User blog comment:SaynaSLuke/The Ocean's Echoes/@comment-2142396-20160804180913

Oh Xzaris! Of course, we always knew what waits for him at the end of his quest, but I didn’t expect him to actually try and stage an escape attempt after seemingly giving up. So even though it was obvious that Xzaris wouldn’t avoid his terrible fate, he still surprised me. At least he got Arashi out, in a way, since because the Monitors didn’t watch her as close as Xzaris and Val, she would’ve probably escaped on her own as well.

Ublaz is so sadistic that he is a wonderful villain in a way. And he is a darn good psychoanalyst to figure out that feeling worthless is something Xzaris struggled with all his life or that he loves Romsca. Either that, or Ublaz has really good spies, and most probably it’s both things together. I remember that Shadow Fighters like Ferran could read minds, but it was never shown that Ublaz possesses such a power, so I assume he doesn’t. Besides, it’s just more terrifying to think that he is capable of such mental torture without any supernatural ability. And now I have answers for some questions that I had been wondering about – namely, why didn’t Ublaz just kill Xzaris once and for all instead of just blinding him and letting him live? But using Xzaris as a hostage, bait and leverage makes a lot of sense, especially since he knows of Rasconza and Romsca’s betrayal, as well as the fact that Ublaz would take additional pleasure in seeing Xzaris suffer. I rather like how Ublaz treated Val, too. She and Xzaris were afraid that Ublaz would recognize and punish her, but why should somebeast like Ublaz care if one of his kitchen slaves managed to escape? She is too insignificant for him. But what worries me now is that both Val and Xzaris had met Ublaz’s gaze, and since we know that Ublaz has even more power than before now, it means that he would be able to control them, anywhere, anytime. And I’m afraid for what may happen in the final battle… :o

I didn’t quite realize how huge Ublaz’s forces are until Romsca mentioned the numbers – more than 200 Monitors, 700 ratguards, 70 sea Captains? Considering that the average crew size in Redwall seems to be between 50 and 100 beasts, that would make Ublaz’s fleet number at least 3500-4000 strong. :o Then again, once you think on it, isn’t it strange that hordes and armies in Redwall canon tend to number no more that 500, with the Rapscallions and the Blue Hordes being exceptions? (Yep, and apparently Ferahgo’s army was over 4000, though the Russian translation made it 800 – much better odds, if you ask me.)

It’s interesting and very sad that Sayna considers herself the last of the people that is no more. The Abbey and woodlanders are not very prominent in this story, but when we last saw them they were behaving as Redwallers and woodlanders in general always do; they were peaceful and not warriors, true, but they were ready to help any survivors after the slaughter of holt Lutra, and they did rushed to fight Romsca’s crew when they got the news of Durral’s capture. But since Sayna had lived so far longer than we could follow in the story, I suppose the changes would feel much more drastic to her. Besides, I strongly suspect that the reasons for her words would be expanded in ‘The Challenger’. Yet I can see what she means by that. They say that the greatest evil is not hatred, but indifference, and the Redwallers didn’t actively fight Sampetra until the pirates came to their houses… thus allowing the vermin to raid and kill as long as they did so away from Mossflower. :(

I find it realistic how Durral struggled with the need to behave like a pirate and learning how to fight. I understand why Romsca and Sayna were exasperated with him, since they were forced into life and death situation, but I can feel Durral, too. Not everybeast can stomach the idea of having to fight and murder, especially since Durral had been the voice of wisdom and repose for so long, and of course not everybeast can master the skills needed for it – and Durral is not a young beast anymore. And psst, Romsca? If you want to get to Durral’s good grace, you may want to start calling him by his name and not ‘abbotmouse’. That’s not very respectful – you wouldn’t want to be called ‘ferret’ all the time, right? ;) And it still scares me that Romsca had been trained in fighting since she were five. Curse the culture of raiding and wars that steals childhood from kids and turns them into soldiers as early as they can hold a weapon! :o On a lighter note, it was a surprise that Romsca referred to Rasconza as being the expert in empty-paws combat. Of course, he would be more of close quarters fighter, especially compared to Romsca and Xzaris who are swordbeast and spearbeast respectively, but I still thought blades to be his specialization.

It was interesting to see Barranca and Arashi interact, especially since their personalities contrast so well. I’ve mentioned it before, but I still can’t get over how much Barranca had changed over these eight seasons. In ‘Stolen Tears’, he was headstrong, brash and self-absorbed. Now he is still somewhat self-absorbed, though considerably less so, but also broken, sad and bitter, and Arashi is the one who is headstrong, pretty much the way Barranca used to be.

I see that Ublaz uses ‘divide and rule’ principle to its fullest in his politics, encouraging ‘everybeast for themselves’ and ‘survival of the fittest’ principles, with him not only keeping the population poor, but also forbidding them to help each other? I assume that’s what’s happening, if Barranca was feared to be punished for giving something to the beggars. But how Ublaz justifies these laws, or does he not even pretends that he just wants to keep his power? Anyway, this is dangerous tactics he is using… maybe good in short-terms, but not effective in the long run, since if he keeps raising taxes and pushing the population there would come the moment when Sampetrians would have nothing to lose but their chains… Basically, all the revolutions start that way.

I see Kia didn’t change, though I think I get her attitude a bit better now after seeing her reaction to Barranca’s visit. Kia hates Barranca and Romsca not because they did something to her, but rather because they are noble and high-class… so she treats them with the same disdain the other aristocrats no doubt had treated her with and that’s her way of taking revenge against them – and especially against Xzaris’s father, I suppose. After all, why would someone as high and mighty as him marry a tavern wench, as she puts it? Not to say that Kia is right in the way she behaves, and certainly not in the way she treats Xzaris, but I understand her a little more. By the way, what did happen with Xzaris’s father? You mentioned that he is dead once, but how exactly? I suppose it doesn’t actually matter, since he never cared for them anyway, but since you mentioned it, I’m curious.

Woah, I didn’t expect Kage to survive. Well, I was kind of spoilered by certain picture, but I thought for sure that he hadn’t made it, especially since the rest of Romsca’s crew were slain, with no survivors left.