Book 4, Chapter 26: Power Plays
The roots of the present lie in the seeds of the past. The seduction of painting the times of our ancestors as blessed, as ideal, as better, is ever-present. But the drumbeat of progress marches forward, not back! For all of the relative advantages that our ancestors had over their neighbors, it is important to remember that such advantage was relative! Old Berk, for all of its mythologized acceptance and welcomeness, was still an unequal authoritarian society! Let us not forget that there was obligated combat service and disdain for anyone that could not martially contribute, incredible centralization of power and control of resources in the hands of a small minority in the form of the chief and clanheads, whose word could be literal life or death at a whim, a communal outlook that prioritized the rights of the group over those of the individual, and active pressure on outsiders to assimilate and conform with the majority!
Oh yes, they accepted the individual deviations from the norm in gender, religion or sexuality… but only so long as those people were able to materially contribute to the survival of the tribe! This was hardly a society of perfect egalitarians, as many try to now paint it. Yes, they gave nominal equality and freedom to thralls who would otherwise have no investment into their society, but it was strictly nominal acceptance, and based entirely on pragmatic reasoning, as they could not afford to waste capable bodies! But the freedmen were still a lower class, denied most access to the structures of power! For all of the egalitarian trappings, Berk was still held in the grip of a scant few, who could demand the very lives of everyone else at their whim! Yes, a 'Chief Takes Care Of His Own,' because doing otherwise would be wasting his soldiers!
And all of that was before the ending of the Dragon War—and within three years of that, the very same people who are now mythologized as 'accepting and welcoming' repeatedly moved to keep power in their own hands! The structure of this very body dates back to those early power grabs! The Conclave of Houses and the Chamber of Commons are unequal bodies whose inequity can be traced back to the greed of those who are unjustly venerated—
—Lord Hardnut House Thorston IV, From Speech delivered to the Conclave of Houses of the Grand Thing, before being removed from the chamber; his remarks sparked a vocal protest and a brief fracas among the assembly, during which the Speaker attempted to call for order, and there was a motion to have his words stricken from the minutes of the Grand Thing's records
Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Content Warnings:Chapter Trigger Warnings: Mention Of Threat of Non-Con, Mention of Threat of Torture
- Diplomatic Back Channel: Fishlegs agrees to Fishswill's offer of the two of them being the unofficial line of communication between Hiccup and many nobles Fishswill is in contact with due to understanding the latter's point that Berk will benefit a lot from having this line of communication.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Played with. The Pecheneg forces accepts being led by Feng in battle eventhough he is an ethnic Han, but only because he has proven to be that good at the job and has no hope of trying to usurp anyone.
- Internal Reveal: Kurya is informed that his people have a Civil War going on.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Fishlegs is not happy with Fishswill due to the former believing the latter is power-hungry, which Fishswill even admits to, but is forced to concede that due to Fishswill having the ear of many nobles and Fishlegs having Hiccup's ear, their nation benefits a lot from the two talking to each other in case of problems.
- Fantastic Caste System: The Allied Clans officially become their own caste, being the highest ranking group right below the Royal House, and officially higher than other nobles without a right to become a Dragon Rider.
- Malicious Slander: Joan paints Berk in the worst possible light to King Henry when petitioning for his aid against them.
- Mundane Utility: Macarius is getting Florian, his newfound dragon friend, to help in herding sheep than any of the more obvious dragon-related applications.
- The Reveal: Hawiz reveals that Lady Joan was the one who came up with the plan for Henry to rape her and sire a bastard with a claim to Brittany.
- Wham Episode: The Pechenegs have found another Dragon Nest, and it's going to be fought over in their civil war.
