NB This page is unfinished. Read it as a work in progress.
Why 'The Annals of Fear Pt 2'?
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 01 - Pride and Prejudice
'Pride and Prejudice' is a novel by Jane Austen. The title of this chapter by inspired by the fact that Mello para-phrases its opening lines, as the opening lines to the present novel.However, the whole reunion is marred by people contemplating each other with prejudice, while often being too proud to give an inch.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 02 - Good Fight
In gaming parlance, 'good fight' is spoken by the victor to the vanquished at the end of a challenge. This chapter has a couple of such clashes.The title, though, was mainly suggested by Mello's final retort, "And I believe that the correct phraseology here is: good fight, It Matters."
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 03 - Trumpets
This was named after the Waterboys song, 'Trumpets', which I played on repeat whilst writing the finale of this chapter.
I imagined the song from Mello's POV. He's obviously singing to Matt. This song, to me, encapsulates Mello's feelings at the time when he has Matt up the wall and is telling him that he has gorgeous eyes.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 04 - Exposure
There are several instances of people being exposed in this chapter, in all senses of the wordKiana is exposed (introduced) to the competitiveness of Wammy's House alumni towards each other; everyone feels exposed (unprotected) as Mello and Fenian clash; Matt feels exposed (naked) with his face uncovered; Deontic, then Mello feel exposed (revealed) as losers, over the 'tenable' debate; Fenian's Wammy's House protective shield of agression is exposed (uncovered) as false by Kiana; finally Mello feels exposed (watched), as he is told that his grandmother has been following him around since childhood. The grandmother could also have been exposed, insofar as her presense is revealed.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 05 - Heterogeneous
Heterogeneous is an adjective used to describe an object or system consisting of multiple items having a large number of structural variations.Matt's system, being set up in this chapter, is heterogeneous; however, so is Mello's emotional range. Matt shows his dexterity with hetergeneous systems, by first installing his monitoring equipment and then sorting out Mello's feelings.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 06 - Leaders in their Field
All Wammy's House alumni are leaders in the field of detection. Also on show here is Matt's technological leadership.However, the big one is who is going to literally lead this field trip? Century or Mello?
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 07 - Waltz for Mello and Matt
No deep reason here other than I was listening to 'Waltz for Eva and Che', from the 'Evita' soundtrack, on repeat whilst writing it. I actually wanted to listen to Madonna, as Mello adopted his diva persona, but 'Evita' is all I have.However, I did like the notion that Mello and Matt are dancing around each other; because they are. It's not a dance to music, nor one of those twirling around the floor doing fancy moves type dance. It's them mentally and physically dancing around each other's personalities and desires. There's no real discussion here of what each of them really wants. It's them reacting to what they think the other wants; or else the best way to manipulate the other into providing what a personal desire.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 08 - Pure Morning
The title comes from the Placebo song, 'Pure Morning'. You need to switch the references to a female companion into a male one, for it to nearly work in the context of this chapter.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 09 - Returning to the Scene
Mello and Matt have physically returned to the Manor House. This was the location of their previous experiences, which they are all now gathered to investigate.There is a second scene to be revisited though, when Kiana quizzes Mello on his motivations towards Fenian, when they were children at Wammy's House.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 10 - Secret Knowledge
The actual secret knowledge is that imparted by Deontic to Matt; that Kiana has a strand of Mello's hair. This knowledge is expanded by Matt researching the link between hair and witchcraft.But, as Mello points out in the chapter, the Latin for 'secret knowledge' is 'occult'. Mello and Matt spend much of this chapter discussing things commonly categorised as occult.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 11 - The Drums of War
There has been trouble brewing between Mello and Fenian since they were children. It's been especially in evidence recently, while they've been together in Wales. Hal and Deontic are afraid that this is going to result in a full scale Wammy's House civil war.Many countries signal the start of a war with drums. Before standing armies, the drums called the men to arms. The beat on the battle-drum used to be the rhythm to which the armies marched into position. However, it was a very specific drum that I had in mind here. The Irish bodhrán is what was in my head, mainly because of Fenian's involvement.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 12 - The Beyond Birthday Route
