. Last night I finished Vinland Saga Season 2.

[00:00:52] Oh my god. And how was it?

[00:00:55] It was pretty fantastic, I can't lie. It was a really good ending.

[00:01:00] Yeah, yeah. We're going to move you on to some crazier stuff now. Don't worry.

[00:01:05] I don't know about all that.

[00:01:07] You're watching Attack on Titan. You don't have a choice, alright?

[00:01:10] I don't know about all that. Listen, Vinland Saga was very good, but I still, I can't say that I'm the biggest anime fan still. I don't know if I'm, I don't know if I'm drinking the Kool-Aid yet.

[00:01:23] I get that, but you gotta taste now. Drink the Kool-Aid by the drug, or whatever they say in that one Bring Me the Horizon song.

[00:01:29] Yeah. We'll see.

[00:01:30] Alright, trust me on this one. Trust me on this one. Attack on Titan.

[00:01:34] Very peak, and I think Trace has watched it, and I think you just need to watch it, bro.

[00:01:40] I watched Season 1 when I was in middle school.

[00:01:44] Well, you should recap it, and then watch Season 2, and then watch Season 3, and then guess what? Watch Season 4.

[00:01:52] Yeah, that's true.

[00:01:55] Richard, what have you been watching, playing, doing lately?

[00:01:59] I haven't been watching anything new, unfortunately. That's my problem.

[00:02:03] I'm currently actually re-watching Hunter x Hunter and Attack on Titan, like side by side, because I'm a little bit insane.

[00:02:12] But I have been chugging through the Mistborn series. I'm on book 3, and then once I finish book 3 of Mistborn, I can go back to the Stormlight Archive and read book 4 before book 5 comes out in like two weeks.

[00:02:26] Sounds like you're getting caught up.

[00:02:28] I was talking to Chase this morning. He said that he picked up Red Rising and then proceeded to not read it last night.

[00:02:35] Oh my god.

[00:02:36] So he still will be joining us for a hot minute.

[00:02:38] I think he just needs to do the audiobook at this point, because you can kind of do that while you're doing other stuff.

[00:02:44] Yeah.

[00:02:45] And also the narrator is Pete.

[00:02:47] I mean, he and I have our Thanksgiving break from college coming up next week, actually, so I'll be home. You and I will get a chance to hang out. Maybe Chase will take Red Rising home to Cali with him.

[00:02:59] Yeah.

[00:02:59] He'll give that a read, maybe? I don't know.

[00:03:01] He's gonna text in the chat and say, guys, I forgot to bring the book home.

[00:03:07] Probably. I don't even know if he's planning on bringing it home with him.

[00:03:11] Probably not.

[00:03:13] Scumbag!

[00:03:14] Next week, I...

[00:03:17] Actually, no, because we're a week ahead on recordings, so we should still have an episode out next week.

[00:03:25] I won't be able to record because I'll be traveling, but we do record a week ahead, so I don't think that our schedule of releases should be affected by that.

[00:03:36] Yeah, no, we're just gonna have to record the next episode and then edit it really, really fast.

[00:03:45] Yeah, we'll get ahead on that at some point, probably the week after I get back, and then we'll be back to our, like, one week ahead of time on the recordings and everything there.

[00:03:56] So, shouldn't be too affected by my travel plans. And, yeah, we have a lot to get through today. Should we jump right in?

[00:04:05] We should jump right in with Chapter 26, Mustang, my beloved.

[00:04:10] So, Chapter 26 starts with us learning that Cassius is very much a shell of his former self with no pride or dignity left. You know, last chapter we saw him suffer some pretty awful humiliation and beating.

[00:04:24] And he got pissed on.

[00:04:26] Yeah.

[00:04:27] Yeah.

[00:04:27] I was kind of lumping that in with the humiliation part. I wasn't gonna say it, but you said it for me.

[00:04:34] It's mentioned multiple times throughout these chapters, so, you know, we gotta make sure. Gotta make sure that people know, Aaron. Come on.

[00:04:42] Yeah, gotta make sure they know. But Cassius is also taken to calling Darrow his brother. Um, that's a little awkward.

[00:04:50] I think it's goofy. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. They're just really good friends and there's nothing, there's no secrets between them. So, why wouldn't they call each other brothers, right?

[00:04:59] Yeah, they're very close. They are like brothers. Um, I mean, Darrow has never done anything that Cassius would be upset or angry about, did he?

[00:05:10] Hmm. Hmm. No, not that I can think of. It's not a major plot point.

[00:05:14] No, not at all. Um, Richard, what do you think about the relationship between Cassius and Darrow at this point in the story?

[00:05:23] Like, so, I got my comments. It's very fucked up. It's awful. However, their relationship later in the books, the bromance, oh my god.

[00:05:35] Hmm. Love it. But yeah, this shit, this is sad. It's disgusting. I really don't like Darrow in this part of the book. Like, he's kind of a bastard about it.

[00:05:46] Uh, especially given what happens in, like, two chapters. He's, he's kind of crazy with it.

[00:05:52] Yeah. I think, I also think that it's kind of fucked up that he's getting so close with Cassius, but I don't know.

[00:05:58] Listeners, if you have any thoughts on the morals of Darrow kind of getting close with Cassius after, uh, doing what he did, murdering his brother, uh, please write in and let us know because this is something that I think is a very complex issue and we would love to get your thoughts on it.

[00:06:16] It only gets worse, too, of course.

[00:06:19] It only gets worse. That's with everything in this, in this series of books. It just gets worse.

[00:06:24] It, it really does. Even, like, characters' deaths, like, after the death, something crazier will happen and it just makes that hit so much harder and makes it sadder. Like, it's, it's crazy.

[00:06:36] Yeah. And this is where they start to plot to get Quinn back before Titus does his horrific, awful, nasty, monstrous shit. Yeah. They're trying to get her back before anything too terrible can happen.

[00:06:49] While they're doing this, they're also, like, you know, they're scouting. They want to find other castles because they've only run in the series, but series is kind of, they've taken to just staying inside their castle for now after Titus, uh, was, was being a bastard. I really don't have much more to say on Titus. He's awful. He does not redeem himself.

[00:07:12] No, he certainly doesn't. I feel like Titus is one character that we can just write off as being just pure asshole villain mode. Like, there's no, no redemption for him at this point.

[00:07:23] Yeah. But they do get to meet one of my favorite characters and I say that about everyone, but she's in the top five, like legitimately. They meet Mustang and we already, we've already met Mustang a few times.

[00:07:35] She's the one who laughed at Daryl when he fell off the horse and she was humming EO's song in the locker rooms. Like we love Mustang.

[00:07:44] Yeah.

[00:07:44] And she, in one interaction with Cassius, because he's kind of stupid, figures out that they've rated series, but they have no crops and that they have no real weaponry. And also that they're from house bars in about a minute. I love Mustang. She's so smart.

[00:08:01] She is. She's really smart, very perceptive. She's really a great character to have that sort of intellect that I feel a lot of these golds don't have. I mean, they all are of exceptional intellect for the most part because they kind of have to be to get where they are.

[00:08:20] But Mustang really is leagues ahead of the rest of them in her mind and her abilities in that way. Not only that, but she's also very physically capable as well.

[00:08:33] Yes. And to top it all off, instead of being like most of the really smart golds where she's just capable of that, like cold, hard logic, she's also a very caring, compassionate person.

[00:08:44] Not to say that she doesn't have her moments where she just lops off people's heads, but it's typically justified.

[00:08:50] Yeah. Mustang definitely has that compassion. And I think that we got a little bit of a hint at that aspect of her character when we saw her humming the song a few chapters ago.

[00:09:04] Like that's, it gives a little bit of insight that maybe she has some empathy for the Reds.

[00:09:10] Yeah. Maybe she does. Who could tell? Honestly.

[00:09:14] Yeah. Who could say, but Dero and her, they once again have some flirty exchanges like they did back in the locker room. And he finds out that she was actually a higher draft pick than he was, which places her in the top 10.

[00:09:28] Not surprising after everything we just said about her that she was in the top 10.

[00:09:32] Yeah. Like I know I glaze a lot, but I'm not even glazing with Mustang. It's crazy.

[00:09:38] No, it's just pure skill. Like she really is. She's everything. Like she's just really such a talented character.

[00:09:47] True. True. Yeah. I love Mustang.

[00:09:50] And they trick her, they knock her off her horse. As her army comes, they find out that she is from House Minerva, which really is so fitting that Mustang is from House Minerva because she very much has those aspects of wisdom and warfare that is associated with Minerva.

[00:10:07] Minerva slash. Oh God. What's the, what's her Greek name? Athena. Athena. Thank you. Yes.

[00:10:14] Oh my God, bro. Bro. What the hell? That was a, that was a, are you ready for Percy Jackson? Holy shit.

[00:10:22] I listen, I'm a big Percy Jackson fan, but I had a moment right there.

[00:10:26] Yeah. Yeah. I could tell. Yeah.

