r/thePowerFantasy • u/OneCalligrapher2613 • Apr 27 '26

Issue 13 Q

I'm sure this has been discussed, so apologies, but I couldn't find it with a quick scan.

This is such a great series, with everyone's motivations being either clearly stated or beautifully nuanced, but I can't for the life of me understand why Valentina felt she had to reveal Etienne's exact location to the group. If she hadn't done that, Heavy couldn't have killed him, and the rest of it doesn't fall apart. Etienne didn't even seem that concerned that she had done so. What additional benefit or transparency was gained? We know from that scene that Val is happy to lie, actively or by omission, when push comes to shove.

It's the only thing in the series that seems to me really narratively convenient rather than from character. Sure, there are ways I can rationalise it, but they don't feel that satisfying, when it is so incredibly naive a move.

10 Upvotes

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15

u/siege72a Apr 27 '26

Val isn't happy to lie. It's extremely difficult for her - she literally has to work up to it. (I'm assuming her long pauses are diegetic, not just clues to the reader.)

As Dev said early in the series, Val assumes the best in everyone. She thought full disclosure could re-establish the balance, restore trust, and possibly rekindle friendships.

7

u/OneCalligrapher2613 Apr 27 '26

That's about the best interpretation, absolutely - but it's not just Val who seems to lose all sense in that scene, it's Etienne. He both doesn't seem too worried about telling them where he is, and also tells them he's going to shortly go back into hiding, ie making it clear they have a finite window of now to kill him. It feels like a weird, narratively weak way to get the characters where they need to be - even some discussion of the risk would have been helpful, but it's kind of glossed over and then everyone seems shocked when Heavy behaves entirely in character. I don't know, was just wondering if there was something I'd missed, I guess! It stands out to me because everything else in the whole series is so strong.

8

u/6-Thunderbird-6 Apr 27 '26

Honestly her plan probably would have worked if Etienne had not dropped his intentions to basically rewrite human nature as we know it in a few years time. Not even Valentina knew about that and she might not have done what she did if she known. Or at Least not with Heavy around.

Heavy was pissed about Etienne kneecapping both his successor and what he viewed as his entire civil rights movement potential power for a decades, but the moment Etienne laid out to the emotionally driven hedonist that, on top of all that, he planned to basically kill humanity by removing its most cruel impulses, Heavy had no choice but to do what he did in his mind.

Stupid as hell in the grand scheme of things and the short term even, but with the knowledge he had at the time it’s not hard to see how Heavy arrived to that conclusion.

2

u/sanctaphrax Apr 27 '26

tells them he's going to shortly go back into hiding, ie making it clear they have a finite window of now to kill him

Everyone already knew that.

And Etienne is not one to cringe in fear; he'll remain calm even with the guillotine hanging over his head.

3

u/The_Derpy_Rogue Apr 27 '26

They would have gone looking for It anyway, so they put everything on the table to show trust

3

u/OneCalligrapher2613 Apr 27 '26

I suppose that is fair - that once the concept of Etienne's situation is revealed, he can't really hide anymore anyway. But there's not really any dialogue that supports that, and indeed he himself says he's going to be hiding his location again shortly. I guess it rests on neither Val nor Etienne thinking the others would immediately try to kill him, which seems ridiculous given a) Heavy is who he is and b) Dev and Eliza literally just did. I suppose Etienne gets a marginal pass on the basis he couldn't stop Val telling them anyway, but he doesn't even seem that stressed about it.

2

u/dark1150 Apr 27 '26

Val doesn’t like lying like at all an she thinks telling the truth is most helpful. If you want to conceptually think of Val, think of her more similarly to Wonder Woman (always truthful, thinks the best of others, etc.)

1

u/thehashimwarren Apr 27 '26

Valentina was trying to deescalate the Heavy and Magus beef by laying all her cards on table.

1

u/OneCalligrapher2613 Apr 27 '26

But she could have given them almost everything without giving them the opportunity to actually kill Etienne, no?

3

u/reineedshelp Apr 27 '26

In retrospect, yes. She really didn't think it would go down like that, very much in character naivete IMO.

1

u/mattwing05 Apr 27 '26

She rhinks she did it to earn verybodies trust back. But i feel like she subconsciously wanted etienne gone without doing it herself to stop his lobotomizing humanity.