The governor tells S. that the choice to kill the villagers was not his, and had the decision been in in his hands, he would have arrested them and make them “watch the show in the hills.” All of a sudden, a defeaning explosion comes from a hill in the distance, sending dust into the air, followed by rings of “blue-black drift” around it. This is followed by another explosion, which destroys another mountaintop, accompanied by “that smell, that blue-black smell, that acrid stink of substance…”

Here we are again presented with the sheer destruction of Vévoda’s weapon, which, in a way, seems to re-validate S.’s cause. However, this doesn’t change the fact that S. has essentially been living someone else’s life up until this point. His actions may have been valiant, but he has essentially allowed for his identity to be shaped by a socio-political movement.

Jen and Eric’s notes on this page are centered around FXC’s footnote that relates this scene in Ship of Theseus to A Hundred Aprils in Amristar.