[00:10:28] Um, this is where Cassius and Dara decide, fuck it. We're going to dive into a lake so that we don't get captured. And they just tread water in the center for quite a long time.

[00:10:38] Roque, the warrior poet, lights a beacon. Dara and Cassius act as if it's their castle and Mustang and her troops leave to attack, leaving a few to guard. Dara and Cassius.

[00:10:51] It is in fact their castle. Roque lit a beacon inside Titus's castle to get her troops to attack it and take it for them.

[00:11:00] Roque lights the beacon and Cassius and Dara protect the castle. Mustang and her troops leave to attack only a few being left to guard Cassius and Dara. So this is a big sort of fight scene in this chapter, which we're starting to really ramp up on the violence and the attacks between the different tribes.

[00:11:21] Kind of. Yeah. While Cassius and Dara are stuck fucking treading water in the middle of the lake, they hear something howl in the distance and Dara knows it's not a wolf because it doesn't sound quite right.

[00:11:34] And the remaining raiders that are there to like guard them and kill them if they are not kill them, but enslave them if they leave.

[00:11:43] They all scream one by one. They're taken down and the motherfucking goblin of Mars saves Dara and Cassius.

[00:11:51] Gory damn Severo. Yep. Severo wearing his wolf pelt. So even though not a real wolf, kind of, uh, kind of running up on him looking like one howling. And I don't know. I think that this idea of this little guy who's just completely feral in battle is so funny.

[00:12:14] Aaron, as, as a short King, you relate to Severo. I'm sorry. You relate to Severo.

[00:12:20] Um, well, I do enjoy regularly bathing and...

[00:12:27] Okay. Okay. Not that part. Obviously, obviously not that part.

[00:12:33] Well, you see, I don't relate. Other than the fact that we're both short, which I'm sure goblin as a fucking gold is probably still taller than me anyways.

[00:12:44] He's, uh, he's a little feral, a little crazy, but I guess we're a short King solidarity.

[00:12:51] Yeah. Right. I, me personally, I relate to Cassius. I'm, I'm just like him for real.

[00:12:58] Yeah. Yeah. Seven feet tall.

[00:13:00] Yeah. I don't get pissed on though.

[00:13:02] Gold hair.

[00:13:04] Nah, I don't know.

[00:13:05] You had to add that one in, didn't you?

[00:13:06] I got that. I had to make sure that that was like on record. Yeah.

[00:13:09] But I do got the curly hair and, um, my honor remains like my goat.

[00:13:14] Yep. And Severo, this is where he submits to Kat, to Darrow as his leader. And we find out that he stole the house Mars standard and hit it. And now they're planning on taking the Minerva standard. So Severo really came in clutch with this one and is very, he has this loyalty to Darrow.

[00:13:40] So it doesn't really come out of nowhere. We, we kind of see that Severo has had this respect for Darrow building for a little while. And now he's really decided that this is the person that he's going to follow.

[00:13:52] Yeah. And he really, once he commits, Severo really commits. I mean, I think it was four raiders that were left and he just, he took them on. They have like stun pikes, which are, I think like a taser spear.

[00:14:06] Spear. Yeah. Like they've got all sorts of stuff like that. And he's got two knives that he talks to. He talks to his knives and the motherfucker just, just not killed them, but severely injured them.

[00:14:22] And then Darrow asked him if he kills him. And he goes, I mean, I didn't, but I can, if you want me to crazy.

[00:14:30] Yeah. He's very much like you tell me jump, I'll say how high he's so loyal to Darrow, which kind of goes back to his whole wolf slash dog imagery where he's got that like loyalty to him.

[00:14:43] I don't know. I feel like that's an intentional line that they drew.

[00:14:47] Oh, for sure. Yeah. And I think it's done really well for sure.

[00:14:51] I agree. I think so too. But yeah, Cassius and Darrow, they break into the Minerva castle with the password that Severo overheard.

[00:14:59] Once again, Severo coming in clutch and we find out that Mustang's real name is Virginia.

[00:15:07] Very important Mustang's name and lineage, but we'll get there in a few chapters probably.

[00:15:12] Yeah, I think for sure. I think that'll be next episode, right?

[00:15:16] I think so. But I also, I think that there's a lot next episode. I think it's the end of this part, which ends with some stuff.

[00:15:26] Yeah.

[00:15:27] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we'll, we'll, we'll see. We'll, we'll get there.

[00:15:32] We will for sure. Cassius, he starts some fires and Darrow breaks into the war room while they're all distracted with that. And as they're discovered, they yell about there being dozens of attackers to confuse the Minervans. And they happen to kidnap the cook.

[00:15:49] Their whole thing is literally just cause chaos. So Cassius is starting fires all over the fucking place. Darrow breaks into the war room, like, you know, learns as much as he can about them and their, their troops. Like he learns that this guy packs is a fucking monster. And packs is the same size as an obsidian. He is huge. I love packs though.

[00:16:10] Yeah. Packs. I always read packs as like good Titus or like slightly better Titus. I don't want to call packs good, but maybe a little bit more on the neutral side. Titus without the atrocities.

[00:16:26] Yeah. Like still a murderer. Well, still would be a murderer. I guess he hasn't really killed anyone, but like the way that I read him and mainly because of the audio book, he's just got like this big booming voice. So he's kind of goofy with it. I don't, I don't know.

[00:16:39] I know. I always read him as this like gentle giant character, even though he's not gentle whatsoever.

[00:16:45] No, no, no. That's fair though. Like outside of combat, he is a gentle giant.

[00:16:49] Yeah. I mean, his name is literally Latin for peace.

[00:16:52] Yes, it is actually.

[00:16:54] Which I think is kind of funny.

[00:16:55] I do like that. They have a lot of Latin names though. I love it. Nero Augustis. What a name.

[00:17:00] Yeah. I mean, every Nero in, in real history was just a standup guy.

[00:17:05] Yeah. I'm sure that's why they gave a standup guy like Nero Augustis that name.

[00:17:09] Exactly.

[00:17:10] Pierce knew what he was doing.

[00:17:11] Yeah. Everyone's favorite Roman emperor who would never do anything wrong, but anyways, Severo empties the stables and actually steals six of the seven remaining horses.

[00:17:22] And then also reveals that once again, Severo coming in clutch that he stole the standard and the three goats right away howling in the night.

[00:17:34] And they've got the Minerva cook and the Minerva standard in hand. They really made off like bandits in this chapter.

[00:17:41] Yeah. They, they kind of went crazy and obviously now Minerva doesn't have a standard. They need some form of counterattack, except they don't, they don't even know what to do. Their whole keep is just in shambles right now.

[00:17:57] Yeah. I think that it's very interesting to me that when their standard is captured and so much happens, they're still in the game. Like they can get the standard back.

[00:18:08] Yeah. As long as they don't get touched by it or as long as they don't get touched by the house Mars standard, because then they're slaves. I mean, they can choose to disobey, but then they become shamed. And that's like a whole different thing.

[00:18:21] Yeah. So it's interesting that no matter what happens, there's still that chance of redemption of getting it back. Like even if there's just one house Minerva person out there who hasn't been branded a slave, they can still make that comeback. There's never going to be a complete loss unless there's a complete loss.

[00:18:43] Yeah. Which I think that's a really cool sort of detail that they left in there that maybe some people would choose to surrender if things were looking bad, but you don't necessarily have to. You're still in the game.

[00:18:58] Yeah. I wonder if that will be, if that will happen in the book at all. Truly.

[00:19:02] Yeah. Surely, surely not. Right.

[00:19:06] I don't know. Couldn't, I couldn't tell you.

[00:19:09] Yeah. That's because you haven't read the books.

[00:19:11] I don't know how to read. That's why I listen to audio books.

[00:19:16] That's why these outlines are so all over the place. You can't read.

[00:19:21] No, they're all over the place because I'm a little insane. I might be several.

[00:19:26] These outlines are always very good. I'm just joking with you.

[00:19:30] I am tweaking sometimes, as you can see with the parentheses around a lot of the points.

[00:19:37] Yeah. Richard has it written and has a lot of this outline written with parentheses that say, don't say this out loud.

[00:19:45] Yeah, I be tweaking sometimes when I'm writing these.

[00:19:49] Yeah. So that brings us to chapter 27, The House of Rage. What a metal title.

[00:19:58] Dude, don't even talk to me about metal titles, all right? You've never been to a metal concert.

[00:20:05] And I probably never will be.

[00:20:07] Yeah, if you were coming home this weekend, you'd be getting kidnapped to the plot in you.

[00:20:12] But you're a scumbag.

[00:20:15] Yeah. Sadly, I'll be home on Tuesday instead of this weekend.

[00:20:19] Unbelievable.

[00:20:20] I know.

[00:20:21] Darrell rides a pristine horse, which I think that later on, either in this chapter or the next, or maybe the one after that, we'll get into the name of the horse because he does name it.

[00:20:31] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's the final line of the last chapter we're covering is the name of his horse, which he does not choose. It's named by his house members for actions taken.

