I am convinced that after the end of The Warden and the Wolf King, Artham HAS to drink the water, and it turns him back into a normal human being. Nothing else would be okay.
Why? First of all, let’s talk about melding! “Sing the song of the ancient stones, and the blood of the beast imbues your bones.” The person singing the song melds with an animal, usually an evil one, and the change goes bone-deep. And not just physically bone-deep, but it changes the very essence of who that person is; this is why fangs and cloven turn to dust when they die. They have exchanged their very identity for something new. The intent of both the person singing and the animal being melded affect the final outcome. And when Artham melded, the hawk was evil. (As indicated in TWatWK p. 173 – “Some terrible feathery beast in his soul screeched triumphantly” – also, Gnag and the stonekeepers wouldn’t have chosen an animal that wasn’t prone to evil to meld with him; it wouldn’t have worked the way they needed)
Artham went crazy because of guilt, yes, but not just guilt; he also went crazy because he started to meld and didn’t finish. (though I suppose one could make the argument that fangs are crazy, too, and they melded completely) Whenever Peet came to the forefront, there were feathers brushing against his mind or some other indication that the bird was gaining power (NoBE pp. 79, 250, TMitH p. 55, TWatWK p. 173). When he started to meld, he melded out of despair (definitely the wrong reason) and the bird melded out of… we’re not sure exactly, but we know its intentions were not good. It’s a bird of prey, and probably wanted to prey on something.
When Artham finished melding in NoBE, he had all the right intentions: to love and protect Tink. This is why he regained his sanity and good came of the melding. But the meld had already started years before with the wrong intentions, and the bird’s intentions were never good. The bird was still inside him, and it was still evil. In the first moments after he transformed, “The wild animal inside that he had struggled so long to kill pulsed with power, but it was no longer his master. He rode the pain like a knight rides a horse” (NoBE p. 294). Artham was stronger than the beast, but it was still strong and had to be constantly controlled. And when the madness was triggered by Artham’s guilt, the bird gained power again.
Also, melding with an animal at all was a perversion of what the Maker had intended when he had created people. Bonifer said, “Let the blood of the beast imbue your bones. Rise above the Maker’s foul work, and break the yoke of weakness. Let Aerwiar crawl with better beasts…” (TWatWK p. 363) and we all know that Bonifer was a liar.
Artham had many, many moments of madness after he transformed, some “moments” lasting months, and others lasting only a minute or so. And though he found ways to cope with it most of the time, the bird was still evil, and it was still inside him. Even after the fangs left Skree, he “was so lost” until Sara found him and gave him a job to do (taking her and her orphans to Anniera). At the end of chapter 95 of TWatWK, Artham was reunited with Arundelle and he completely ‘forgot’ his shame, but the bird – and his shame- were still there. Oh yeah, AND THE BIRD WAS STILL EVIL!
Okay, so Artham has an evil feathery beast in his soul that he struggles to control. When he first escaped from Throg and found the First Well, he believed that the water might heal him, remove his terrible red talons and maybe even quiet the voices (though the voices were there before he went mad). Of course he didn’t drink the water, but he wanted to. And he missed the chance to meld with Janner, because, let’s face it, if Artham had been there he would have seen what was happening and his Throne Warden instincts would have kicked in and he would have tried to stop Janner from dying and would have ruined everything.
Fast-forward to the epilogue. As he and Kal are explaining to the others why they want to make an expedition to the well, he says, “They say the water does amazing things. They say it heals – and maybe even more. I’ve wanted to taste it for a long time.” This seems to strongly indicate that Artham still believes the water will heal him, and that he still very much desires to be healed.
As long as he has the wings and talons (which, admittedly, are very useful at times), the bird is still there, imbuing his bones – and his soul. He’s not completely human. And not being completely human is a very bad thing. (Humans are created in the image of God; birds are not!) The Maker allowed this transformation to happen, and he definitely brought good from it, but this was not his original plan for Artham. This is not better than what the Maker made him to be. And this is why I believe that Artham MUST drink the water and be healed.
I forgot my other (less important) reason that Artham must drink the water and be healed! Artham and Arundelle are both (presumably) still young enough to have children, but people who have melded cannot have children, as Elder Cadwick explained to Janner and Kalmar in TWatWK (p. 250). And as we all know from the show, "Fangs ain't got no mamas!"
