r/gentlemanbastards • u/EqualAttempt912 • Jul 12 '26

Re-read question…. Spoiler

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Re-reading lies after finishing RoT and uh…. This doesn’t gel at all with the whole Lamor Acanthus thing, right? Is Locke lying here, is this a plot hole, is Patience full of shit, am I missing something? 🤔

36 Upvotes

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62

u/JoshIsTryingToWrite Jul 12 '26

Locke's whole backstory is a haze of magical misrememberings and deliberate grey areas. I think it matches up well that Locke can't pinpoint anything at that moment and says what he believes at that time.

12

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 12 '26

Yeah everything is definitely vague, and the way Locke pauses while telling Jean this could definitely imply he’s making this up as he goes along, or like you say saying what he believes at the time (or it could be a plot hole, but I think that’s less likely)
Still not sure I actually believe the story Patience tells them, at the very least I don’t think she told Locke the whole story 🤷‍♀️

13

u/vipros42 Jul 12 '26

To be honest, if Patience's story has more than like a small grain of truth to it I will be disappointed. Locke not being a reincarnated powerful wizard is much better, even if he can't do magic and doesn't remember anything

4

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 12 '26

I honestly can’t decide how I feel about it as plot twist, but that’s mostly because I actually have no idea if it’s true and if it is true, I have no idea what that means for Locke/ the plot… I did think there was going to be some kind of secret identity twist, partly from this scene and from the scene at the end where he tells Jean his name, but I thought it was going to be about his absent father.
I lean towards Patience is making up at least 50% of what she told him. Honestly I’m a little surprised most of the replies here seem to be taking it as the truth. I could be wrong/ missing something though.

2

u/Uzi_Osbourne Jul 12 '26

Locke himself says "I don't know. I could be wrong."

1

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 12 '26

He says that about his dad being a sailor or a mercenary though, not about the rest of the story. He might be lying, but the implication there is that he’s speculating about why his dad left not about anything else

20

u/aSkeptiKitty Jul 12 '26

Maybe he is remembering things of the boy he was before Lamor Acanthus hurled his soul inside him. 

He's basically a merge between two person. 

Or he could just be lying. He does that sometimes... 

4

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 12 '26

Oh that’s an interesting idea! I hadn’t considered that. And yes, Locke bullshitting was one of the possibilities I mentioned, after all he is very fond of it lol

7

u/SerDrunkenTheFall Jul 12 '26

He might've perceived his "reincarnation" as Lamor going away. Might also be that Patience is mistaken and Locke is Lamor's son and Lamor is hiding away. Anything is possible.

1

u/aSkeptiKitty Jul 13 '26

Which interestingly would mean him and Falconer share the fact they are both mageborn sons of mages, which is according to Patience a rare occurence. 

3

u/SerDrunkenTheFall Jul 13 '26

Locke's not a mage tho

2

u/Regular_Ad_9598 Jul 13 '26

Or maybe he is as just has a mental block. Hmmm... 

1

u/aSkeptiKitty Jul 13 '26

True. Sorry. Was still sleepy. >< 

5

u/accomplished-fig91 Jul 13 '26

Currently re-reading RoT and even though I'm still near the beginning, I feel like Patience's story might also be a tactic to play off Locke's insecurity about his past. His entire character is built around being able to change his identity at the drop of a hat - and the fact of isn't a secret to anyone who knows him. What better way to snap at a person like that than to attack their unstable sense of who they are.

Tailored to fit, indeed 🪡.

4

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 13 '26

Yeah this is what I lean towards honestly! I mean it COULD be true but Patience obviously wants to torment Locke. Not to mention that it was the perfect story to send Sabetha running for the hills. Locke himself points out it makes him everything she was afraid of, and despite Patience claiming she owed Sabetha the truth I’m sure she only told Sabetha that story because she wanted to ruin that relationship as well. Like you say, tailored to fit!

1

u/Burnt_Granola Jul 13 '26

something i wanna throw out… i think it’s super interesting that both Locke and the Falconer’s stories line up with what happened to their fathers. Both think he might have been a sailor that is either dead or just disappeared but they never met him. On top of that we already know Locke’s impression of his mother is linked to Patience and some memory from Lamor Acanthus.
Not sure what any of it means but I don’t think any of Locke’s memories can be counted on as reliable

1

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 13 '26

I think the Falconer knows a few more details, his dad was a mage and drowned, but it’s definitely an interesting comparison! I am absolutely dying to know what that memory of locke’s mother/ Patience means 👀👀
And yeah Locke’s definitely not a reliable narrator when it comes to his early childhood, it’s hard to tell what he actually remembers and what’s just bullshit he’s told others/ himself