[00:20:44] Yeah. But he's holding the Minerva Standard, which signals to everyone, he's the top dog. He's the one in charge.

[00:20:53] Yeah, as they go back to the house Mars castle, they meet up with Mustang real quick. We love Mustang. And she has taken Mars, like she's taken the castle. She's pissed off at Titus's...

[00:21:06] We're going to go with behavior. We're going to say that.

[00:21:10] Yeah.

[00:21:11] Because he did some evil shit, and he is a bastard for that.

[00:21:17] And, you know, as they're meeting, you know, it's like Darrow and Cassius and Roke are like the three people that meet up with Mustang, and she's got like her troops behind her, right?

[00:21:29] Yeah.

[00:21:30] And of course, Severo, goblin that he is, comes up from behind the soldiers and just starts ripping into them, howling like crazy. Because that's what he does at this point. He's just a silly little guy.

[00:21:43] And the Proctors come down to watch, and there's just a big ass battle. Mustang's largest soldier, one of my favorites, Pax Outtelemonis. He just starts screaming his name during this fight. That's all he does while he's fighting. He just screams, Pax Outtelemonis.

[00:22:01] And he goes to take on Darrow. And he kind of seems like an idiot during this, but he's not. He's a smart boy. I promise.

[00:22:10] Yeah.

[00:22:11] Richard?

[00:22:13] Severo.

[00:22:14] Do you think he's bald?

[00:22:16] Severo is not bald. Severo has a mohawk.

[00:22:19] Severo is metal as fuck.

[00:22:23] Severo is a mohawk.

[00:22:51] Like, ancient Norse heavy metal.

[00:22:54] Oh my god, don't even talk to me about Norse heavy metal, bro. There's a song called The Poetic Etta, and shit's kind of crazy.

[00:23:02] Yeah.

[00:23:03] So, do you think that the wolf pelt gets stuck on the mohawk? Like, the mohawk is just sticking up, and the wolf pelt is kind of like laying on top of the mohawk?

[00:23:13] I think so. I don't know.

[00:23:16] It's never going to be pelt.

[00:23:19] There's a few inches between the top of his head and the wolf pelt.

[00:23:24] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it's just some padding when he's got the pelt on.

[00:23:29] Yeah, and do you think that he has to wash his hair, like, wash all of the wolf meat out of his hair when he's done?

[00:23:37] Probably.

[00:23:38] I don't know. Well, I mean, during the Institute...

[00:23:41] No, no, no, I get it.

[00:23:42] During the Institute, he does, but he...

[00:23:44] Once they get out, he keeps the wolf pelt, because he's fucking like that.

[00:23:49] I mean, obviously, you know, like, the whole unit of Darrow's people, like, his close-ups all wear wolf pelts, and they're crazy, and I love them.

[00:23:59] But they're all, like, cured. They're all...

[00:24:02] They're all safe to wear. There's no more chunks, because they've been wearing...

[00:24:05] I mean, they wear these things for 15 years after the Institute.

[00:24:10] Yeah.

[00:24:10] Yeah.

[00:24:12] They're good.

[00:24:13] Sorry for that line of questioning. I just felt like I had to fuck with you a little bit.

[00:24:17] Nah, you're good. I had to scramble a bit there, but that's all right.

[00:24:21] I just wanted to hear your responses to my very thought-provoking questions.

[00:24:26] But yeah.

[00:24:26] Right.

[00:24:27] Darrow, he fights off a few of the rank-and-file troops and packs at once getting brought into a strong and merciless bear hug.

[00:24:39] Darrow feels consciousness fading, and he kind of knees Pax in the nuts a few times, which wins the battle for Housemarth.

[00:24:48] Okay.

[00:24:48] Okay.

[00:24:49] He does not kind of.

[00:24:50] He's in the air being held by Pax, and he thinks as he's, like, falling unconscious, he's like,

[00:24:56] I got one move I can make, and just lands it.

[00:25:00] And he's like, one, two, three, four, five.

[00:25:04] And then Pax falls unconscious.

[00:25:07] That's how the battle is won, because Pax is asleep.

[00:25:12] Pax out Telemannis, gets hit in his Telemannises, and he goes down.

[00:25:19] Darrow, he takes 11 slaves after this battle, which is just crazy.

[00:25:24] And Mustang holds the castle with six troops.

[00:25:28] But I'm surprised at this point that Darrow's very much, he's playing by the rules of the game,

[00:25:35] and he's taking these slaves, which I know is the only way he perceives that he can win at this point,

[00:25:41] because those are the rules that are laid out for him.

[00:25:43] But what do you think about, like, the morality of him turning these golds into slaves after coming from the background that he's from?

[00:25:52] Obviously, it's very fucked up.

[00:25:53] And he even observes himself as, like, kind of like, what am I doing?

[00:25:58] Like, this is evil.

[00:26:00] And he has some, a moment even, I think it's in this chapter, where he says, like, I'm having, I'm almost having fun now.

[00:26:08] Like, this feels wrong.

[00:26:10] But then he keeps doing it anyways, because he's Darrow, and he's got to move forward.

[00:26:14] I mean, I'm not an ends justify the means type of guy.

[00:26:19] But Darrow is.

[00:26:20] And that works for him.

[00:26:23] Yeah, Darrow, he kind of has this conqueror mindset developing.

[00:26:32] And his sort of brushes with power.

[00:26:36] He likes it.

[00:26:38] He really likes the power.

[00:26:39] Oh, he quite literally gets drunk on his own myth.

[00:26:43] Once, like, the myth of the Reaper starts spreading.

[00:26:46] It's insane.

[00:26:47] And I love it.

[00:26:48] Yeah, it just goes into the idea of, like, how is this changing him for better or for worse?

[00:26:55] And I feel like at this point in the story, the Institute is definitely changing him for the worse in this section.

[00:27:03] Yeah, there's some long-lasting effects, too, on his personality.

[00:27:06] It's a very interesting development in his character.

[00:27:09] And I think that it is important to talk about for sure.

[00:27:12] And I'm glad you brought that up.

[00:27:14] Yeah.

[00:27:14] Richard, you want to take us into our next point?

[00:27:18] Yes.

[00:27:19] I think that's a good one.

[00:27:20] Thank you for highlighting it.

[00:27:21] That's wonderful.

[00:27:22] I see it.

[00:27:24] Cassius lies in wait to give the Minerva Standard to Ceres just in case something goes wrong as Darrow, Roke, and Antonia go to negotiate with Mustang.

[00:27:35] Things don't go exactly as they expected.

[00:27:38] Yeah, Antonia is, uh, she's kind of evil.

[00:27:41] She's, she's not great.

[00:27:43] She also really, she downplays Titus' actions as just being a part of the game.

[00:27:49] Like, how, how bad do you have to be to defend someone that awful?

[00:27:56] Titus is obviously still the worst person around.

[00:27:58] But Antonia is basically out here defending him.

[00:28:02] And it's just, I don't know.

[00:28:05] I, I hate that so much.

[00:28:08] Yeah.

[00:28:10] Yeah.

[00:28:10] Antonia is fucking evil, but she really, like, it goes, it works well with the character that she is.

[00:28:17] But it, it doesn't make it any better.

[00:28:19] Like, it's the, it's the discussion of, like, a well-written versus a well-liked character.

[00:28:23] She is well-written.

[00:28:24] Don't get me wrong.

[00:28:25] But I, I hate her so much.

[00:28:27] She's so evil.

[00:28:29] She's such an awful person that I can't.

[00:28:32] Yeah.

[00:28:33] I can't say that I enjoy her as a character because of how bad she is as a person.

[00:28:37] Yeah.

[00:28:38] She's not quite, in my mind, she's not quite among the ranks of, like, Nero Augustus or, um, even Titus, obviously.

[00:28:49] Because Titus is definitely far, far worse by multiple magnitudes.

[00:28:53] But it's, like you said, it goes into that, uh, concept of such a well-written character to the point where you hate them because that's what you're, you're supposed to hate Antonia.

[00:29:04] Yeah.

[00:29:05] It's kind of like the, the villain in the second trilogy.

[00:29:08] Like, if we're talking in terms of how well-written this character is, he is in the top two characters, unfortunately.

[00:29:16] Yeah.

[00:29:17] But if I'm talking well, like, he's, he's very low on the list.

[00:29:21] And there are villains that I like more than him.

[00:29:24] Like, it, it's crazy.

[00:29:26] But.

[00:29:26] Yeah.

[00:29:27] He's a bastard.

[00:29:27] Absolutely.

[00:29:29] Uh, Taro tells her to leave and she tells him that he needs to understand that there needs to be limits to his brutality.

[00:29:38] Uh, she demands that she keeps the series students or that she can have Titus, but Taro doesn't allow that.

[00:29:46] There's a really good quote here.

[00:29:47] Yeah.

[00:29:48] Daro kind of, you know, pissed off that a gold brow, which Daro, that's your woman.

[00:29:55] Shut up.

[00:29:56] But Daro's pissed that like a gold would talk down to him like that.

