The Saints

The Saints is a play written by Thassalian playwright Lysander Aldonne. It is the second part of a trilogy of plays written by the young prodigy focusing on the systemic failures of the Church of the Light. 
== Dramatis Personnae ==
Markus Messerbringer - The duplicitous protagonist, a member of the Lightguard. 
Anna Messerbringer - The dutiful and loving wife of Markus. 
Boris Bernstrum - The 'antagonist' of the play, another duplicitous member of the Lightguard who leads a group of shirkers who abuse their position for fun and profit. 
Kaladin Eisenmark - A dedicated and faithful member of the Lightguard, called 'Kiss-ass Kaladin' by Boris and his cohort for his steadfast dedication to his duty. 
Klaus Stuttgart - A quirky scholar with a bizarre dress sense and a more bizarre accent who is arrested by Markus and Boris. 
Heinrick Kilnerr - A necromancer who poorly infiltrates Whytehold despite the efforts of the Lightguard. 
Solas Sorrowsong - The White King, founder of Whytehold, the First Saint.
Dawn - The First Hierophant, slayer of the Mad King, the Second Saint. 
Asteros the Great - Founder of Thassalus, Vanquisher of Azjol, the Third Saint. 
Hierophant Generosity - The current Hierophant of the Church, Markus' second uncle twice removed. 
High Persecutor Wyman Karsbourg - The current High Persecutor of the Lightguard, Markus' second cousin twice removed.
Archbishop Propriety - An influential Archbishop. 
Helmut Gottwald - An old friend of Markus', currently framed for his heresy. 
== Plot ==
Following on from the end of The Heretics, The Saints begins with Markus Messerbringer and his wife Anna going through their daily life. Markus arrives at work late and quickly comes up with a patently false but extravagant excuse for why he is late. He writes it down, then adds it to a collection on the wall describing various other ridiculous excuses he has used, remarking on his great originality and creativity in avoiding work. Then, he looks at a stack of paperwork which is delivered by Kaladin Eisenmark, a virtuous but tired member of the Lightguard. He implores Markus to help with the paperwork for once in his life, who eventually half-heartedly goes through it but soon decides that he has had enough. He randomly signs some papers then leaves the stack alongside other stacks. Boris Bernstrum, a colleague with a similarly poor attitude then appears, asking if Markus is bored. They decide that work will be more exciting if they go on a private Inquisition to find some heretics. There, they let slip an obvious necromancer and his thralls and instead snag an innocent, if oddly dressed scholar. With a job well done, they throw the man into prison where he is loudly congratulated by his fellow Lightguard, except Kaladin. Kaladin's complaints fall on deaf ears, for Markus is clearly a heretic hunting prodigy! 
Later that night, Markus and Anna share dinner. He is tired after a day of 'hard work', and decides to retire early while Anna reads. Not a moment after going to bed, a glowing figure descends through the ceiling and reveals himself to be none other than Solas Sorrowsong, the White King. Markus briefly yells at the Saint for interrupting him, before realising exactly who he is dealing with at which point he shuts up and listens. He is warned that on the day of Helmut Gottwald's trial, the heretic is not the only one who shall be judged. Three Saints shall appear before Markus, and if he does not change his ways then things will get bad. He has three trials he must complete, lest he suffer the consequences. As the conversation draws its close, Markus hears Anna coming and he quickly stuffs Solas into the attached bathroom and lies that nobody was in there, and that he simply left the lamp on in there to help him feel closer to the light as he slept. When Anna tries to enter out of frustration, he heads her off by explaining that the toilet has broken, and she can't go in. She assents, and they sleep. 
The next day, Solas' trial is revealed to centre around the duty the Lightguard must uphold. An exasperated Sorrowsong eventually gets through to Markus, who remounts his inquisition to chase down the figures from yesterday and drafts Kaladin to help. Upon finding them with his colleague's assistance, he pulls down one of their hoods to reveal that it was indeed a poorly disguised zombie. A brief comedic fight ensues but the villains are clumsily apprehended. Kaladin congratulates Markus on doing the first good job he's ever seen him do, and they return home. Markus confesses over dinner that he feels satisfied with his day's work for the first time that he took the job. His wife agrees that she's noticed, and notes that perhaps he feels that way because he did a good thing and is making friends with a good man in Kaladin as opposed to that bad influence Boris. 
That night the First Hierophant, Dawn, makes her appearance as Markus attempts to sleep while Anna has her nightly read. After loudly proclaiming that he cannot be seduced by random women who appear in his house, he is once again made to realise that this is the second Saint that Solas said would come before him. She points out that his attitude is awful and that all actions have consequences, especially those in power. Anna comes to check out the voices, and Markus quickly stuffs her in the bathroom with Solas. He lies and explains that he was talking to the plumber, who she definitely cannot talk to, and is actually a night-time plumber who only fixes things during the night. This lie is embellished further, and they sleep. 
Dawn's trial on the following day forces Markus to confront the mounting stacks of paperwork adorning his office, and he eventually does learn to sit down and consider each case properly instead of randomly sentencing people to death because he's too lazy to read through it all properly. He realises that he totally forgot about the scholar he mistakenly arrested two days before, and manages to get a release warrant to the guards before he meets an unfortunate fate. Kaladin passes by Markus in the corridor, and seems oddly surprised that Markus is doing some proper work for the second day in a row. He returns to work, and Boris walks in asking what was going on with releasing the scholar. Boris mocks Markus for actually doing work, pointing out that he has been lazy for years and is well-off enough to get fat off his earnings. He lives a satisfied life by just showing up and making the right noises. Markus begins to be convinced, but Kaladin's intervention begins to put him back on the right track. Boris leaves, noting that Markus isn't one of 'the boys' anymore, and that if he'd prefer the company of 'Kiss-ass Kaladin' then by all means, go ahead. They'll be sad to see him go. Unwilling to risk losing face, Markus again lies saying that it's all part of his scheme to get promoted so he can do even less work. Hearing this, Kaladin leaves out of sheer disappointment and Boris congratulates Markus on the sheer cunning of the scheme. 
