Back in July, over on my Star Swords page, I wrote a quick essay about the use of rape and sexual violence in fiction. I mentioned there that the reason I preserved the rape scenes at the end of Star Sword Forged was out of respect for the person who helped me write those stories, a survivor of domestic violence herself. I also said I would be very reluctant to write such a scene again.
And now, as the plot of Philly-by-Night advances, I have broken that very rule. Sarah is raped at the end of Chapter Four by Emmanuel Noble, one of the vicious mages of the Dark Brotherhood. It is not a fake rape like the two previous scenes in the story (Michael's "rape" of Deborah in VbN Act One and a random predator's "rape" of Sarah in VbN Act Three.) This one is real.
And there is also the Dark Brotherhood itself, among some of the nastiest villains I've yet created. We got our first glimpse of them back in Act One Chapter 3, where two college students are seduced, murdered, and then (as it is strongly hinted) devoured by Brotherhood members. Although the crime in that scene is more murder than rape (a trope that'll be repeated in Chapter 6), there is obviously a sexual element to this violent scene as well.
So why did I break my own rule? I'll address these examples in turn.
Sarah continues to be the most controversial character I have ever written. I no longer debate about whether creating a lolicon character was appropriate or not (although her youth is somewhat mitigated in PbN by her efforts to appear more adult.) She is strong, beautiful, intelligent, mysterious, and complicated. She is also flawed, insecure, and obviously a little bit crazy. She has dreams and hopes and loves. In short, she's real. She's a lot like a real person would be. Not perfect, but very human.
And here I am using her to court some controversy again. I've been reading Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy over these past few weeks, as well as dealing with some new and very invigorating developments in my own real life marriage. These are having an impact on my writing here in a big way. I've cranked out chapter after chapter in a handful of weeks. Call me inspired.
And one element of that inspiration is a question. "To what lengths would one truly go in order to win back someone they love?" Sarah and Michael are clearly falling apart in Act Two. She's cheated on him with Mitch. He's cheated on her with Kathleen. They are both hurt by and furious at one another. But behind all their anger and hurt is the simple fact that these two people love one another and neither of them wants to lose the other.
Sarah comes to her senses before Michael does. She recognizes that they are racing towards a cliff (Her statements to Michael in Chapter Five highlight this), so she decides to gamble with her very life to pull them back from the brink. She goes to Noble, fully aware (after reading his mind) of what he is capable of. She is fully aware that she is not likely to escape him without being sexually violated. She goes anyway and all her worst fears come to pass. But she regards it as worth it because Michael and his ambitions are that important to her.
To wax theological for a moment, in a lot of ways, I'm using the core story of Christianity metaphorically here. According to the teachings of that faith, God loves humankind, despite all their efforts to reject, rebel, and hurt him. He incarnates as a human being and literally dies in order to win them back. Sarah can't die at this point since there's still a lot of story to cover, but she can still make a pretty radical sacrifice for the sake of the one she loves. She can endure a violation that is almost as bad (and, in fact, perhaps worse) as dying for Michael's sake and she does.
That's why the rape scene stands for Sarah, but what about the sexual violence of the Brotherhood?
One of the overall themes of PbN is temptation. There's another question that's been inspiring me. "To what lengths would one go to see their every ambition come to pass?" There's no secret that Michael has an ambitious streak. He wants power in order to gain his desires and to protect those he cares about. But power does not come easy in the World of Darkness. What compromises is he willing to make to get it?
Michael's going to encounter a number of groups and individuals throughout the story that represent his possible futures. If he gives into temptation in this way, he will become like this group. If he gives into temptation in this other way, he'll be like this person. The Brotherhood represent one of those dark outcomes.
Michael has already struggled with his own temptations towards sexual violence. He is a lustful character and he is a violent character, and he is ever tempted to merge those two aspects of his personality together. Way back in Act One of VbN, Kris essentially offers herself up to him. He gets another such offer in Chapter Five of PbN from Amy. Fuck me and kill me please.
Michael recognizes there's a danger in the fusion of those two parts of himself. The Dark Brotherhood symbolizes that danger. They are people who have crossed that line and they will tempt Michael to do the same. So the Brotherhood remains, a dark mirror to what Michael could become.
That's probably as in-depth a window into my thought process behind this story than I've ever given. But as I said in the Star Swords essay, these are touchy and complicated subjects. They merit a bit more nuance and explanation than pretty much anything else I'm doing here. Perhaps it's a conceit that I'm incorporating genuine literary elements like meaning and substance into a goofy story about vampires, but it's my story and I'll show conceit how I choose.
I'm having a blast writing this and I'm not slowing down now.
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