[00:30:00] So he says, this is a bit of a content warning again with these chapters.

[00:30:03] This is, this is horrible.

[00:30:05] But the quote is if Titus raped a little girl who happened to be a red, how would you feel?

[00:30:10] And Mustang just kind of shuts up.

[00:30:13] I mean.

[00:30:13] Yeah.

[00:30:14] It's kind of a crazy, not crazy question,

[00:30:17] but it's very in terms of their society.

[00:30:20] It's very out there as a concept of like, do you even give a shit?

[00:30:25] Yeah.

[00:30:26] I mean, most of the golds don't even see the other colors, especially the reds.

[00:30:30] They don't see them as people.

[00:30:31] They just see them as tools as a resource.

[00:30:35] They don't really look at them as, as having humanity is having agency.

[00:30:41] They're just a means for the golds to keep their lavish and over the top lifestyles.

[00:30:51] Yeah.

[00:30:52] It's, um, it's really fucked up way of looking at everything.

[00:30:56] And that, that is how the golds be doing it.

[00:30:58] Yeah.

[00:30:59] And I think that just the fact that Mustang is kind of quiet for a minute here, um, it

[00:31:06] really shows that Mustang is a little different from the rest of the golds and that maybe she

[00:31:12] has some more empathy, some more compassion.

[00:31:15] We, we talked about it earlier, but she might be one of the golds who ends up realizing, Hey,

[00:31:23] this is not at all how, how things should be run.

[00:31:27] This is fucked up.

[00:31:28] Yeah.

[00:31:29] Which is crazy considering, you know, everything else about her character as we will learn.

[00:31:35] But, uh, what does Mustang tell them about before they end their negotiations?

[00:31:40] What do they find out Mustang tells them of a warlord called the Jackal and he is stronger,

[00:31:48] crueler, and smarter than the Reaper of Mars.

[00:31:52] Yeah.

[00:31:53] So we get this introduction to the Jackal, who is this very sort of almost a mythical figure

[00:32:01] at this point, kind of like Darrow would be to some of the other houses.

[00:32:05] You've got the Jackal who's strong and cruel.

[00:32:08] You have the Reaper who's also strong and cruel.

[00:32:10] You, it's almost like these opposing myths are starting to clash with one another.

[00:32:16] Hell yeah, they are.

[00:32:17] Do you remember when we were talking about fallout lore and we were talking about the,

[00:32:20] the raider factions and one of them was called the Jackals.

[00:32:25] And I, I remember I asked you some stuff.

[00:32:28] This was why, because of the fucking Jackal.

[00:32:31] I love the Jackal.

[00:32:32] He's, he's a villain.

[00:32:34] Obviously he is our main villain for the rest of this book.

[00:32:36] And honestly, he's pretty major for the rest of the first trilogy, but I love the Jackal.

[00:32:42] He's such a, like that first interaction with him still gives me goosebumps to think about it.

[00:32:48] It's insane.

[00:32:49] Hell yeah.

[00:32:50] That actually kind of gives me an idea.

[00:32:51] Maybe our next fallout lore will be about some of the raider factions specifically, like the Jackals.

[00:32:57] And, um, there's a few groups that came out of, I believe it was vault 13, um, which one of them became the NCR.

[00:33:07] And then some of the groups became the Jackals.

[00:33:12] Um, and then there's one more, I can't remember their name though.

[00:33:17] Yeah.

[00:33:17] Scorpions.

[00:33:18] No, no, I don't remember what it was.

[00:33:21] Oh, the vipers, the vipers.

[00:33:23] Oh yeah.

[00:33:24] Yeah.

[00:33:25] But so we need to get back on fallout lore buddy.

[00:33:28] We do.

[00:33:28] We do.

[00:33:29] I, um, I just have been at a loss of what we can talk about, but this might be a good topic.

[00:33:34] So I'm going to keep that one in the back pocket.

[00:33:35] And if you like our fallout lore, stay tuned because it sounds like we have some ideas brewing for that.

[00:33:42] And then we get into kind of a relatively short chapter for these few, uh, chapter 28, which is my brother.

[00:33:52] Now that's, um, it's a very interesting title.

[00:33:57] It is Aaron.

[00:33:58] What do you think it's about when we go into this?

[00:34:01] Well, it, it obviously must be about how Darrow and Cassius are just so close that they call each other brother.

[00:34:09] Yeah, I wish, but unfortunately it's not.

[00:34:14] Darrow and his tribe, his bigger tribe, his United tribe, they share a feast cooked by the Minervan slave that they took.

[00:34:22] And, you know, they're living it up.

[00:34:24] They, she's a good cook and most of Darrow's tribe, like besides the, uh, his, his like close friends that we know, like several Cassius roke.

[00:34:36] I'm not listing them all, but like that whole group, obviously they've been eating decent because they had met matches.

[00:34:42] All of Titus's and Antonio's members, they didn't.

[00:34:46] So this is the first cooked meal they're having since getting into the Institute after like a good month.

[00:34:52] So good for them.

[00:34:53] It's pretty incredible that when you have people that are hungry or have been going through a tough time, just giving them some stability and good food on the table.

[00:35:03] It does a lot to win their loyalty, I think.

[00:35:06] And I think that Darrow really kind of solidifies the allegiance of a lot of the Antonia and Titus former groupies by having the Minervan slave and, uh, cooking them up all of this food.

[00:35:23] Yeah.

[00:35:23] They, um, they talk about their next move around this absolutely wonderful feast and they, they say, Hey, we need to set up a firm set of laws.

[00:35:32] And also they need to figure out what to do with Titus.

[00:35:35] He's been chained up in the basement, uh, ever since Mustang took the castle and they, they don't know what to do, but they think that death is a pretty fitting sentence.

[00:35:46] And I, I agree.

[00:35:49] Yeah.

[00:35:50] Um, I'm not typically one to actually not, not even not typically, I don't support the death penalty in real life, but, um, Titus, he kind of, he deserves to go after everything he's done.

[00:36:03] I can say he's a fictional character, so I can, I feel more comfortable making that, um, judgment on him as, as a reader of, of fiction than I would in real life.

[00:36:14] But, uh, yeah, I think that Titus, the death sentence, I don't, I don't really have any problems with that.

[00:36:21] I think the way it's done is very cruel and kind of insane, obviously, but that's next chapter.

[00:36:27] He, uh, yeah, yeah.

[00:36:30] So Richard, let me ask you though, before we move on to the next point, is any punishment really enough for Titus after everything he's done?

[00:36:39] I feel like, Hmm.

[00:36:42] Hmm.

[00:36:44] God damn it.

[00:36:45] Moral quandaries, bro.

[00:36:47] I know.

[00:36:47] Could it, could really anything be done to this monster to adequately punish him for all of the horrible things that he's done?

[00:36:56] Like, the amount of lives that he's absolutely ruined and traumatized, it's probably at least a dozen at this point.

[00:37:06] I would say it's over a dozen because there are a few serious people that he didn't take as slaves because the med bots took them first, uh, because they almost died.

[00:37:18] And, yeah, I mean, that's crazy.

[00:37:21] I think that normally just life in prison would be great for stuff, but, but the problem is the person's got to feel guilty for it to work.

[00:37:30] It depends on their own perspective.

[00:37:32] Titus, he doesn't feel guilty about it as we learn later this chapter.

[00:37:37] And that's the problem with just putting him in prison or, you know, giving him like lashings or whatever the fuck else, like medieval punishment they would do.

[00:37:46] They, they really don't have another choice because he doesn't feel bad.

[00:37:51] So they really, they only have the one choice.

[00:37:55] Yeah.

[00:37:56] Yeah.

[00:37:56] And if they keep him in prison at the end of the Institute, he won't face anything, right?

[00:38:04] Yeah.

[00:38:04] No, he just goes into society.

[00:38:06] No one faces any retribution for their crimes in this shit, which is crazy because of one, Darrow, Darrow pulls some shit.

[00:38:15] Like, I love Darrow, but oh my God, the war crimes this man pulls every book is insane.

[00:38:21] The Geneva Convention sees Darrow and sheds a tear.

[00:38:26] Darrow thinks that they're the Geneva suggestions, all right?

[00:38:29] Let's be honest.

[00:38:30] Yeah.

[00:38:30] Drackel does some evil stuff.

[00:38:32] He doesn't, he doesn't face punishment for really anything he does, even after the Institute, which is crazy.

[00:38:39] I mean, get together the most cruel Nepo babies that you can find in the entire galaxy and just give them free reign to commit war crimes against each other and then let them out with complete immunity.

[00:38:54] You're creating a society of complete sociopaths.

[00:38:59] Yeah, it's, when you think about a lot of the villains that we get later on, when you think of the Institute being their root cause for how they were, it really does kind of, it humanizes a lot of them.

[00:39:16] Because you think they all went through shit similar to this and came out, you know, having their certain philosophies on stuff.

[00:39:24] It really does make for an interesting villains a lot of the times for the gold villains, at least there are other, other, other colors, a villain though.