Markus goes home unsatisfied, as he left the work unfinished. Anna notices that something is wrong with her husband, but he lies to her to assuage her concerns. When he goes to bed that night, he briefly monologues about how he can't bear to admit that he's been screwing things up. At which point, Asteros the Great himself bursts in through the ceiling. He calls out Markus' lying, but Markus hears Anna coming and stuffs Asteros back in the bathroom with the other two Saints. He elaborates that he just had someone install a skylight to explain the hole in the ceiling, and that the night plumber is still working. Anna assents, and they sleep. 
Finally, Asteros' trial the next day is where all of Markus' horrendous lying gets confronted, starting with him no longer able to hide the three glowing Saints from his wife by stuffing them in the bathroom. Anna is horrified by the revelation of the truth, as she concludes that not only has Markus been cheating on her but he has been doing so with two other men as well. She is hurt that Markus couldn't tell her the truth, because she would have supported him. Despite his objections, Markus cannot argue his way out of it. Asteros urges Markus to leave to go to Gottwald's trial, which he does. There is then a scene between Asteros and Anna, where he urges her to go as well. She laments that she has been led astray by Markus' lies, but Asteros does stand up for Markus here. He has lied to her about many things, but his love for her is true. 
At Helmut Gottwald's trial, Markus is late and apparently nowhere to be seen. High Persecutor Wyman Karsbourg, Hierophant Generosity and Archbishop Propriety are presiding. We see some of the proceedings, until Markus is called to give evidence. A figure wreathed in black and wearing the mask of Azjol the Deceiver steps up to the stand and confesses the truth - That Helmut was framed and that the real heretic was none other than his accuser, Markus Messerbringer. The room is uncertain, and demands to see the stranger's identity. The figure throws off the mask and cloak to reveal Markus himself confessing his sins and formally retracting the accusations against Helmut. He then asks the judgement of the justices presiding. Boris attempts to intervene, demanding to know what Markus is doing by revealing himself like this. He explains that he cannot lie anymore, he has destroyed his marriage through his lies and that the only truly good thing in his life is gone. He has hurt many, and now seeks the justice of the Light. 
When the justices begin to conclude that he is indeed irredeemable, Kaladin speaks up. He speaks of how Markus has been changing, but is being held back by unscrupulous people and places himself before the guards who seek to drag Markus away. Anna speaks up from the crowd and stands with Kaladin. She is a victim of Markus' lies, but has also noticed that something is changing in him. As the tension builds with the guards about to drag her and Kaladin away for obstructing justice, the three Saints appear to the courtroom. The followers of the Light recognise their holy power, and when they declare him a truly changed man and ask the court for clemency they agree. Markus and Kaladin now represent the true ideal of the Lightguard, people who do their job honestly and well, and are unafraid to own up to and work to fix their own mistakes. 
Markus and Anna return home that night and talk, and Markus reveals that he really did have a skylight put into the room and he had the bathroom changed. The play ends as they go to sleep, happier together than they have been since the day they got married.
== Background and Themes ==
Lysander wrote The Saints in response to a challenge issued against him by the High Persecutor of the Lightguard, Werner Kyrzenberg. Rather than risk his own life or the life of Orelia Torvaigne, his bodyguard, instead he elected to write a sequel to The Heretics that addressed certain criticisms against it. This suited his skillset far more and stood to further develop his reputation after the recent release of the wildly successful A Song for Sollersby. With all eyes on Lysander's latest creation following the public dispute between himself and the Lightguard, Lysander knew he both needed to mend his position with the Lightguard and not to be seen to back down. 
In a furious two week writing session, finishing the night before its first performance, Lysander produced the manuscript. As with the majority of his plays, Lysander adopted a primarily comedic approach to the writing, with underlying commentary on the state of the Church of the Light. This time, Lysander focuses on the people who do their best in the Lightguard, introducing the character of Kaladin Eisenmark to represent the true followers of the Light who acts as the Light's agent within the organisation to bring Markus around to the true path. He contrasts this against the worst elements, showing how deplorable and pathetic Boris Bernstrum and his cohort are. 
He also lightly discusses other elements of faith, and about life. Doing the right thing is seldom the easy path, as Markus well knows, but when it is done he finds more satisfaction in his life. The problems of lies in relationships are briefly touched on, but all this more or less serves to address a classic theme in literature - Forgiveness. Deception is undoubtedly wrong, it paints a false image of yourself and you're forced to live within the web of lies you spin. Eventually, this can eat away at a person. By being truthful you can free yourself. However, an admission of guilt does not immediately warrant forgiveness. By Markus not only admitting his faults, but working to undo his wrongs and submitting himself for judgement he shows a true willingness to redeem himself. This allows not only him, but Anna and his victims to move on. 
Finally, through Markus' despair about betraying Anna with his lies, Lysander returns to a familiar theme in his work - The importance of love in one's life. The love of another can pull you through dark times, and Anna was the only thing that kept Markus going as he delved deeper and deeper into his unethical practices. Indeed, love can pull you back from the darkness. The realisation that what he was doing hurt her was the final realisation that he needed to see that he had done wrong, and must do better.