Anniera and the Green Hollows both have a major population problem right now after most of their people died in the war, so people need to have kids! Also, I just want Artham and Arundelle to have kids. They'd be great parents. 😊
SPOILER COMMENT! I agree with you 100%! I always felt like there was a huge gap between when Sara left Artham in Glipwood and when they arrived in Anniera. Artham’s healing is a huge part of the fanfic I’m currently writing.
another wonder, what did the melding do to Artham under the surface? thinking of the lyrics "let the blood of the beast imbune your bones" (or smth like that) makes me wonder, did Artham get hollow bones? Delving into science, seeing that Artham could see better after the melding means his eyes changed, but how? Were they flatter like a hawk's? could he see more colors? idk a little rant from my wierd brain :>
Boy, did I write a lot. Didn't intend to going into it but oh, well, I guess. I suppose part of it is me attempting to answer everything I've seen in the comments.
I've researched through the books, having written a fanfiction that is as accurate as I can get it, so here's my opinion.
I agree with you that Artham should drink, and probably does drink, and that it would calm his mind, but I don't think he needs to.
Here's why:
The same kinds of descriptions are provided for Kalmar and a wolf. Clearly, whatever this evil 'beast' is, it is of a 'fangish' tendency, be that for any meld.
You say that the beasts that they melded with also were evil. But here's the thing: Arundelle was melded with a tree. Can a tree be evil? What about goats? Or flabbits? The cloven were all sorts of combinations of animals, but there's a good chance they a lot of them were fully melded, and then re-melded with a different animal. Not all of them desired to be evil.
Here's my take on all of this.
It's pretty clear that Fangs are not human. They turn to dust when they die... except for one. At the end of tMitH, Esben's body does not turn to dust.
This could be for one of only two possible reasons: 1) he remembered (similar to Kalmar at the end of N!obE), and this was enough, or 2) he sang the song again, this time out of selflessness.
We can see that the first reason is not correct: Gnag/Davion remembers, but he still turns to dust. Thus the second reason is the only -- and best -- reason left.
Artham is the only example we have of someone melding twice, with an animal, who is still alive. More on that in a bit.
But my theory is, that when they meld with a human, for peace and not for power, they become human again... fully human. Regardless of what they were before. (This also answers the question of repopulation.)
Artham, though, still went a bit crazy. Although he melded twice (and thus I would guess that he would not turn to dust if he dies), he still has a few problems. I'm sure it helped after he got back to Anniera and realized what happened, but I wouldn't be surprised if he could still go a bit crazy. (I actually included him going a bit crazy in my fanfic, and the Water healing him.)
Anyway, all that aside, it's pretty clear that whatever happened is the Maker's will. Artham and Esben both sang the song again, each of them doing it out of selflessness, and without any animal present, were given a blessing from the Maker of another quality of that animal (flight or strength).
So, regardless of whether or not Artham is sane or not o̶r̶ i̶f̶ I̶ a̶m̶ s̶a̶n̶e̶ o̶r̶ n̶o̶t̶, I think we can all agree that whatever happened was the Maker's will.
My guess is that He would grant Artham sanity in some way or another, and that there would be a number of generations, descendants from those who were restored.
(phew, that was a lot)
this makes alot of sense! though, I wonder if he would turn to dust if he died, or if his body would be preserved like Esben's (I kinda forgot but didn't Esben's body not turn to dust?) and while cloven couldnt have children, he was only partially melded and wasnt broken like the cloven so I wonder...🤔
Aha! Good points thou hast madeth! His wings shall one day fly from him as the snidge flyeth in fear from the digtoads gulptious belly!
**was scared for a moment that you didn't like Artham* Actually, that makes alot of sense!
Those are good points!
That makes sense!
That makes sense. He wouldn't want to wing it in his relationship with Arundelle.
EMBER"S STORY WAS HIGHLY IMPACTED WITH HIM HAVING WINGS!!!!! OTHERWISE, JANNER WOULD BE DEAD!!!!!!!!!
I'm actually just about to get to writing this part in HiDW (is this why you wrote this? Hmmm 😂) and I agree with you that he needs to drink the water and be healed, but I have a couple of ideas about what precise form this will take :)
I have another question: do you think that if Janner comes back, would he still have his scars or would they be faded or completely gone? I think they'd probably be gone, but I wondered what you thought
Ever since you put forth this argument in on of your comments on SSitS, I've honestly agreed with you (and felt bad for not getting rid of Artham's wings). Hence why he won't have wings in the next series! Because...I agree with you.
I would've gotten rid of them in this series, but at this point in it specifically, he's kind of stuck with them because I couldn't see a way to get rid of them 😅
As much as I like the idea of a winged Artham flying around a renewed Anniera, you make a lot of good points 😅