Post by silicondream on May 14, 2021 1:23:49 GMT
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1088
I read the look on Ys' face in panels 4, 6 & 7 as totally anguished (and confused) regret.
I do not. I read it as confusion, certainly, and also sheer mental and physical exhaustion--we've never seen him push his dendrokinesis that far before. He tried supremely hard to kill Annie, and it's the sheer intensity of that bloodthirst which takes him aback.
Of course, I'm sure he misses Annie in that after-moment and isn't enjoying the thought of her pain. But there's a difference, to me, between the "Why did I" that Ysengrin asks here and (for instance) Tony's "How could I" line here. Tony is annihilating his own consciousness with booze to condemn it for making a terrible mistake; Ysengrin is wondering whether he might have been justified, and that's when Coyote hits the reset button.
He loves and respects (to a degree) Annie,
and finds her worthy of his mentoring and insight
despite still thinking she is weak and has much still to learn
No argument there. The threat Ysegnrin poses to Annie is definitely not because he doesn't care about her, just as he didn't kill Coyote for lack of love. He just has darker feelings competing with it.
As for the source of Ys rages, which Jones notes are getting worse...
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=286
we may disagree on cause and effect. I think that yes, Ys has always been angry towards hum-ants for their disrespect and threat to the Forest, but I wonder if it isn't getting worse *because* Coyote is cratering his mind, destabilizing its structure.
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=286
we may disagree on cause and effect. I think that yes, Ys has always been angry towards hum-ants for their disrespect and threat to the Forest, but I wonder if it isn't getting worse *because* Coyote is cratering his mind, destabilizing its structure.
I would point to the details of timing that Jones brings up--this is a new thing (as in, within the last few decades). The memory thefts aren't a recent development; Coyote was already doing that to Ysengrin when he was still in pure wolf form. The more likely culprit is the power Coyote has given him recently, which he insists on using in a self-destructive way. Word of Tom is that the wooden body and the clothing he wears is all Ysengrin's own idea. Coyote gave him a way to connect with all of nature, and he chose to turn it into a cheap humanoid battlesuit. That's the main thing which is sickening him and driving him mad; he's increasingly addicted to mimicking human pride and wrath.
He cant learn from mistakes because Coyote doesnt let him even remember them so that he could reflect on them.
This, I grant you, is the biggest practical weakness in Coyote's approach (never mind the ethical ones.) But then I think back to the folktales--Ysengrin remembered all those mistakes perfectly well and he still didn't learn from them. So perhaps that's just not going to work for him anyway.
After all, not all mistakes are constructive ones. If we think (as you need not, of course) of Ysengrin as having an addiction, the memory of bloodthirst may make it more likely that he'll lapse again, not less. And seeing himself as a savage beast may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I think Coyote is working on multiple levels here. I agree that he is short term working to "temper Ys' rage" (which also prevents Ys from learning from mistakes!), but longer term he is storing all these "rage moments" for the day when they can all be flooded back at once, overwhelming any mental barriers so that the now totally uncontrollably enraged Ys makes the *fatal* mistake of rage-"killing" Coyote himself (as per Coyote's intent). Coyote has been planning for that - his own death, and Loup's formation - for a loooong time.....
Thing is, though, Ysengrin kills Coyote before he gets all those rage moments back.
The last time we see Coyote mucking with his memories, Ysengrin isn't angry, he's just passive and confused. Then Coyote grants him strength--nothing more yet--and Ysengrin instantly attacks. He actually doesn't get his memories back except as a direct result of killing Coyote. So again, I don't think it's an artificial rage-flood that drove him there; it's just what he was always going to do.
Connected to this, I doubt Coyote really needed to plan the murder part; there are probably millions of beings out there who would happily kill him for his power. But he didn't want the Forest to die with him, so he needed to find a usurper who wouldn't immediately self-destruct or go insane. Renard was the first choice; failing that, Ysengrin had to be trained up to a certain level of competence. The memory shenanigans bought him time and do-overs to make that happen. They may also have provided Loup with a certain amount of initial restraint, since he came into existence watching a highlights reel of Ysengrin's Greatest Mistakes. Kept him from just trying to batter down the Court's shield, etc.
