Because being a whipping boy, Belle Morte's pet, and whored out by Nikolaos for political gain (she gave him to Narcissus at one point, right?) somehow wasn't enough,
Oh no, no, no, that's only the tip of the iceberg. There was also his soliloquy about the pedophilia between adults and children in engagements/marriages from the Middle Ages during Bloody Bones. (Which, really, was more of a case of LKH NOT DOING THE DAMN RESEARCH but in a continuity sense, I've decided to place under JC pasting his own experiences on to everyone else and presenting them as a general fact.) In The Killing Dance, The Traveler and his human servant talk about how much they enjoyed having sex when the Traveler was wearing JC's body and make ominous references to how he was passed around the Council during that hundred years he served Belle in exchange for Asher's healthcare. (Asher has this whole rant about how JC turned him away from his bed for being ugly and JC says that Asher's anger and grief was like a wall between them but a BETTER explanation would've been that during that period of his life JC just wasn't up to having sex with anyone during his downtime. But, of course, LKH seems to have trouble imagining someone with no sex drive, much less someone whose sex drive has dried up.) There are some ominous references about how when he was first turned, the master who owned his maker tormented JC, took advantage of his condition, and made him do 'unspeakable' things to get fed.
I'm sure there were other things that I don't remember or that were in books that I didn't read but the point is, JC is Really Fucked Up. If a scene needs to be padded or LKH has no idea how to get from A to B, you can bet that JC's abuse is going to be the bridge.
In the hands of a better author, it would make sense that JC's grown up to become a diabolical chessmaster who has molded Anita into the monstrous thing that she's become because he'll do ANYTHING, BE anything, ENDURE anything to get to the top of the heap. (Where, presumably, people can't hurt him any more. And it'd be a lovely bit of irony if it still hurt him in some way.) And he's clear-eyed enough to acknowledge that he lacks the physical/magical power necessary to stay at the top of a relatively small heap like St. Louis, much less conquer a bigger one like the entire U.S. or the Vampire Council.
There is, of course, a group hug, which is as far as any attempts at healing or getting past this will go for Jean-Claude, short of maybe being packed off to off-screen therapy. <-- This is more emotional support and consideration than most characters get in this series.
And then Anita decides she's not bothered by whatever is drying in JC's hair because "nothing we'd done was as terrible as what he'd been through." Yes, it's not at all a flawed comparison to weigh drying spunk against horrific physical, emotional, mental, and magical abuse. (I use magical here to cover all the weird stuff... like body-theft and rotting during sex.)
Richard, do you know what Anita did to Nicky? DO YOU? <-- I don't think that he does. He's not around very much. He probably thinks that Nicky is Nathaniel Version 2.0 by choice. He's remarkably blind when he can't stand seeing the things around him.
Didn't the Council still have authority in America anyway? And it's not like the New World vampires we've so far met are particularly better in any way.
You know that, I know that, JC knows that... Richard, who has probably had very little to do with non-JC affiliated and non-Council emissary vamps, probably doesn't know that. And, for the most part, he stays clear of JC's vamp politics. This is another case where someone is trusting JC when they REALLY shouldn't and JC takes full advantage of their trust and ignorance. JC would be a BRILLIANT character if LKH didn't hamstring and de-ball him every other page. (And yet, he keeps valiantly growing it all back...)
He'd have made us kill each other and fed on every death. <-- I'd read that book.
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Date: 2013-04-18 06:49 am (UTC)Oh no, no, no, that's only the tip of the iceberg. There was also his soliloquy about the pedophilia between adults and children in engagements/marriages from the Middle Ages during Bloody Bones. (Which, really, was more of a case of LKH NOT DOING THE DAMN RESEARCH but in a continuity sense, I've decided to place under JC pasting his own experiences on to everyone else and presenting them as a general fact.) In The Killing Dance, The Traveler and his human servant talk about how much they enjoyed having sex when the Traveler was wearing JC's body and make ominous references to how he was passed around the Council during that hundred years he served Belle in exchange for Asher's healthcare. (Asher has this whole rant about how JC turned him away from his bed for being ugly and JC says that Asher's anger and grief was like a wall between them but a BETTER explanation would've been that during that period of his life JC just wasn't up to having sex with anyone during his downtime. But, of course, LKH seems to have trouble imagining someone with no sex drive, much less someone whose sex drive has dried up.) There are some ominous references about how when he was first turned, the master who owned his maker tormented JC, took advantage of his condition, and made him do 'unspeakable' things to get fed.
I'm sure there were other things that I don't remember or that were in books that I didn't read but the point is, JC is Really Fucked Up. If a scene needs to be padded or LKH has no idea how to get from A to B, you can bet that JC's abuse is going to be the bridge.
In the hands of a better author, it would make sense that JC's grown up to become a diabolical chessmaster who has molded Anita into the monstrous thing that she's become because he'll do ANYTHING, BE anything, ENDURE anything to get to the top of the heap. (Where, presumably, people can't hurt him any more. And it'd be a lovely bit of irony if it still hurt him in some way.) And he's clear-eyed enough to acknowledge that he lacks the physical/magical power necessary to stay at the top of a relatively small heap like St. Louis, much less conquer a bigger one like the entire U.S. or the Vampire Council.
There is, of course, a group hug, which is as far as any attempts at healing or getting past this will go for Jean-Claude, short of maybe being packed off to off-screen therapy. <-- This is more emotional support and consideration than most characters get in this series.
And then Anita decides she's not bothered by whatever is drying in JC's hair because "nothing we'd done was as terrible as what he'd been through." Yes, it's not at all a flawed comparison to weigh drying spunk against horrific physical, emotional, mental, and magical abuse. (I use magical here to cover all the weird stuff... like body-theft and rotting during sex.)
Richard, do you know what Anita did to Nicky? DO YOU? <-- I don't think that he does. He's not around very much. He probably thinks that Nicky is Nathaniel Version 2.0 by choice. He's remarkably blind when he can't stand seeing the things around him.
Didn't the Council still have authority in America anyway? And it's not like the New World vampires we've so far met are particularly better in any way.
You know that, I know that, JC knows that... Richard, who has probably had very little to do with non-JC affiliated and non-Council emissary vamps, probably doesn't know that. And, for the most part, he stays clear of JC's vamp politics. This is another case where someone is trusting JC when they REALLY shouldn't and JC takes full advantage of their trust and ignorance. JC would be a BRILLIANT character if LKH didn't hamstring and de-ball him every other page. (And yet, he keeps valiantly growing it all back...)
He'd have made us kill each other and fed on every death. <-- I'd read that book.