[00:39:33] For sure.

[00:39:34] And you think about like, I'm sure that they're indoctrination, indoctrination into this lifestyle of being cruel and horrible started pretty much from birth because they were likely raised by people who went through the same sort of system that they went, that they're going through right now.

[00:39:52] If they, if they had peerless scarred as parents, then their parents went through the Institute and they're the same pieces of garbage that their kids are going to turn out to be.

[00:40:02] And generational drama is a bitch.

[00:40:05] It really is.

[00:40:06] And I just wonder if there's any way for these people to come out of the Institute with their souls intact.

[00:40:16] Like, I don't think that there's really a way to fully come out without at least being partially a monster.

[00:40:25] I would say that the closest person to being intact would be Mustang at the end of the Institute.

[00:40:32] I don't know if you agree with me on this one, but Mustang for sure would be the only one that I would consider to be intact after everything.

[00:40:41] And even then that's kind of a stretch.

[00:40:44] Yeah.

[00:40:44] Yeah.

[00:40:44] She's definitely a little bit more together and has a stronger sense of morals after the Institute than a lot of these other characters do.

[00:40:54] But I don't want to get into that too much because we have, that's, that's like later books, right?

[00:41:00] So true.

[00:41:01] Yeah.

[00:41:02] Well, like once we get to the end of this book, we can at least talk about her family.

[00:41:09] Dichotomy or dynamic.

[00:41:10] That's the word.

[00:41:11] Absolutely.

[00:41:14] And, um, where were we in our outline here?

[00:41:18] Sorry, I went off onto a tangent there.

[00:41:20] I got it.

[00:41:20] Titus and Darrow have a little exchange in the, nope.

[00:41:24] I fucking lied.

[00:41:26] Darrow thinks it should be up to Cassius to decide what to do with Titus.

[00:41:29] But Roke argues that it's up to Darrow because he's, he's the leader.

[00:41:34] He's made himself the leader.

[00:41:35] He has to actually take charge.

[00:41:37] He has to take responsibility.

[00:41:38] And he has to put down his mad dog.

[00:41:42] Unfortunately, Darrow doesn't think that way.

[00:41:45] He knows that the house Mars members won't respect Cassius after the whole pissing incident.

[00:41:50] But he, he promised Cassius that he would let him end Titus.

[00:41:56] This is where I can stop lying.

[00:41:59] This is where Titus and Darrow have a little exchange in the basement.

[00:42:02] And Darrow just kind of says, hey, I'm the fucking leader now.

[00:42:05] Deal with it.

[00:42:07] Yeah.

[00:42:08] It kind of reminds me of a scene in the penguin, which if you haven't checked out the penguin.

[00:42:13] I haven't watched it yet.

[00:42:14] I'll get there.

[00:42:15] Shut up.

[00:42:16] What the hell are you doing, man?

[00:42:17] What the hell are you doing with your time?

[00:42:20] Going to work?

[00:42:21] Yes, actually I am.

[00:42:24] But I will watch the penguin.

[00:42:26] I'm logged into your HBO.

[00:42:27] So I kind of have to.

[00:42:28] Yeah.

[00:42:29] But there's a really good scene between Sophia Falcone and Sophia Gigante.

[00:42:37] Sorry, my, that, that's my bad.

[00:42:39] Put some respect on her name.

[00:42:41] And the underboss of the crime family that sort of reminds me of this moment, which I don't want to really spoil it too much, but it does remind me of that scene.

[00:42:52] If you know, you know.

[00:42:54] Of course.

[00:42:54] And I don't know because I'm clueless.

[00:42:57] Yeah.

[00:42:57] But Titus, he calls Vixus and his other troops soulless bastards.

[00:43:04] And Darrow reminds him that he's literally a piece of garbage who has committed pretty terrible crimes against humanity.

[00:43:13] So, yeah, that's, I don't think that Titus really takes that to heart.

[00:43:20] I think that Titus doesn't give a fuck.

[00:43:22] Titus has this very childish seeming reaction.

[00:43:26] And he says, he tells Darrow that the Golds did it first.

[00:43:30] Which is such like a, well, you did it first.

[00:43:33] Shut up.

[00:43:33] You're not fucking five.

[00:43:35] But what he says is that, quote unquote, he took and raped, quote unquote, her.

[00:43:42] He also reveals that after they kept doing it and then killed whoever her is, he killed the, another quote, bloody damn monsters.

[00:43:52] And now Darrow knows, we know, bloody damn, Aaron, who uses that slang?

[00:44:00] The Reds.

[00:44:02] Only the Reds.

[00:44:03] Kind of crazy that a gold brow would say that, right?

[00:44:06] Yeah.

[00:44:07] I mean, of true gold would never, ever, ever, ever say that.

[00:44:12] Never so low.

[00:44:13] And Aaron, what does this mean for Titus?

[00:44:17] This means that Titus must be a Red.

[00:44:21] And Darrow kind of realizes that, oh shit, I'm not the only one that the Sons of Ares put here.

[00:44:30] Yeah, I mean, we know that they alluded to it earlier, but we did not know that fucking Titus was going to be involved, or that it was going to be Titus.

[00:44:40] And this is why the chapter's called My Brother.

[00:44:44] Yeah, it is.

[00:44:45] I mean, they told Darrow that there had been failed attempts beforehand, which kind of makes us think that Darrow would have been the only one right now to be a Red within the system.

[00:44:57] And this is just such a big upset to him.

[00:45:00] And do you think it's making him think at all?

[00:45:03] Like, could there be other Reds among me?

[00:45:07] It certainly should make him think that way, but he really doesn't consider it.

[00:45:13] Yeah, I was a little bit surprised that that wasn't a bigger point for him.

[00:45:18] Maybe it's just because Pierce Brown didn't want that to be a bigger point.

[00:45:24] Yeah.

[00:45:25] I don't know.

[00:45:25] I think it would have been too much to handle.

[00:45:27] And this was his first book.

[00:45:30] It's a very dystopian, young adult-type book, this first one, in 2014, which is, as we said last week, that's that fucking Hunger Games craze period.

[00:45:42] Where everything was trying to be Hunger Games.

[00:45:45] And thank God he changed direction after the first book.

[00:45:49] Because if it was just similar shit 24-7, I don't think that the series would have succeeded.

[00:45:55] Yeah, I don't think so either.

[00:45:57] But as a reader, it does make me really wonder how many of these Reds that work for the Sons of Aries are hiding in plain sight among the golds.

[00:46:07] Like, are there people who've made it all the way through the Institute that are essentially just keeping up the facade?

[00:46:16] Like, we don't really know at this point.

[00:46:18] We won't know for a long time.

[00:46:20] But it's something to think about.

[00:46:22] Spoiler alert.

[00:46:23] I know.

[00:46:24] Yeah, you know.

[00:46:26] I know everything.

[00:46:28] You're omniscient at this point.

[00:46:30] You're Pierce Brown in this situation.

[00:46:32] Dude, I wish I could come up with peak ideas like Pierce Brown.

[00:46:37] Get on it.

[00:46:38] Start writing.

[00:46:39] Yeah, let me just write a banger seven-book sci-fi series and then decide, you know what?

[00:46:44] I'm going to switch to dark fantasy afterwards and then probably write another couple of bangers.

[00:46:49] You've got it, I believe.

[00:46:51] I do not have his creativity or his world-building skills.

[00:46:55] I wish.

[00:46:57] I wish I had those kind of skills.

[00:46:59] That would be the ultimate career, I think, would be telling stories like that.

[00:47:03] I just...

[00:47:03] Such a respect.

[00:47:05] The only stories I think are better...

[00:47:07] Like, I think Pierce Brown is a fantastic writer.

[00:47:09] I think purely in terms of world-building, though, Brandon Sanderson has him beat because this motherfucker has an entire...

[00:47:17] Like, it's the MCU, basically.

[00:47:19] But for books.

[00:47:20] It's crazy.

[00:47:22] Read the Cosmere, people.

[00:47:23] Read the Cosmere.

[00:47:26] Yeah.

[00:47:26] I mean, I think that one of the most important aspects of creating a realistic world is having a history.

[00:47:33] There that is very clear.

[00:47:37] Like, I don't know.

[00:47:38] I think that when a world feels lived in and not just shiny and brand new, like it's come straight out of your mind.

[00:47:45] There's multiple layers of civilization built on top of each other, just like our real world.

[00:47:50] That's when world-building really shines.

[00:47:53] And I think that this book does that really well.

[00:47:54] You get the history of when Luna took over Earth.

[00:48:01] And there's just...

[00:48:02] There's all of these things that are alluded to in the past of this world that make it feel more realistic.

[00:48:08] And I love that.

[00:48:10] Yeah.

[00:48:11] Yeah.

[00:48:11] I think it's really interesting, too, the way that each color has a culture based off current or past cultures.

[00:48:18] Like, the Obsidians are Vikings.

[00:48:20] The Reds are the Irish.

