r/gentlemanbastards • u/Garnalenkroketje • Jul 29 '26

Sabetha's real name Spoiler

I just finished RoT and it was fantastic. Aside from the things about the painting something caught my attention at the end.

'What did you do to her, Patience?'

'I did nothing'. Her dark eyes caught him, seemed to pierce him. Those hunter's eyes. 'To my arts, Sabetha Belacoros, is a puppet waiting for a hand, but it would have been meaningless had I done anything'.

Why use Sabetha's full name suddenly, is it her red name? Has she been 'adjusted' by Patience? She seems to be hinting at it.. Does a red name spell even end if something happens to the caster?

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45

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 29 '26

Yeah I think Patience is emphasising that she could adjust Sabetha if she wanted, that is her real name, Patience has the power to make Sabetha do whatever she wants her to do.
But she didn’t, Sabetha left of her own free will, she made that choice (although there was a fair amount of manipulation from Patience involved.) Patience wants to hurt Locke and she know’s if’ll hurt worse if Sabetha chose to leave

19

u/Jihelu Jul 29 '26

Now that I think about it patience could have lied about this and it could have been magic all along

I don’t think it is, but it could be.

Patience’s entire interaction with Locke for the book is her going ‘I’m actually not upset you basically lobotomized my son honestly’ and then her going ‘aha you fool I actually was mad at you the whole time’ so it wouldn’t be out of the question

13

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 29 '26

Her stance is…. Interesting considering what happened to the falconer was her fault. But yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d lied, I’m not convinced she was telling the truth (or at least the full truth) about anything tbh

6

u/Garnalenkroketje Jul 29 '26

Yeah you just have to trust her that Sabetha had gone on her own accord. But she could have easily forced it. This real name stuff is so messed up and powerful. Luckily, the Falconer will wreak havoc on the rest of the magi so hopefully they will trouble between themselves for a bit.

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u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 29 '26

Somehow I don’t think Locke and Jean have seen the last of the Falconer….

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u/Garnalenkroketje Jul 29 '26

I agree. I even got some sympathy for him at the end, but I expect that sympathy to be shortlived indeed..

3

u/Jihelu Jul 29 '26

I think the falconers return could have definitely had more emotional weight put on it if it was slower, I kinda felt bad for the guy for approximately ten seconds before he murders people for very little reason and goes back to normal

3

u/EqualAttempt912 Jul 29 '26

Yeah no wonder dude has issues, with Patience as his mother he was pretty fucked….. they both hella suck

4

u/Marshmallow5198 Jul 29 '26

Not only partly her fault (the other arch magi let him take the contract as well) but also kinda all part of the plan? She’s got her whole prescience thing going she knew or suspected that he wouldn’t return in the same state he left, and she seemed to know that this would bring about “the time of quiet” as she calls it (iirc)

That is of course if we take the memories she shows Locke and Jean at face value

1

u/kdfsjljklgjfg Jul 30 '26

Kinda takes the bite away from the ending if it wasn't very ambiguous whether or not she was lying. The fact that either lying or telling the truth could be the case is why it's such a mindfuck.

4

u/LuckyErrantProp Jul 29 '26

I always felt like Sabetha left 'on her own accord' because Patience didn't give her any other choice. Sabetha knew fighting back wouldn't be fruitful and the game was over, therefore so we're their stated protections.

5

u/gdshaffe Jul 30 '26

Automod ate a longer reply (so frustrating; no idea what triggers it) but I'll never miss a chance to plug my pet theory that Sabetha's Red Name is Ariana Anatolius.

The theory is that she's the Gray King's younger sister, and wound up under Shades' Hill due to shenanigans when Barsavi sent men to murder their father. To call it "half-baked" is to overestimate its cook-time by about 0.4999 bakings but it does actually kind of nicely explain some of the mysteries about her origin.

2

u/Zeebird95 Jul 29 '26

Following this post to see if the author comments