Motif · from book 6
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Odette's people's proverb — never stare into the blinding eye of the Bedlam Bride, lest obsession blind you to all else — and, by the end of the eighth floor, a tattoo above Carl's sternum: an eye Shi Maria pokes into him with ink from a toraline root while she wears his body, that blinks once and hides. 'I am a part of you… Keep me with you and gain my power, or set me free.' The escort quest survives the tearing of her card.
First appears: Book 6
Series arc
As of book 7. Tattooed above Carl's sternum in book 6; in book 7 a spider who cannot get out. Shi Maria tries to cast through him and fails against Mind Balance, rising a level each try; Katia's dream binds her into her worst memory and a god named Hapanzi says she is trapped in Carl's own body and hands him the eye and its containment; the eye can see, and is kept shut; 'You're always on rails […] You're a puppet'; open on a Sultana, who goes mad. 'I didn't kill him!' — and a new voice: 'Bitch, you swallowed me whole'
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Eye of the Bedlam Bride: an eye tattooed into Carl's chest | B6 ch. 71 | open · B7 ch. 19 — Hapanzi tells Carl she is trapped in Carl's own body and gives him control of the eye and its containment; Mind Balance keeps her out; 'You're a puppet' (ch. 62). |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 6
Through book 7
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 3/74 | Ch. 37, Ch. 50, Ch. 71 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 3/89 | Ch. 1, Ch. 54, Ch. 58 · the book's own page |
By book
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
'The Bedlam Bride. Now that’s a proper name' (ch. 8); a Reaper Spider Minion, and a new quest (ch. 26); the announcer's shriek (ch. 28); Odette's people's saying — never stare into the blinding eye of the Bedlam Bride — and Odette, who has stared into it once again (ch. 37); the saying in Carl's dream (ch. 50); a tattoo, in ink from a root and a friend's blood (ch. 71); 'in a different way' (ch. 72); 'He needs to expel that presence' (epilogue).
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Still open at the book's start, a quest update and a tattoo (ch. 1); Rosetta puts an ice-cold hand down Carl's shirt against it (ch. 11). The quest to bring the Bride to Larracos fails, and Carl wonders whether she is gone and how she killed a whole room (ch. 17); a jolt in his chest is not her (ch. 47); Vinata is driven mad by it (ch. 54); a voice in it says 'You're always on rails […] You're a puppet' (ch. 62).