[00:48:21] The Golds are the fucking Brits, obviously, because they're conquerors.

[00:48:26] Yeah.

[00:48:26] Even though, of course, they have all their proses being, you know...

[00:48:32] They've got the very Greek and Roman style of heraldry.

[00:48:37] It's still very much like...

[00:48:39] They talk in British accents, bro.

[00:48:42] Okay?

[00:48:42] That's all I gotta say.

[00:48:44] Yeah.

[00:48:44] They're based on the British with little hints of Roman and Greek thrown in there for their physical appearances.

[00:48:51] Really, the Roman and the Greek is just, like, aesthetics and then their actual personalities and...

[00:48:59] And, like, the way they operate is very British Empire, like, peak of, you know, sun never sets on the British Empire type of deal.

[00:49:09] Which, um...

[00:49:10] I mean, the sun never sets on the society.

[00:49:13] I mean, yeah, kind of, because they do control the sun itself, basically.

[00:49:20] Well, they can move planets.

[00:49:22] I don't...

[00:49:23] I don't...

[00:49:23] They can move planets.

[00:49:25] What do you mean, what?

[00:49:26] They have giant gravity generator things that can move shit.

[00:49:31] So, like, Mercury isn't so close to the sun anymore.

[00:49:34] Venus is in a point where the atmosphere isn't just toxic.

[00:49:38] It's insane.

[00:49:40] They mention it once early on, and I didn't...

[00:49:44] I didn't jot it down because it was already a long episode, but yeah.

[00:49:47] Yeah.

[00:49:47] They can move planets and moons and shit.

[00:49:50] But I forgot about that detail.

[00:49:53] That's fucking crazy.

[00:49:55] Yeah, they have the literal power to move planets.

[00:49:58] Damn.

[00:49:59] Yeah.

[00:49:59] It's kind of crazy.

[00:50:01] Minor lore drop.

[00:50:02] Sorry, I'm a little stunned by that.

[00:50:04] Yeah.

[00:50:05] All right.

[00:50:05] Well, let's...

[00:50:06] Before I get too off topic with that shit, let's move on to chapter 29, Unity, which is the last chapter that we're going to be covering today.

[00:50:13] Richard, you want to take us off?

[00:50:16] Oh, of course.

[00:50:17] You know, as we remember, Dancer had some issues with the whole carving process.

[00:50:24] He was worried that Daryl might become a little crazy, a little evil.

[00:50:29] And we find out why.

[00:50:31] It's because of people like Titus.

[00:50:33] Potentially people like Titus.

[00:50:35] I mean, we only know about him, but who knows?

[00:50:37] Maybe everyone in the Institute's a red.

[00:50:40] But they're not.

[00:50:41] I'm lying through my teeth, obviously.

[00:50:44] Pharaoh decides that Titus, he must be put down like a mad dog.

[00:50:48] And that's so real because he's such a fucking evil creature.

[00:50:52] And he deserves it, frankly.

[00:50:57] Yeah.

[00:50:58] I mean, Titus, this is very much his farewell.

[00:51:03] Not that anyone's going to miss him.

[00:51:04] I certainly won't.

[00:51:06] But Daryl pulls him into the main square in front of the house and a few of the proctors and sentences Titus to death.

[00:51:15] I'm not going to lie.

[00:51:17] I'm going to make it very obvious.

[00:51:18] Titus is not making it past chapter 29, Unity.

[00:51:21] All right.

[00:51:22] He's fucking dead soon.

[00:51:24] Yeah.

[00:51:25] So he sentences Titus to death, right?

[00:51:29] And Titus challenges Darrow to a duel by the sword.

[00:51:33] No curved blades allowed, which obviously we know Darrow has his signature reaping scythe because he's the reaper of Mars, after all.

[00:51:41] Yeah.

[00:51:42] And what does Darrow do after this?

[00:51:46] Well, Darrow decides to choose a champion.

[00:51:51] And he picks the best fighter he can think of.

[00:51:55] And also someone who has a reason to tear Titus into bits and pieces.

[00:51:59] And who might that be?

[00:52:03] Cassius Albalona.

[00:52:04] The future important person.

[00:52:09] I was about to say his title.

[00:52:11] But yeah, he's we already know that Cassius wants to be the one to kill Titus because he still believes that he killed Julian, which really.

[00:52:23] And Darrow loves feeding that delusion.

[00:52:25] He's just like, yeah, he killed your brother, idiot.

[00:52:28] You should kill him now, please.

[00:52:31] Yeah.

[00:52:31] Darrow is at this point.

[00:52:33] He's becoming a really skilled manipulator and bending the truth to get people to do what he wants them to do, which I think is a really interesting skill for him to be developing.

[00:52:44] I love it when Darrow gaslight, gaslight, gatekeep, and girlbosses.

[00:52:48] All right.

[00:52:49] The three G's.

[00:52:50] The triple G.

[00:52:52] Triple G for my goat.

[00:52:54] Yeah.

[00:52:55] Ooh.

[00:52:55] Wait, fourth G goat.

[00:52:57] Quadruple G.

[00:52:58] Quadruple G.

[00:52:59] We're done.

[00:53:00] Yeah, we're done here.

[00:53:02] But Darrow, he ends up burying Titus out of whatever.

[00:53:08] We gotta scrub that, roll it back real quick.

[00:53:13] We got one more before that.

[00:53:14] Did I miss something?

[00:53:14] That's my bad.

[00:53:15] That's my bad.

[00:53:16] Yeah.

[00:53:17] All right.

[00:53:18] Why don't you take it away?

[00:53:19] Because you know the details a little bit better than I do of what happens during the duel and everything.

[00:53:25] Yeah, it's not very detailed, unfortunately.

[00:53:27] And I say unfortunately because, as you know, Pierce writes some banger duels later on.

[00:53:33] But this one, he really just kind of explains that Cassius takes it very slow.

[00:53:39] Taking like, you know, like he hits Titus quite a few times.

[00:53:44] And every time he hits him, he just repeats like, you killed Julian.

[00:53:49] And, you know, it takes a while for him to beat him.

[00:53:52] Not because Titus is a particularly skilled opponent, but because Cassius wants to make him suffer for killing his brother.

[00:54:00] But he didn't do that.

[00:54:02] But Cassius is essentially playing with his food a little bit, I guess you could say.

[00:54:08] That is a way of putting it.

[00:54:10] And I honestly, I think that's a pretty good way to put it.

[00:54:12] I mean, we already know he's a pretty skilled duelist.

[00:54:16] He wants to be an Olympic knight someday.

[00:54:19] And the way to become an Olympic knight is either by doing something absolutely insane for the sovereign.

[00:54:25] Or by winning duels, winning duels, winning duels until you either duel a current knight or you duel someone over an empty knight's title.

[00:54:36] And so he's been training as a duelist pretty much his entire life.

[00:54:41] And he wins, obviously.

[00:54:43] He kills Cassius.

[00:54:44] Or he kills.

[00:54:44] Wow.

[00:54:46] Sorry.

[00:54:46] My goat would never die.

[00:54:48] He kills Titus.

[00:54:49] Brutally.

[00:54:51] And everyone, it's very silent in the town square, the castle square.

[00:54:58] Because that really isn't justice.

[00:55:00] I mean, even the people who don't care about the whole Julian thing think it's just wrong.

[00:55:08] Yeah, I mean, one of the rules that was set out is don't kill anyone.

[00:55:14] And that was just broken.

[00:55:17] Which, let's be honest, Titus, he broke that rule already.

[00:55:22] Or at least, he probably broke that rule.

[00:55:25] We know that a few people got med-backed out.

[00:55:28] So we're not quite sure.

[00:55:30] But yeah, Darrow ends up then burying Titus at a riverbank.

[00:55:35] And he wants to make it to the Vale of the Reds faster.

[00:55:40] Which, that's why he decides to just bury Titus at the riverbank.

[00:55:45] And I want to go back to the last point, actually, before we move on.

[00:55:49] Because I'm just imagining how emotional that scene was.

[00:55:56] If we saw it told in a visual medium with him striking every single time saying,

[00:56:01] You killed Julian.

[00:56:03] I'm just imagining that's also probably part of the reason why everyone is so silent.

[00:56:08] Yeah, I think...

[00:56:09] And he doesn't do this until the second trilogy.

[00:56:12] It's unfortunate.

[00:56:13] And we still don't get what I want.

[00:56:15] But I think that Cassius POV would have been incredible during this scene.

[00:56:21] And I'm so pissed that we don't get Cassius POVs at all in the second trilogy.

[00:56:25] Because there are some scenes that I think would have gone better from his perspective than Darrow's.

[00:56:30] Or than other characters.

[00:56:32] But ultimately, it's still good.

[00:56:35] Yeah.

[00:56:36] And Darrow, he's also earned three out of the five bars that he needs to be the Primus of House Mars.

[00:56:42] And Cassius, he's earned one.

[00:56:45] So it's very clear who's going to end up becoming the Primus at this point.

