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In Chapter 11 of the Book of Three, Tarin really

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goes from being a boy to starting to become a

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man. He's already at the edge of manhood, which

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I believe they talked about earlier. Dolben tells

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him, if you ever reach manhood, which the way

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you're acting right now, it's likely that it's

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not going to happen. I just started re -listening

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to the book to catch up and to get back in this

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place and orient myself in it more steadily.

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You know, it's funny. He tells him, like, You

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should become a man, but what you're doing, the

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way you're operating, I'm not sure you're going

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to make it. But if you do, you should be good.

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Hopefully. That's the plan. That's what they've

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been raising him for, Cole and Dolben. So he's

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out on his own. Things have been horrible. They

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think that Gwydion is dead because how could

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you survive being crushed under a castle? They've

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decided to take the journey on their own. There

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was the whole confrontation with Flurry Flam,

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and now Taran has had time to reflect on everything,

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and he realizes that he doesn't want to be a

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hero. He wants the quiet life. He gets the chance

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to get rid of... He gets the chance to be cowardly.

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I don't even know. I don't even know if it's

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cowardly, honestly. Gergie breaks his leg getting

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honey for them, a honeycomb. I don't even know

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how much honey is in there from a tree because

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they're starving to death and everybody's trying

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to find food. And Gergie breaks his leg. Gergie

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tells him, go ahead and kill me and save yourselves.

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I'm worthless to you now. We've heard that Gergie's

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issue is that he's neither man nor beast, so

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he has no place. Which I think his liminal existence

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as being neither fish nor fowl is what made him

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villainous in the beginning of the book. Because

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he has no loyalty. Beasts kill other beasts to

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eat them. Men kill beasts to eat them. Beasts

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kill men to eat them? Eh, sometimes. So why not

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kill Tarn and eat him as well? He's coming from

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this perspective of he's neither thing. He's

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rejected by all sides. So what's it matter? Has

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he actually killed a person eating them before?

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We don't know. Unlike Gollum, who we know ate

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babies. It's horrible. That's very heavily implied,

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if not directly stated. I'm pretty sure it's

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just very heavily implied. Anyway. Gergi exists

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in a more noble place, you know, a less horrible

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place than Gollum does. But there's a lot of

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similarities between them. And even the relationship

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between Tarn and Gergi and Frodo and Gollum,

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there's some similarities there. But my point

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is that in this chapter, in chapter 11, Tarn

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really makes steps forward on his journey to

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manhood. He has the opportunity to just kill

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Gergi and get him out of the way. He's never

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liked Gergi. He's wanted to hurt him. He's fought

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him. You know, Gergi, the first time they met,

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Gergi had his hands around his throat. So, you

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know, it's understandable, but he got past that.

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And he's reached a place like Gwydion was at,

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where he had an affection for, a care for, a

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pity for Gergi, really. And he pities him here,

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and he chooses to spare his life. And thanks

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for that, Gergi gives him... his helping of the

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honeycomb and tauren rejects it and he says no

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you take it it's yours you've more than earned

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it and they smile at each other and the the wolfhound

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smell doesn't bother him anymore and what am

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i saying manhood is manhood is not killing somebody

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when you could kill them and another man might

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decide to kill that's not what i'm saying uh

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i guess this manhood this maturity that he's

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gaining that tauren is gaining is the ability

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to persist through hardship, and to accept nuance,

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and to hold contradictory things together. And

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I find that to be really interesting. Yeah, I

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find that to be really interesting, and this

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is kind of a low chapter, like it's not the most

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exciting chapter, but there's a lot of character

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stuff that's going on here that's really important.

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There's a lot of deep... deeply seated emotional

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things like things are coming it's not a flashy

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chapter at all but things are coming from a very

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emotional place and there's a lot of emotional

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maturity going on here there's a lot of like

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truth on display and it's being shown through

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some you know conflict they're running from the

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cauldron board and everything but it's not like

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attention grabbing and like oh it's one of my

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favorite chapters but some of the favorite some

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of the best things that happen in the book happen

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here in chapter 11 so that's that's good um Like

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it's a necessary transitional chapter that moves

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things along in a way, at least interiorly. I

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mean, they are getting closer to their goal and

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they're getting away from the Cauldronborn, which

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is good. But what it does really is it shows

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this growth in Tarn because he's presented with,

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you know, his reaction to Gergi in multiple ways.

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Like there's multiple facets of that that are

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examined. It's his comparison to Flutter. Flutter

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says he would have killed Gergi to keep going,

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but it's not really true. We know Flüter, it's

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like Gwydion's up here, Tarin's down here, and

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Flüter's somewhere in between. And even Flüter,

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you know, he lies that he would do that. We don't

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know what Gwydion would do. I would think he

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would spirit gurgle, just based on what I know

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from him. But... It's interesting because we

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don't get, like, clean, clear answers. And Tarin

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feels confused and overwhelmed by all these things,

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but he's persisting and he's going forward. And

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I really appreciate that. Something from Ursula

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K. Le Guin book, I think it's the first Earthsea

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book, which I don't remember the title of, is

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there's a statement that manhood is patience

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and mastery is nine times... manhood or nine

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times patience and that's really something that

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sticks with me um i haven't analyzed it but it

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feels emotionally true it feels very good to

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say and uh yeah that's something i i need to

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work on for sure but it's wonderful to see things

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like that you know like i don't want to say didactic

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is popping in my mind but i don't know that's

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the right word to say it's lovely for me to see

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these fantasy stories these adventure stories

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for kids holding these ideas and offering them

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to these children to these boys reading these

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books because boys need these lessons they need

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these messages and they need to see male role

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models who are able to be tough and fierce and

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compassionate and Self -sacrificing while also

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keeping themselves going and working for the

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sake of others and I just feel like all of that

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is being done here and it's Lovely, but it's

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not, you know, the height of excitement. So...

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I guess if I have to complain about this chapter

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or critique it at all, it's that this could have

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been done in a more exciting way. But, I mean,

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they were running for their lives. There were

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things going on. It's just, yeah, it's like a

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more subdued kind of thing. And maybe just the

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way this one played out wasn't as great as it

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could have been. So, there's my criticism for

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Chapter 11 of the Book of Three. I would love

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to know what you thought about it. Check the

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pinned comment where you can find more of my

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discussion of the Book of Three, and maybe some

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bonus content as well. For Chapter 10, I made

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some really great bonus content. It's over on

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the blog. You can find it through the pinned

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comment. over there um definitely always check

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the comments there's gonna be good stuff there

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on youtube and then if you're on the bin if you're

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on the blog post it'll be at the very bottom

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underneath everything in a little bonus section

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so i don't know what i'll do for the bonus section

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for this one but for sure uh these are my thoughts

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on it and i'm really enjoying the book i love

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the book i ended up finishing it all the way

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through and then i restarted it and it just started

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the book is so great and then to come here it's

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just it's a necessary transition point and it's

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i guess it could have been executed better but

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i don't know how necessarily and that's that's

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where i stand on chapter 11 so until next time

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folks take care be well this is mj with fortress

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fiction signing out