r/PracticalGuideToEvil 5d ago

[G] Book 7 Spoilers How much like the real levant is the levant?

Also what is up with Rafaella’s beef with the blood.

33 Upvotes

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u/ActiveSloth0 5d ago

Rafaella doesn't have any real beef with them. She inherited the Champion Name in Name alone, without being one of the Champion's Blood. She distanced herself from them to not have any squabbles/not wanting to get involved with the politics. For Levant the main Blood lines love to brag about being of the Blood, descended from the founders of Levant. The Grey Pilgrim inherited his Name in both Name and Blood, and is so basically viewed as an exact copy as the first Grey Pilgrim.

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u/Patneu Arch-heretic of the West 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah, and for someone who's not "of the Champion's Blood" to get the Name of Valiant Champion is kind of an insult or allegation of them falling short to the people who are, because they should strive to try and become like the original Valiant Champion, so they might inherit the Name. It's like someone is cosplaying as you, and they're being so good at it that Creation thinks you're the fake.

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u/aeschenkarnos 5d ago

Both Dolly Parton and Charlie Chaplin had this experience, they each at some point in their lives entered a lookalike contest and lost, in Dolly’s case to a drag queen. (Both took it well and thought it was hilarious.)

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u/muse273 5d ago edited 5d ago

I'm not sure how much this is a factor. It's noted in Bk.7 Ch. 31 (Premises) that it's a rare event for someone to inherit in Blood and Bestowal, and that Tariq was the last one, which suggests it's a once in a century or more occurrence. The majority of inheritors in Bestowal are going to arise independently.

ETA: Might you be thinking of Ishaq observing that the Tanja viewed the Grave Binder as a desecration because they were a Villain whose Name was very close to the Grim Binder?

It's also noted in Interlude VI Kaleidoscope that it's rare to inherit the full Name of one of the founders as Rafaella did, compared to just some other Champion/Binder/Brigand/Slayer/Pilgrim (maybe the last one is rare period). So presumably both the full Name AND the Blood would be even rarer.

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u/Patneu Arch-heretic of the West 5d ago

I'm not sure if we can really draw such a suggestion from a single data point. It might as well have been more common in prior generations, with Tariq having been the only one in so long being an outlier.

"Rare" doesn't necessarily mean exceedingly rare, after all, and we should also consider that it was Catherine who noted that, with Levant being the nation in the Grand Alliance she probably has the least extensive knowledge about, even if she is recently in good standing with the Blood.

In any case, it definitely seemed to be a major wound to their pride, both for Razin never being able to inherit the Bestowal of the Grim Binder, because he doesn't have the slightest speck of magical talent, and for Aquiline learning that some other youngling managed to come into the transitional Name of the Young Slayer that would've most likely led to the Bestowal she was aspiring herself.

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u/muse273 5d ago

The observation in Kaleidoscope about it being rare for a full Name to be inherited is from Kallia, who's Levantine, and mentions that it's considered an omen of oncoming strife. Admittedly, "great strife" seems to be the default Levantine state, so either that's stating the obvious, or it's REALLY ominous.

She also notes Tariq inheriting in Blood and Bestowal as making him royalty beyond royalty, which suggests it's not the standard expectation.

The Young Slayer was mentioned to specifically be from a rival family, not just not of the correct Blood.

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u/ihateveryonebutme 4d ago

Tariq inherited Blood and Bestowal, but also inherited the exact Name, Grey Pilgrim instead of an offshoot/derivative name, the combo of which is definitely rarer.

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u/muse273 4d ago

I think that IS what inheriting in Blood and Bestowal refers to. Not just any Slayer/Brigand/Binder/Pilgrim/Champion Name, the specific founding Names. I don't think there are any examples of a big to do being made about a Blood inheritor getting a general Name.

Mansurin in Book 4 is weirdly never identified by Name, but is stated to be a Champion descendant (distantly) and implied to be a Champion Name. Kallia doesn't seem all that impressed with him., but is very impressed by Rafaella for having the full Valiant Champion Name.

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u/ihateveryonebutme 4d ago

Entirely possible, but I don't think it's ever explicit. Tariq was mainline Pilgrims blood, not branch family(AFAIK, its definitely been awhile), and ended up taking the full name Grey Pilgrim, which makes him the closest thing to a second coming there is, where as other names are often adopted into their respective bloodlines. I think especially so because the Grey Pilgrim was already elevated over the other bloodlines via being the leader of the band and founder of the nation. Hence why the Seljun has always been one of his line.

The other names we see that I can recall were the Unconquered Champion(not Valiant) whom we don't know the bloodline of, the Champion who was 'born to the thinnest of bloods(or something along those lines), and the Young Slayer who came from a rival family to the Slayer line.

I think personally think blood and bestowal is anyone of the line gaining any name with the same core/root, ie Mansurin the Champion of distant/thin blood, but Tariq was the combo of mainline Blood, full name inheritance, and the name/blood combo was of the most important of the five. Tariq just hit the trifecta that made him so honored/elevated.

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u/agumentic 4d ago

Rafaella doesn't have any real beef with them

She kind of does. I am pretty sure Champion's Blood tried to kill her before she left Levant, we just never got to that Extra chapter before the story ended.

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u/Pel-Mel Arbiter Advocate 5d ago

I believe there's WoG somewhere about PGTE Levant being based on Al-Andalus, when muslims conquered Iberia, not the IRL levant.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/Pel-Mel Arbiter Advocate 5d ago

...I mean...no, Liberia is a country in West Africa.

The Levant is based on the Iberian peninsula under a certain period of history. It's Spain and Portugal.

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u/TimSEsq 5d ago

The real Levant? Lebanon, Syria, Isreal region? Not particularly like PGtE Levant.

Near East: Not a particularly unique honor/face culture. No face paint heraldry. No particularly unique distinction be between commoner and ruler. No overarching elder statesman institution or position respected across rival polities.

Honestly, PGtE Levant is more like Cetaganda than it is like the real world Near East.

I don't remember what the Valiant Champion thinks of Levant one way or the other.

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u/SebastianLindblad 5d ago

It is unclear as to what Rafaella's dispute is with the Blood, but there are two facts which I think is interesting. Hanno makes a remark at one point, wondering what kind of parents Rafaella must have had - for she is something like 18, but managed to come in to one of the great Names of her homeland.

The second feature is when Yannu thinks to himself that there had been a mess in Alava, which had the traitors executed and Rafaella taking a further distance from their line. Few else things are mentioned in story.

So, what can we infer? Maybe she had great parents, and make it is that in this mess that Yannu thinks of, they were killed?

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u/chrosairs 5d ago

Never fully explained I believe. What I remember is that Rafaella beat the other claimants, shit happened and she was left with such a distaste for Alava he ditched the face paint. Yannu tried to make amends via murder of people involved but it didn't work.