[00:56:51] Yeah.

[00:56:52] You know, they know that Darrow takes up guard duty because he's just unsettled by everything that's happened.

[00:56:58] I mean, he just sentenced a red man to death and then had a gold carry out the sentence.

[00:57:07] Which, obviously, like...

[00:57:10] That's crazy.

[00:57:12] This is insanity at this point in the book.

[00:57:14] But he takes his guard shift and someone comes down and talks to Darrow.

[00:57:21] It's our boy Fitchner.

[00:57:24] Yeah.

[00:57:25] And Fitchner, he questions...

[00:57:28] Or Darrow questions him for how could he allow Titus to do everything he did between the assaults and the brutality, everything.

[00:57:39] Fitchner then turns it back on Darrow and is like,

[00:57:43] Why shouldn't they have stopped you from killing a Prime Legate leader in Iron Reigns?

[00:57:51] Why shouldn't we have stopped you from doing that?

[00:57:55] Like, it's just...

[00:57:56] Yeah.

[00:57:57] Fitchner very much turns it back on him.

[00:57:58] Like, what the hell do you have to complain about when you're doing shit, too?

[00:58:04] Yeah.

[00:58:05] Like, he killed Titus.

[00:58:07] Or had Titus killed whatever.

[00:58:08] Titus was literally a Prime Candidate when you think about, like, straight-up warfare.

[00:58:13] He's this huge dude built from the ground up in muscle.

[00:58:19] He would have been a perfect leader in Iron Reigns, as Fitchner says, which are these things...

[00:58:24] They fall in pods from the sky as orbital bombardment, and then they come out of the pods and just start killing everyone around them because they're insane.

[00:58:33] Iron Reigns are fucking cool.

[00:58:35] They're metal as hell.

[00:58:36] And we see, like, four of them in the series, and they're all great.

[00:58:41] They are.

[00:58:42] And Fitchner also explains,

[00:58:45] Y'all can't learn war without the Institute, which...

[00:58:49] I don't know.

[00:58:50] I guess you can't learn gold warfare without the Institute.

[00:58:53] You could probably...

[00:58:54] You could learn warfare without the Institute, but...

[00:58:59] His whole point, and I should have clarified this, his whole point is that they can't learn it and take as much away from it.

[00:59:06] Because in here, they can kind of make mistakes without it costing them their lives most of the time.

[00:59:14] Yeah.

[00:59:15] They're essentially living through a war that's in a little bit more of a controlled environment.

[00:59:23] Yeah, because they got, like, the proctors and the medbots, like, kind of checking on stuff, but also not really.

[00:59:30] Yeah.

[00:59:31] And Fitchner, he kind of teases Darrow about killing Julian, and Darrow sustains the lie, even though he knows Fitchner knows the truth, as do the other proctors.

[00:59:42] But Darrow kind of...

[00:59:43] I think that he feels the need at this point to keep the lie up in his own mind so that nothing slips to Cassius,

[00:59:50] or that he wants the reality of the situation to be the way others are perceiving it.

[00:59:57] He doesn't want to be the one who killed Julian, even though he is.

[01:00:01] Yeah, he wants to be Cassius' friend who allowed for Cassius to get his revenge on the savage and evil Titus.

[01:00:12] Yeah.

[01:00:13] Yeah.

[01:00:13] And that's the kind of loyalty from Cassius that Darrow really needs, is I was just let...

[01:00:24] I was just allowed to get revenge for my brother's death.

[01:00:29] I just avenged my brother.

[01:00:30] Like, this is...

[01:00:31] And Darrow is the man who made that happen.

[01:00:33] And as long as Cassius believes that, I think that that's...

[01:00:38] He'll be loyal to Darrow.

[01:00:40] Yeah.

[01:00:41] That...

[01:00:42] That's it.

[01:00:43] That's really what it is that keeps Cassius and Darrow's, like, relationship there.

[01:00:50] It keeps Darrow as the leader.

[01:00:51] Because we know that everyone obviously wants to lead, but most of them don't have the position to do anything about it.

[01:01:00] Cassius has the position.

[01:01:01] He just doesn't...

[01:01:03] He doesn't feel the need to.

[01:01:05] Because his leader is giving him everything he wants.

[01:01:10] Yeah.

[01:01:10] Not only that, but Cassius also has the right name to be a leader.

[01:01:15] He has that lineage that is supposed to put him leagues above all of the other golds.

[01:01:24] Yeah, but...

[01:01:25] Whatever.

[01:01:26] I mean, it's Darrow.

[01:01:29] He deserves it.

[01:01:30] It is.

[01:01:30] Yeah.

[01:01:31] Fitchner kind of calls him out.

[01:01:34] He calls Darrow out and calls him an animal, likening him to the wolves of the Mars wilderness.

[01:01:39] Which, again, kind of reminds me of Severo becoming this wolf-like figure who's loyal to Darrow.

[01:01:48] So there's just...

[01:01:49] There's a lot of Mars wolf imagery in these books and a lot of connections with Darrow with it all.

[01:01:57] Yeah.

[01:01:58] Yeah.

[01:01:58] And on the flip side, Darrow observes and kind of makes a comment that Fitchner is very similar to Severo.

[01:02:05] You know, they make their...

[01:02:07] All of their snide remarks, their insults, you know, they're always very crass.

[01:02:13] But it's a facade.

[01:02:15] I mean, we can tell with Severo it's a facade.

[01:02:17] He obviously is a very caring person.

[01:02:19] Like, he goes in and he saves Darrow and Cassius without really having much of a reason to do so yet.

[01:02:25] But, like, I understand he's a very loyal person, and yes, that's obviously there.

[01:02:29] But Darrow hadn't done much to earn that loyalty, from what I see.

[01:02:35] Yeah, you have these two very crude people who sort of...

[01:02:41] They've almost made part of their power the fact that people underestimate them.

[01:02:49] Yeah, and I think that...

[01:02:50] I think it's a very interesting comparison between the two.

[01:02:55] Yeah, for sure.

[01:02:57] Darrow then, in return, calls Fitchner out for not acting like most golds do.

[01:03:04] And Fitchner gets a little bit insecure about that and lashes out.

[01:03:09] So, clearly, Fitchner has been gone through this before.

[01:03:14] I feel like the way that he reacts in lashing out at Darrow's call-out of him not acting like most golds,

[01:03:22] he might have been called that for a lot of his life.

[01:03:25] Maybe people were like, you're...

[01:03:27] You don't act elevated enough.

[01:03:30] You're not like the rest of us.

[01:03:31] And I think that's another really interesting point, that Fitchner is sort of in his own category amongst the golds.

[01:03:39] He's not like the others.

[01:03:41] Yeah, he's a peerless, but he's really not respected like most other peerless.

[01:03:49] Until after this book, but that's because he's Darrow's proctor.

[01:03:52] He gets the respect he earns.

[01:03:55] Yeah, he's very much shit on in this point of his story.

[01:03:59] He's looked down upon.

[01:04:01] Darrow earns some horses.

[01:04:03] I love Fitchner.

[01:04:05] I'm sorry, I do.

[01:04:06] I know.

[01:04:07] Fitchner, he's a good character.

[01:04:08] I like him a lot.

[01:04:10] But Darrow earns some horses, some weapons, some matches.

[01:04:13] And that's because he captured the Minerva Standard.

[01:04:17] And the bounty, Severo, passed along to him.

[01:04:21] Because technically, Severo was the one who captured the Minerva Standard, yada yada.

[01:04:24] But Darrow's the leader, so Severo doesn't really waste any time sort of giving up the goods to the group.

[01:04:32] Yeah, Darrow, this is where he really starts to get suspicious.

[01:04:35] Like, who's the jackal?

[01:04:37] And Fitchner, he gives us a pretty big reveal.

[01:04:41] What do you know about the jackal, Richard?

[01:04:43] What do I know about?

[01:04:44] Well, more than you.

[01:04:45] But I know that the jackal is Mr. Nero, Al Augustus's son.

[01:04:52] So, kind of crazy that we've got this cruel dictator warlord doing some crazy shit.

[01:04:59] Outwitting and out-warlording.

[01:05:02] Yep.

[01:05:03] Out-warlording Darrow.

[01:05:05] And he's Darrow's archenemy's son.

[01:05:10] I mean, that's insane.

[01:05:13] We're adding out-warlording into the vocabulary.

[01:05:16] I like that one.

[01:05:17] I like that one.

[01:05:18] Well, I'd say it's fair.

[01:05:20] Yeah, I think so.

[01:05:21] But, I don't know.

[01:05:23] For the jackal, I don't think the apple falls very far from the tree.

[01:05:27] I don't even think the apple fully fell at this point.

[01:05:31] I mean, he is so...

[01:05:32] The stem is still on the fucking tree.

[01:05:34] Yeah.

[01:05:35] He, like, we obviously won't meet him for another few chapters, but when we do...

[01:05:39] The jackal is a terrifying creature.

[01:05:42] And calling him the jackal...

