Motif · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin
The Inevitable Ruin
The moment you recognise a lost cause, after which nothing you do changes the outcome — the name a sward mantis's queen used for it, and a curse on the mind of the Hunter Wraith that ruins something pure by telling the truth. Carl knows the phrase in his bones without knowing from where — 'Do you remember the circus?' — and calls it hopelessness in another form.
Segment appearances
Progression
Everly's mother named it: hope gone, nothing left but to reflect (ch. 16). Carl thinks the words when Juice Box walks through a wall (ch. 43). Juice Box explains it: a curse on the Hunter Wraith that ruins something pure by telling the truth; Carl knows the phrase in his bones without knowing from where — 'Do you remember the circus?' — and calls it hopelessness in another form (ch. 82). 'Maybe it's not inevitable, like you say' (ch. 16).