#votn spoilers

[feeshies]

So Jules Verne not only wrote Captain Nemo to be a mysterious, brilliant engineer and anti-imperialist icon who's also brooding and tortured, but also made him a loving father and husband.

Was I not expected to cry over this? Character of all time.

[dathen]

Unshaken by these squalls, Captain Nemo stationed himself on the platform. He was lashed around the waist to withstand the monstrous breakers foaming over the deck. I hoisted and attached myself to the same place, dividing my wonderment between the storm and this incomparable man who faced it head-on.

If I hadn’t been spoiled by people who keep talking about foreshadowing, I could understand Aronnax’s view here—given what they’ve been through together and what he’s seen Nemo face without flinching, standing in a lightning storm could be just another wild reckless way to idk soak up the glory of nature and feel alive

But with the spoilers, it’s just so grim, and Aronnax’s innocent awe turning to “huh it’s almost as if he *wants* to die” so painful.

[gardenofshadcws]

Voyage of the Nautilus Day 72

Shortage of Air, Part 1

Well. Crap.

Nemo's taking this upsettingly well. Almost like he wants death by crushing or asphyxiation

Look at Ned being helpful! Nothing like the threat of imminent death to help bring somebody around

"By then I should have been used to this type of talk" you really should Pierre

"Without this precaution we wouldn't have awakened the following morning" OMINOUS ENDING IS OMINOUS.

[t00thpasteface]

@voyageofthenautilus hey don't let me keep ya!! i've already decided i'm not gonna finish/post mine until VOTN is done, bc i hate the idea of posting some big thing that would either spoil all the new readers in VOTN's inaugural run OR force them to bookmark it and wait a few months anyway just to avoid spoilers.

besides... there's never enough Nemo Talk and/or Nemo Appreciation out there on the blogosphere. he's the coolest smartest classiest most incorrigibly fucked up sadist in the world and i love him 💜 does he contradict himself? very well, he contradicts himself! he is large, he contains multitudes!!

listen i love captain nemo so much i'm writing a video essay about him and i get that he's been Going Through Some Things ever since [REDACTED] but like. the man is absolutely 100% a complete and total sadist. like we're all on the same page here right

[feeshies]

VOTN: The Last Words of Captain Nemo, Part 2

This is the part where I start crying.

I felt myself being drawn into that strange domain where the overwrought imagination of Edgar Allan Poe was at home. Like his fabled Arthur Gordon Pym, I expected any moment to see that “shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men,” thrown across the cataract that protects the outskirts of the pole!

Aronnax being torn apart by stress over his current situation but still finding the ability to go "wow, this is just like what my favorite author wrote :) i'm like one of his characters", Find me a more relatable protagonist.

As for Captain Nemo, he was no longer in the picture. As for his chief officer, the same applied. Not one crewman was visible for a single instant. The Nautilus cruised beneath the waters almost continuously. When it rose briefly to the surface to renew our air, the hatches opened and closed as if automated. No more positions were reported on the world map. I didn’t know where we were.

The image of Aronnax wandering through this empty, seemingly abandoned submarine is so atmospheric and uncomfortable -- I love it. I'm finding myself going back to reread the segments where Nemo shows Aronnax around the Nautilus to appreciate the contrast.

I’ll also mention that the Canadian, at the end of his strength and patience, made no further appearances. Conseil couldn’t coax a single word out of him and feared that, in a fit of delirium while under the sway of a ghastly homesickness, Ned would kill himself. So he kept a devoted watch on his friend every instant.

And now I'm sad again :( But I do like how this shows Conseil's loyalty doesn't just extend to Aronnax.

I returned to the lounge, dreading yet desiring an encounter with Captain Nemo, wanting yet not wanting to see him. What would I say to him? How could I hide the involuntary horror he inspired in me? No! It was best not to meet him face to face! Best to try and forget him! And yet . . . !

Aronnax . . . honey . . .

My anxiety and agitation would certainly have given me away if Captain Nemo had seen me. What was he doing just then? I listened at the door to his stateroom. I heard the sound of footsteps. Captain Nemo was inside. He hadn’t gone to bed. With his every movement I imagined he would appear and ask me why I wanted to escape! I felt in a perpetual state of alarm. My imagination magnified this sensation. The feeling became so acute, I wondered whether it wouldn’t be better to enter the captain’s stateroom, dare him face to face, brave it out with word and deed!

Aronnax . . . honey . . . (x2)

Just then I heard indistinct chords from the organ, melancholy harmonies from some undefinable hymn, actual pleadings from a soul trying to sever its earthly ties. I listened with all my senses at once, barely breathing, immersed like Captain Nemo in this musical trance that was drawing him beyond the bounds of this world. Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his stateroom. He was in the same lounge I had to cross in order to escape. There I would encounter him one last time. He would see me, perhaps speak to me! One gesture from him could obliterate me, a single word shackle me to his vessel!

This! This is a gothic romance disguised as a seafaring adventure science fiction novel - are you kidding me?

How come I haven't seen any adaptations include Aronnax trying to sneak out of the Nautilus behind Nemo while he plays the organ? It's so cinematic and tense and I think it would adapt extremely well to a visual and auditory medium.

I was about to open it when a gasp from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot. I realized that he was standing up. I even got a glimpse of him because some rays of light from the library had filtered into the lounge. He was coming toward me, arms crossed, silent, not walking but gliding like a ghost. His chest was heaving, swelling with sobs. And I heard him murmur these words, the last of his to reach my ears: “O almighty God! Enough! Enough!”

Aronnax . . . Nemo . . . honey . . .

(gothic romance)

I felt Ned Land sliding a dagger into my hand. “Yes,” I muttered, “we know how to die!”

Ned is leaving Aronnax to defend them.

They're fucked lol.

The Canadian paused in his work. But one word twenty times repeated, one dreadful word, told me the reason for the agitation spreading aboard the Nautilus. We weren’t the cause of the crew’s concern. “Maelstrom! Maelstrom!” they were shouting.

I love the way Verne writes action and tension so much ;-; The main characters are trying to escape, Nemo is going down with his ship, the crew (who can finally be understood) are freaking out. There's so much going on and I love it.

What a predicament! We were rocking frightfully. The Nautilus defended itself like a human being. Its steel muscles were cracking. Sometimes it stood on end, the three of us along with it!

I also love it whenever the Nautilus is personified like this. It seems to tie in really well with the reading that the ship is an extension of Nemo himself. And they're both not doing too hot.

He hadn’t finished speaking when a cracking sound occurred. The nuts gave way, and ripped out of its socket, the skiff was hurled like a stone from a sling into the midst of the vortex. My head struck against an iron timber, and with this violent shock I lost consciousness.

It would suck if Aronnax woke up and forgot everything lol