#rane's death was planned. he locked the door to ensure they couldnt leave. and convinced them into the water

[cherrywhite]

I know Faulkner's ever increasing body count is a running joke as if it's something he's purposefully racking up but Rane's murder is such a stark contrast compared to every other one that's come before. And that difference marks such a monumental shift in Faulkner's character.

Like, he runs from the hotelier immediately after sainting him (I know his whole I'm going to make you a saint mirrors what he tells Rane this episode, but he still ultimately runs), he can't bring himself to use the Withermark at Marcel's Crossing, and Mason and Thurrocks' deaths were done in a fit of rage, the horror evident by the time he comes to his senses. Even Daggler's was caused by the Angel Faulkner summoned, not something Faulkner committed to up close. And I imagine however Charlie drowned, well. There's a lot of ambiguity in how it could have gone down, something we'll never really know the scope of, purely because Faulkner is such an unreliable narrator.

Then there's this.

I would argue that Rane's death is much more violent than the ones that came before purely for the fact that Faulkner seems to revel in their suffering as he does it. He needlessly pulls them back up to get a breath of air before plunging them back in the water. He strikes them with his staff so hard that it breaks. And he does this all while laughing and mocking at them. He's needlessly cruel to the point of terrifying. This part was so well done and it really shows just how far Faulkner has gone.

I'm so hesitant to say there's no way back from this simply because of how TSV writes its characters but my knee-jerk reaction as I was listening to this the first time is that there isn't. This was him, fully aware, crossing over the threshold.