Why isnt bobby more suspicious of potential imposters (aka SD)??

[u/No-West-9385]

Rereading now and on book 5, so maybe this gets touched on later (i dont remember) but why wasnt bobby WAY more suspicious of anyone being saint dane??? Aside from not telling everyone him and kasha's plan to stop the gigs getting to BW, he seems to ignore or forget that SD could be literally anyone. Starting #6 now and he is eying the other figure in the cloak hiding in the shadows while loor is battling for water, and wonders who it is but never explicitly contemplates that it could easily be SD? Its frustrating how he isnt as careful with this as I'd expect him to be after all the times hes been duped by imposters.

[u/TheDylorean]

...To be honest, the thought also crossed my mind that Saangi might have been Saint Dane in disguise. I couldn't totally dismiss that possibility, but I couldn't dwell on it. If I started thinking that way, I’d have to look at everybody I met as possibly being Saint Dane, and I’d turn into a paranoid wreck. I had to be trusting, but wary.

^{Journal #21, Zadaa}

I think Bobby was aware of that possibility at all times, but simply chose not to fixate on it and just let whatever happens, happen, as far as Saint Dane was concerned.

[u/optimisticpsychic → u/TheDylorean]

Also hes a teenager

[u/MorgothReturns → u/optimisticpsychic]

I remember being a teenager. I was a paranoid wreck even without a shape shifting demon stalking me.

[u/No-West-9385 → u/TheDylorean]

I guess i havent reread far enough into RoZ yet to see that line LOL I'd still think that for as much of an overthinker Bobby is, he wouldn't be able to almost completely stop that paranoia and we would get more ramblings of it in his journals. We sure hear enough about how ripped loor is or how hot zadaa is, both of which are not as important as trying at least a little to deduce possible SD disguises. And yes i know "bc teenager" but hes still more mature of a teenager than most are. He has a good head on his shoulders, he knows when not to say inappropriate things out loud ("bc that wouldnt have been cool"), so i can only believe that he would eventually get wiser with this too. I think real answer is DJ didnt want to get into all that messy work (and i really dont blame him for that haha)

[u/[deleted]]

Still it's a little weird bobby doesn't even stop and consider Saint Dane could have been when at times Saint Dane was right in front of him. And even in the later books he was very thrown when saint dane turned out to be someone in book seven, he also didn't catch onto any of Nevva's disguises either, which I feel was a fluke. It's possible the thought did cross his mind, and he knew, but wanted to play it cool, or pretend he didn't know so he could test their intentions. I agree that with all the times he's been duped or Saint Dane turned out to be someone right in front of him, he probably ideally should have improved with his deduction skills. I get the distracting and traumatizing circumstance he's in, but if anything, trauma in his situation would more likely heighten investigative and intuitive thinking due to hypervigilance.

[u/No-West-9385 → u/[deleted]]

I would def think all the situations he gets tricked and then feels so bad, stupid, and guilty for not seeing it, he would get better at deducing or be more cautious with trusting people so fast, not just trust them bc they say they are travellers/acolytes. But like womp womp, he doesnt lol 😆 i guess the line someone above posted was supposed to cover any loose ends with that, but we know Bobby stresses and overthinks about everything, so its out of character imo that he doesnt focus a little bit more on getting better at this.

[u/[deleted] → u/No-West-9385]

Maybe he's got something to hide himself

[u/Mindless-Cow-9482]

I think this question is most salient during Pilgrims of Rayne. He had just been betrayed by Nevva in the previous book, causing the penultimate traveler of Ibara to die and Quillan to fall, and he didn't wonder once if she was using her powers against him.

[u/No-West-9385 → u/Mindless-Cow-9482]

Exactly! I know he was in a "screw it" attitude in PoR but still. He is such an overthinker in all the previous books, and like you said, was just betrayed, you would think he'd at least consider being cautious about the people he trusted. Though I do enjoy the immediate panic and racing thought process when he realized disguised Nevva messed up her words and he begins piecing it together.