[01:05:44] Like, giving him a more unrefined name is so perfect.

[01:05:47] Because he really is just...

[01:05:51] Very, like, caged animal type character.

[01:05:56] You know?

[01:05:56] Yeah.

[01:05:57] Like a feral animal for sure.

[01:06:00] No, I agree with that.

[01:06:01] And as we sort of alluded to earlier, Darrow's horse gets named.

[01:06:08] And, Richard, what name do the people give to Darrow's horse?

[01:06:13] Darrow's tribe members call his horse Quietus, which means the final stroke.

[01:06:18] And that is given in mockery of Titus' death, execution, whatever you want to call that.

[01:06:26] Whatever, yeah.

[01:06:28] Um, you know, like, Darrow's tribe, they're loyal, but they're not loyal because they like Darrow or anything.

[01:06:35] They're loyal because they just saw the guy order the execution of another dude.

[01:06:40] Have Cassius do it for him.

[01:06:42] And, like, they're more scared.

[01:06:47] I guess.

[01:06:48] Yeah, best not get on his bad side.

[01:06:51] I would be terrified to be on Darrow's bad side.

[01:06:54] Like, I'm tall, but Darrow would be a solid, like, foot and a half taller than me.

[01:06:58] And also, he's just, like, a giant...

[01:07:02] He's just built out of muscle.

[01:07:04] Listen, I think you could be ten feet tall and Darrow would still kill you.

[01:07:09] Like, there's no...

[01:07:10] Darrow's just that guy.

[01:07:12] There's no getting around him.

[01:07:13] The strongest Obsidian ever.

[01:07:17] And it wouldn't matter.

[01:07:18] Wouldn't matter.

[01:07:19] Darrow would beat my ass.

[01:07:22] Absolutely.

[01:07:23] He's just that guy.

[01:07:24] Darrow does beat quite a few Obsidian's asses, though.

[01:07:27] Yeah.

[01:07:28] And I think that that's a good place for us to end that chapter.

[01:07:34] Richard, do you have any final thoughts or anything before we start wrapping up?

[01:07:40] Um, well, this was probably my favorite set of chapters to do so far.

[01:07:47] I think that just everything that happens in this section of the book is...

[01:07:51] It's crazy.

[01:07:52] Like, you get the reveal of Mustang.

[01:07:56] She's a great character.

[01:07:57] We love Mustang.

[01:07:58] You get them taking the standard and the cook.

[01:08:01] Them finding out about the jackal as they negotiate with Mustang.

[01:08:07] The reveal that Titus is a red is crazy.

[01:08:11] And then it ends the chapter that Titus fucking dies?

[01:08:17] What the fuck?

[01:08:19] Yeah.

[01:08:19] It's crazy.

[01:08:21] I have a question for you before we wrap it up.

[01:08:25] Yeah, what do you got?

[01:08:27] If you were one of the proctors, would you be helping your kids under the table?

[01:08:34] Which proctor, I guess?

[01:08:36] It doesn't matter.

[01:08:37] Let's just say, you were just a proctor.

[01:08:39] Like, there's a different institute.

[01:08:42] You're one of the proctors at the institute.

[01:08:44] Let's say you're just a house series proctor.

[01:08:47] Doesn't...

[01:08:48] For a completely different group of people.

[01:08:50] Are you going to be helping your...

[01:08:53] Yes.

[01:08:54] More than Fitchner does, at least.

[01:08:57] Because Fitchner, we know, he's very laid back.

[01:08:59] He doesn't really do much to help.

[01:09:02] He only does stuff when he absolutely has to, seemingly.

[01:09:06] But he does also supply them with some information.

[01:09:09] And I feel like that that is also an important part.

[01:09:13] I think I would probably do that.

[01:09:16] I also don't think that I would be a proctor.

[01:09:18] Because you still got to be a pretty cruel, peerless scarred to get that position.

[01:09:23] Yeah.

[01:09:24] That's true.

[01:09:25] I don't know.

[01:09:26] What about you?

[01:09:27] No, I would definitely...

[01:09:29] I would be helping them.

[01:09:30] At every single turn.

[01:09:31] I would be, like, sneaking them meds and weapons and shit.

[01:09:34] I would be...

[01:09:35] I would be cheating.

[01:09:36] For sure.

[01:09:37] You'd be giving them razors and shit?

[01:09:39] Yeah.

[01:09:40] I would...

[01:09:40] They would have every advantage.

[01:09:42] I would...

[01:09:43] I mean...

[01:09:43] Give them fucking pulse armors so that they can wipe the floor with everyone in two days

[01:09:48] and be done with it?

[01:09:49] Exactly.

[01:09:50] Grav boots, a map of the whole place.

[01:09:52] Like, they're...

[01:09:53] My group is winning.

[01:09:54] I don't care.

[01:09:55] Right.

[01:09:56] Right.

[01:09:56] I don't think that's allowed, though.

[01:09:59] I mean...

[01:09:59] Well...

[01:10:00] That's not to say that people don't get ahead with technology they're not supposed to have.

[01:10:07] I'm kind of a competitive person when it comes to things like this.

[01:10:15] So...

[01:10:15] Fair enough.

[01:10:17] Yeah.

[01:10:17] I'd be helping them.

[01:10:19] That's all I can say.

[01:10:20] But...

[01:10:20] I would just hit the scheme button and assassinate the other proctors and be done with it.

[01:10:25] I know that you would.

[01:10:26] Yeah.

[01:10:27] I'd love my scheme button in Crusader Kings.

[01:10:31] Beautiful.

[01:10:32] We gotta hop back on soon.

[01:10:34] But...

[01:10:34] Yeah.

[01:10:35] Anyways, Richard, do you want to let people know how they can get involved in the conversation?

[01:10:39] Because we want to hear from y'all.

[01:10:41] Yeah.

[01:10:42] And as per usual, this is where I shine.

[01:10:44] Totally.

[01:10:44] Totally.

[01:10:45] First off, we just want to say thank you for listening.

[01:10:48] Obviously, me and Aaron absolutely love yapping about Red Rising.

[01:10:51] I mean...

[01:10:52] This is...

[01:10:53] We're consistently keeping up with it, which is great.

[01:10:57] And we're making some headway through the book.

[01:10:59] I mean, we're at more than half, I think, throughout the book, which is great.

[01:11:05] Yeah.

[01:11:05] But, on to the contact information.

[01:11:08] First off, we have our email, which is radioactive at thelorehounds.com.

[01:11:13] We have a channel set up for radioactive ramblings in the Lorehounds Discord server.

[01:11:18] And you can send us a message, chat about the show, you know, really whatever.

[01:11:23] We keep an eye on it.

[01:11:25] You also could contact us through the contact form or leave us a voicemail at thelorehounds.com.

[01:11:31] We also now have a Blue Sky account at Radioactive141.

[01:11:36] And we'd appreciate a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever other service you might use to listen to us.

[01:11:43] It helps other people find us and just kind of grows the community.

[01:11:48] Yeah.

[01:11:49] And if you want to follow all of the Lorehounds affiliates on Blue Sky, the Lorehounds have set up a list so that all you have to do is click one button and you're automatically going to be following all of the relevant Lorehounds accounts, which is awesome.

[01:12:08] So we were on that now.

[01:12:10] And yeah, it makes it easy.

[01:12:12] But anyways, like Richard said, thank you guys so much for listening.

[01:12:15] We really appreciate every time you guys tune in.

[01:12:19] This has been a really fun series for us to do very much like this is a passion project for sure.

[01:12:24] I mean, all of our our series are but this one especially because Red Rising is not the most popular, the most well known book series.

[01:12:33] We were definitely just doing this because we think it's a lot of fun and we want to talk about it.

[01:12:38] And we would really love if you all joined in on the conversation either through the discord or through one of the other methods that Richard mentioned.

[01:12:46] So but before we let you go, I did just want to give a quick shout out to all of the other affiliates and to our parent podcast, the Lorehounds, who makes all of this possible.

[01:12:58] They've got a lot of great coverage going on over there with new stuff coming out for Dune Prophecy and just a bunch of other great content.

[01:13:06] So go check them out or check out some of the affiliates, which include us.

[01:13:10] We'll shift dust properly Howard movie review.

[01:13:13] We have the newest affiliate, which is never mind the music.

[01:13:18] They're really chugging along and doing a great job.

[01:13:20] Go check them out.

[01:13:22] Star Wars Canon timeline podcast.

[01:13:24] And of course, last but definitely not least, we have Marilyn Arpukila and Dr. Sarah Brown talking about the Rings of Power over at Rings and Rituals.

[01:13:36] So check out all of the affiliate feeds.

[01:13:38] There will be links to all of them in the show notes.

[01:13:40] And actually, I wanted to give a shout out also to the severance feed because that's coming back very soon.

[01:13:47] And I believe they're doing a few re-releases of some of their severance reviews over there.

[01:13:52] So definitely check those out.

[01:13:55] And thank you all so much for listening.

[01:13:57] And we hope to see you in the next episode.