Confounding Evil Designs by Wil Hough
Imagine what would happen if electricity no longer flowed, if gasses no longer expanded with explosive force, if all the marvels of modern life suddenly ceased to function. Just consider what would occur in the cities alone! Beginning with Dies the Fire, that is the milieu created in the first three volumes of S. M. Stirlings series of “the change.” The heavenly powers have grown weary of Mankind’s destructive behavior. Part of the heavenly mind-set looks for a way to chastise and instruct its wayward children while another simply wants to do away with humanity altogether. A “timeout” is instituted while the Godhead argues with itself over what to do. The population of the earth is literally decimated by disease and starvation. The handful able to adapt is returned to the days of sails, sweat, and swords.
The lesson of evil acts confounding evil designs comes into focus in the second act of what appears to be planned as a triple trilogy. Society has adapted. Thirty years have passed. A new generation scattered about sparsely populated areas of the continent considers tales of the “old world” as so much mythology. However, as they begin to reach out to one another, they come in contact with a demon led cult known as the Church Universal Triumphant, or CUT. These crazed survivors of the cataclysm have been promised glory in the next higher existence if they help obliterate all mankind in this.
To counter this threat from the Dark Side, the “Powers of Light” anoint a new hero, Rudi of the Raven. As the future High King, he is destined to unite and lead the rest of humanity into a new and brighter future. But, of course, he must first fulfill a quest to prove himself. He must traverse the breadth of the former United States to acquire a magical talisman hidden away on Nantucket Island. The Cutters, as would be expected, do their best to stop him from winning “the Sword of the Lady.” This is where the concept of evils deeds confounding evil design becomes the main vehicle for moving the plot forward.
The head CUT Seeker continually laments Rudi’s knack of winning friends. As annoying as this is to him, he never seems to “get it.” The heavy-handed tactics employed by the CUT continually work against them. Even the new American Indian Nation, put off by CUT activities, adopt and abet the little band when they are most in need of “tribal brotherhood.”
Once they reach Des Moines, Rudi finds his progress arrested by the power-mad Governor of the Provisional Republic of Iowa. But, once again the CUT, led by their demonically possessed Seeker, trip themselves up. The Seeker grows impatient with waiting for the Governor to release Rudi to his custody. When he takes matters into his own hands, the reigning Governor and his security chief are accidentally killed. A power shift takes place with a new governor sympathetic to Rudi taking office. Beyond allowing Rudi’s quest to continue on, this new administration leads Iowa, the strongest single pocket of survivors, into a solid alliance against the CUT.
In the Kickapoo Valley of Southeastern Wisconsin, Rudi develops a deeper understanding of his role. The quest is not just about the destination but the journey as well. Each surviving group he has helped upon the way has added to the collective strength of good versus evil. The heavy-handed tactics of the CUT, on the other hand, has had the opposite effect of hindering their evil plans. With winter coming on, the ultimate occurs when the frustrated CUT Seeker calls upon nature itself to hinder Rudi.
An early winter blizzard descends with a vengeance. Rudi insists on pressing on. The newly allied Republic of Richland provides his group with skis, dogsleds, and guidance. The CUT have no such resources. They struggle on with worn horses through a hell of their own creation. Even the demonically motivated attack of a huge bear works to the good, as the meat, fat, and skins of the now dead bear provide needed sustenance. Rudi, at long last realizing what the CUT have been up to, ceremonially “apologizes” to the spirit of the bear for the necessity of its kill and cries out for vengeance on those responsible. His plea is heard and the karmic “Three-fold Law” turns against the CUT effectively ending their pursuit.
There are many rules of conflict for writers to consider in Stirling's series. Related to how “the best conceived plan seldom survives contact with the enemy” is how a stronger evil can often lose to a weaker good simply by getting in its own way. This is true not only because it is reality, but because it makes for such unexpectedly entertaining plot complications in creating effective fiction. A perfect historical example of this deals with Enrico Fermi, the man credited with developing the atomic bomb. What if Hitler and Mussolini had not started the policies leading to The Holocaust? Fermi, whose wife was Jewish, might not have fled Italy and the Axis Powers might have therefore won the war. This, along with the loss of Germany’s other Jewish scientists, further proves how evil acts can confound evil designs.
Wil Hough is a Rose & Thorn Journal senior contributing author specializing in poetry, religious heresy, and historical fiction.
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