1.2.6-Marsmeadow

Club Ninety-Three 1.2.6 & 1.2.7: The Rise of General Inexorable
I’ve gone from simply not liking General Inexorable to being sligthly terrified of him. Like several people have pointed out, he’s got more of the vis than the vir from the preceding chapter title. He’s ruthless, unstobbable and completely sure he’s in the right. Scary, scary mix.

What’s more, he seems to be the ideological core of the whole counter-revolutionary movement. Boisberthelot defers to his judgement, even though it would be pretty standard procedure to have a captain deal with discipline on his own ship (I think? I know nada about naval affairs, but I don’t think generals would usually get involved like this?) The decision is certainly more moral than pragmatic; it’s up to General Inexorable to stake out the moral course of the movement, almost to embody it. (On the other hand, he’s very distant from the crew and its goings-on. On the other other hand, the supramundane is necessarily distant from the mundane.)

Unraveling the metaphor of the cannon is beyond me, but if the General can stand in for the counter-revolution then it’s certainly interesting that his intervention doesn’t guarantee the safety of the ship… Executing the gunner is a matter of ethics, but it doesn’t solve the larger problem of being on a ship one bad turn away from sinking.

Looking forward, it’s almost inevitable that General Inexorable will run across a loved one in the ranks of the enemy, from all the talk of fathers executing their sons and the gunner “almost loving” the cannon. Does General Inexorable have a revolutionary son? Or brother? Or former army buddy? He’s gonna have to run across someone dear to him, to really put his pitiless observance of duty to the test.

The fallout from that momentous clash of values will probably end up killing, maiming or otherwise hurting beloved characters. Wouldn’t be Hugo, otherwise.

Commentary
Pilferingapples Oooh— I hadn’t connected the gunner’s sort-of love for the cannon he has to destroy with the whole Kill Your Darlings, Literally Kill Your Actual Living Darlings With Bullets and Fire theme! GOOD CATCH, and highly distressing!

And—he’s from Britanny, isn’t he? Same as Michelle…? Obviously they can’t be related, but might there be an impending backstory collision?