The Tarot Sequence 2022 Readalong discussion

This is the readalong/discussion thread for Chapter 3 (Half House) to 4 (The Tower) for Week 1! Please limit your comments to the events and characters that appear in those chapters.

Just have one brief comment about the beginning of "Half House". Rune talks about how the magic can enforce things in a somewhat capricious manner. This is SO interesting and pops up throughout the series. It's a very flexible rule for an author, but also true to the rules of wild fae magic :D

Lord Tower used to be the spy master for Atlantis and is still incredibly powerful. I find it hard to believe he doesn't know who was responsible, or at least assume of those involved, for what happened to the Sun Court. Even if other powerful people tried to cover it up, he was a spy master. I find it hard to believe they could have covered their tracks that well.

Also, I'm really hoping the Empress shows up at some point.

@Hannah This goes back to my deep hole of "who is Lord Tower to Rune and his family?" When did he get involved- involved with Rune's dad, Rune's mom, only after the fall? Also, what about Rune's mom? Who is she? Was she in Rune's life? Did she die before or during the fall? Really hoping for further background in THGT.

The Empress is comparable to Elvis-- hilarious! Anyone read Fairy Tales of the Open Road series by Lex Chase. I get a whole little montage of visits to diners & tourist traps in the middle of nowhere.

Hannah wrote: "Lord Tower used to be the spy master for Atlantis and is still incredibly powerful. I find it hard to believe he doesn't know who was responsible, or at least assume of those involved, for what hap..."

The way I see it, there are three options

1) He was involved. I think this is least likely but it's on the table.

2) He discovered at least some of the perpetrators, but for some reason hasn't moved against them yet.

3) He wasn't involved and hasn't been able to find out what happened.

Honestly, option #3 is the scariest to me, because just imagine the resources, power and influence it must take to plan something like the raid on the Sun Court, pull it off, and then hide your tracks so well that Lord Tower never finds you?!

Siavahda wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Lord Tower used to be the spy master for Atlantis and is still incredibly powerful. I find it hard to believe he doesn't know who was responsible, or at least assume of those involve..."

Apparently, we are sharing a comment brain. What I find most uncomfortable is that Rune never speaks of it. Here is a man who, in exchange for some favors, took in Rune and Brand and continues to make sure there is food on the table even after the contract is closed. And yet, Rune seems to have never asked him what he knows. Is it because he fears the answer, already knows the answer, or is afraid to ask? I don't think I could be convinced it's because he hasn't thought to ask.

Siavahda wrote: "...
1) He was involved. I think this is least likely but it's on the table.
Agree completely with this. It's unlikely he was involved with the take down. Did he know there were plans for it beforehand? Maybe.

2) He discovered at least some of the perpetrators, but for some reason hasn't moved against them yet.
Seems most likely, given the Hanged Man situation. We don't know enough about the factions and alliances between the courts. We don't know that much about the older generation of Moral Certainties. There is a great deal of counter balancing between the courts, especially since the Human/Atlantean war. (view spoiler)[Yet the Emperor, Empress, Sun Throne, the Lovers Throne, and now the Hanged Man's court have all fallen in what? The last 60 years? And how many dispossessed Atlanteans does that leave with no courts? (hide spoiler)]

3) He wasn't involved and hasn't been able to find out what happened."
This seems unlikely because: Much of Lord Sun's wealth was confiscated by SOMEONE or many someones. Where are their sigils? The few Rune has now were in odd hiding places but otherwise the Sun's sigils have gone missing, right? Unlikely they're destroyed since there's currently no way to make new ones.

F wrote: "Siavahda wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Lord Tower used to be the spy master for Atlantis and is still incredibly powerful. I find it hard to believe he doesn't know who was responsible, or at least assume..."

I suspect he might be afraid of the answer. He does, later in Last Sun, admit he doesn't know what he is to Lord Tower, what their relationship is or exactly how, or how much, Lord Tower cares about him.

If I were in Rune's shoes I'm not sure I'd ask either. Besides, how would he know if Lord Tower lied? Which means there's no point in asking, really, if you can't even trust the answer you get.

