Chapter 151: Determination

### Story Date

Friday, 21 October, AD 1043/6552 ε.Κ/14 Rabi’ al-Awwal 435 AH/14 Yang-Yue Huangyou Era Year 1/14 Gormánuður ÅrO -1/14 Cheshvan AM 4804

## Appearances

### Locations

Berk
London
Paris
Eigg
Rouen
Constantinople
Vedrarfjord
Cairo

*Our faith is one of conflict. We are a religion of war. We view existence itself as conflict, that of order versus not just chaos, but nihilism itself. We view our lives as bubbles of structure clawed out of a meaningless, pointless reality, hewn together with law and order that will collapse should we act unquestioningly in accordance with our chaotic natures. For we know what happens if we succumb to those base urges and unquestioning reactions: Ragnarök, where all we have striven for, all we have built, will collapse and be purged under the onslaught of disorder. That, ultimately, nothing we have done has lasting meaning, that our legacies will amount to naught.*

*So we fight against that end. We stop the unstoppable. We question ourselves and our actions, to see their endings. The All-Father* saw*, but he never reflected on what he saw. He merely reacted, and in that reaction, set forth the sequence of his own destruction. But the lesson we take from this is that it is possible to step back from the precipice and interrupt the chain of events, by* choosing *a different path.*

*The followers of the Æsir are at war. But while the Jötnar are all around us, they are not the enemy, even as they are the agents of our potential destruction. No, the enemy is within ourselves. For, unlike the Jötnar, we of Midgard have* choice*. We can use that choice for good or ill, but to abandon it in favor of unthinking reaction reduces us to little more than an animal or Jotunn, a predictable force in the tapestry whose thread is controlled.*

*The Weavers care not for the threads. When the Tapestry is complete, they will begin anew. But for us and for those we follow, every inch woven is another victory, every day that we stave off the final knot a battle won.*

*This is our existence. It is not for everyone. Other faiths view things differently. That is their choice. Their threads still weave through reality, even if they care not to acknowledge it, or view it in different ways—as the Christians view themselves in the service of a Father-God of Order in a conflict against a corruptive god of destruction, or as the Jews view themselves as being in an agreement with a God of Wisdom, helping build upon an imperfect creation. That is their choice, to view things in such a way. But as for us, we will safeguard our own choices, and theirs, knowing that it could all fall to naught. This is our struggle, our burden, our exultation.*

*Who is with me!?*

*—Fyrir Hiccup House Haddock VI, Collected Public Sermons & Private Contemplations*

## Synopsis

* Tuffnut's and Mor's wedding rites are interrupted by the announcement that King Stoick has been attacked and is injured by King Henry's ambush.
* Taskill fully comprehends the depths of how badly he was manipulated by Mildew and the consequences of his mistakes in his capacity as Mac Bethad's spymaster.
* Lulach meets with Taskill to discuss his struggles with his Mormaer duties, the poor advice his mother is giving him, and the fact his mother has hooked up with Edward.
* Astrid orders a messenger to retrieve Hiccup from the Byzantine Empire and another messenger to issue her warning to King Henry.
* King Henry's court receives Astrid's letter which terrifies them and all of Paris.
* The Healers commission Gobber and his smiths to create the surgical tools and other medical equipment they will need to save Stoick.
* Jacob gives his advice to Conan and Hawiz on Berk's character compared to the monarchs and nobles of other places.
* In a meeting with his vassal nobles, William of Normandy declares the duchy will secede from the Kingdom of the Franks. The Count of Vexin attacks him, but Mjolnir thwarts him and William has Mjolnir deliver him to King Henry as a message to the consequences of his actions.
* Riots erupt across Paris as Henry's subjects snap in terror and others flee. Lady Joan disappears in the chaos.
* King Henry sends his three-year old daughter with an escort to seek refuge with Emperor Henry the Black.
* Toothless meets with Alpha Draconis Nightglow, and their talk is witnessed by humans even if they don't understand the language.
* Wulfhild finishes drafting letters to the other powers of Europe and beyond explaining King Henry's treachery.
* Astrid is informed that Clanhead Orrusti is trying to get volunteers to attack King Henry in retaliation and she orders that anyone who does that in defiance of their orders to not attack yet will be held in gaol.
* News of the Duchies of Normandy and Brittany seceding from the Kingdom of Francia spreads.
* Musa takes over the smithing of the surgical tools.
* Camilla hands over responsibility of the treasury to Padraig.
* Mulan's expedition makes first contact with Berk by meeting Boarguts in Cairo.
* Serena's clan are present for the first time in the Byzantine Court as the local elites try to recalculate how this affects the political situation.
* The healers finalise their preparations to perform life-saving surgery on Stoick.

## Trivia

Anne's comment to Hawiz that she’s "hoping she finds a good man ‘like you did, and not like this backstabbing king’” is a bit of historical irony, as in real life Anne would marry Henry of the Capets in 1051.

## Characters

### Humans

* Tuffnut Thicknutsson
* Ruffnut Thicknutsdóttir
* Chestnut clan Thorston
* Taskill Thaddeusson
* Lulach
* Astrid Hákonsdóttir clan Haddock
* Wulfhild of Norway
* Esther bat Rivkah clan Haddock
* Sölrun
* William of Normandy
* Mwenda
* Stoick the Vast
* Henry of the Capets
* Gobber the Belch
* Nanna clan Hofferson
* Murchadh mac Flannchadh
* Gabriel Hallvarsson
* Musa Toledano Ibáñez
* Hawiz of Breizh
* Conan of Breizh
* Jacob Rodericksson
* Andrew Vsevolod Yaroslavich (unnamed)
* Igor Yaroslavich (unnamed)
* Vyacheslav Yaroslavich (unnamed)
* Anne Yaroslavna
* Sunach
* Count of Vexin (first appearance; only appearance)
* Valka Zephyr Hiccupsdóttir
* Asta Rhonda Hiccupsdóttir
* Hiccup clan Haddock
* Unnamed Meathead messenger
* Fintan mac Ionatan
* Unnamed monk
* Éimhín mac Naomh
* Cami Berthasdóttir
* Pádraig mac Bran
* Boarguts Sheepwitsson
* Haytham Abu Muhsin
* Fa Mulan
* Naphtali the Radhanite
* Malachi
* Mala
* Sophia Makris
* Serena Hamishsdóttir
* Sigurd Spiteloutsson
* Heidrun Hallvarsdóttir
* Folarin
* Dagur mac Oswald
* Gunnar Bræsisson
* Anna Dalassene
* John Komnenos (unnamed)
* Constantine Dalassenos

### Dragons

* Stormfly
* Mjolnir
* Toothless
* Night-Glow

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph discusses the dangers of unthinking reactions. The chapter shows King Henry dealing with the consequences of his unthinking reaction in attacking King Stoick on the assumption he was power-hungry when he's not.