Meghan wrote: "Siavahda wrote: "...
1) He was involved. I think this is least likely but it's on the table.
Agree completely with this. It's unlikely he was involved with the take down. Did he know there were pla..."

Meghan, you make an excellent point about all the alliances and dynamics between the older Arcana - Lord Tower might have very good (political) reasons for not moving against the perpetrators... Damn. I don't like that at all!

On the other hand, doesn't Rune say in one of these (week 1) chapters that the Arcanum were collectively outraged by the fall of the Sun Court, because none of them got fat off it? Which suggests that none of the actual Arcana themselves were involved, probably - unless some of them did benefit and just hid those benefits really well... Which Rune might well miss, but Lord Tower would presumably have noticed/learned of...

Meghan wrote: "(view spoiler)"

(view spoiler)[OH MY GODS, HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THAT?! You're right, a TON of Courts have fallen in an incredibly short time frame - the last mention we have of a Court falling, pre-Sun Throne, is the Time Court, I think??? Which sounds like it was a very long time ago, implying that it's extremely rare for Courts to fall.

And yet so many in so short a time! THAT LOOKS LIKE A PATTERN! I mean, surely it can't be coincidence??? Could someone be orchestrating it? Clearing the board of Arcana?

Although you could argue that the Lovers and Hanged Man were both casualties of New Atlantis - they didn't/couldn't adapt to the world post-Atlantean World War. (As opposed to other Courts which also haven't adapted well, but have chosen to withdraw into themselves rather than try.) And it would be hard to orchestrate that? Unless someone was able to manipulate Lady Lovers and Lord Hanged Man into making terrible choices... (hide spoiler)]

Meghan wrote: "(view spoiler)"

(view spoiler)[The more I think about this the more flaily I get. Isn't it kind of an enormous coincidence that the only two Courts taken out in the world war were the Emperor and Empress??? If I wanted to destabilise Atlantean culture, those are the two I'd go for as well - the heads of the snake/s, as it were.

Although in fairness, I'm still not clear on how the Emperor and Empress functioned, if they had Courts of their own or if they were a conjoined power house.

STILL.

THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO COULD KEEP THE ARCANA IN LINE...ARE THE ONLY ONES WRECKED IN THE WAR??? That seems awfully lucky for the Arcana, and anyone else who wanted more power with less oversight...

Maybe the real reason the Empress ran away wasn't grief, but because she realised someone was out to destroy Atlantean leadership, and she was going to be murdered if she didn't disappear. (hide spoiler)]

Meghan wrote: "S2) He discovered at least some of the perpetrators, but for some reason hasn't moved against them yet.
Seems most likely, given the Hanged Man situation. We don't know enough about the factions and alliances between the courts. We don't know that much about the older generation of Moral Certainties. There is a great deal of counter balancing between the courts, especially since the Human/Atlantean war."

I agree that The Tower knows more than he's letting on. I'm by no means a Tarot expert, but in readings the Tower card usually indicates a time of uncomfortable but necessary change. Given the (character) Tower's reluctance to directly involve himself in nearly anything, my read is that he is pulling strings and withholding information to effect massive future change.

Rune's no dummy, so I suspect he's aware that he's being manipulated (not necessarily malevolently so). He either trusts The Tower enough to let it play out, or he and Brand are doing their own due diligence, covertly. Or... poor Rune is still so traumatized that he can't even think about what happened to him, let alone who knows what about who was behind it. :-(

I'm curious to know who Rune's godparent was. They seem pretty common so I'm assuming he had one. You would think it would be The Tower as he mentions having a bunch of godchildren and we know he was close to Rune's dad, but if that was the case you'd think someone would have mentioned it. And if he had a godparent who wasn't The Tower, why didn't he end up with them?

Hannah wrote: "I'm curious to know who Rune's godparent was. They seem pretty common so I'm assuming he had one. You would think it would be The Tower as he mentions having a bunch of godchildren and we know he w..."

I think KD mentioned somewhere that Rune didn't have a godparent... In some interview, maybe?