Beyond Birthday is a canon Wammy House resident, who became a serial killer in his bid to beat L. This was the first Wammy's House civil war and lessons were learned, by L and Mr Wammy, from it. They became vigilant for signs that their young geniuses were becoming murderous. They also instilled a ruling that no child has won, in the Watari rankings, if they couldn't do it academically or as the better detective. Just killing each other was a moral failure.Mello is arguing that Matt is emulating Beyond Birthday here, rather than playing by the rules to win.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 13 - Wrong Notes
Mello says, in this chapter, 'There's something got between us, Mail, that's causing us to keep hitting the wrong note with each other.' That was the inspiration for this chapter title.The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 14 - Alpha Males
There's a three way battle for dominance between three men in this chapter. Nominally it's a fight over who leads the case, but everyone watching can tell that it's a general struggle for supremacy. Century is supposed to be the leader of this case, but he hasn't the personality to enforce it. There are snide comments and repeated statements that he's in control. However it's obvious early on that if Century rules at all, it's as a figurehead; and only for as long as it takes for a proper alpha male to emerge.The real power struggle is between Mello and Fenian. It's blatant enough to elicit comments from the women watching on, including Deontic's exasperated call for peace,
Deontic stood, leaning on the table with rigid arms and clenched fists. "Was there not an agreement between you not two hours ago? Mello risked being blown up to protect you and Kiana! Yet here you are encircling each other like," she fumbled and grasped the analogy already given, "yes! Like chimpanzees. So very apt! But some of us are serious investigators, so can you hurry up with the tearing each others jaw bones off, or whatever primates do these days, to show each other who's boss! So the rest of us can get on with the blasted case!"
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 15 - Dangerous Information
There are several pieces of potentially dangerous information imparted in this chapter.- Hal slips up and lets Matt know that she and Mello have been discussing their relationship. This could inflame Matt against her or Mello.
- Hal also comes right out with the information, dangerous to Matt, that there has been an official complaint against him. This could result in him being incarcerated for the protection of the other Wammy alumni or, at least, given a psychiatric evaluation.
- That same information could be dangerous for Fenian, or anyone else in their way, if Mello and Matt decide to resist or retaliate.
- Matt twice signals to Mello that he knows something of Mello and Hal's conversation. This could set Mello against Hal.
- The ghosts of the house play 'The Banshee'. How this affects its victims is information that they have been trying to discover for months. However, Mello and Matt are about to find out in very dangerous circumstances.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 16 - They Became My Family
This is a lyric from Blue October's 'HRSA'. The full segment reads,Then three angels walked my way
In Spanish tongue they knelt to pray
And said "God keep him safe
From screaming voices"
They became my family
Outstretched their hands are on my head
You know, I can feel them breathing
They actually knelt down and prayed for me
They actually knelt down and prayed for me
'HRSA' by Blue October
It's an acknowledgement of the fact that Kiana, Fenian, Hal and even Century prayed for Mello. Though the 'Spanish tongue' and 'God keep him safe' also echoes Mello's innermost prayer,
"O moj Bože, dopusti mi biti u mogucnosti da ga zaštiti." Mello wept. "Ne dajte im ga uzeti previše."
Translated into English, this is, 'Oh my God, let me be able to protect him. Don't let them take him too.' Or, in other words, let Matt be safe.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 17 - Away With the Faeries
'Away With the Faeries' is a live album (and title song upon it) by Inkubus Sukkubus, that I was listening to whilst writing this chapter.However, it also fits in with the storyline here. Kiana and Fenian, at least, believe that the whole phenomenon surrounding them has the fairy-folk at its core. Fenian already theorised, at the end of 'Annals of Fear', that the yew tree is at the crossroads of a fairy path. He guessed that some or all of the manor house's buildings were blocking the path. As soon as Kiana and Fenian arrived in Aberystwyth, they were up at the manor house, checking his theory. They found evidence that the stables and one of the outhouse buildings lay over an ancient track. Fenian also discovered that part of that pathway has been destroyed in a past landslide, with the rubble lying down in the river gorge.
In the Irish fairy faith (which is still strong in Ireland, particularly the West, and don't let the Irish tell you it isn't), a blocked fairy path is bad news. The otherworldly beings will pile on ever increasing amounts of chaos and crap, until they get their track back. Therefore, Fenian and Kiana are both convinced that this is the reason that the manor house is plagued by supernatural hostility. They believe that the continued blockage of the fairy path meant that the retribution on the house escalated. The curse spread via the music recorded there, reaching an ever wider circle of destruction.
It wouldn't be lost on either of them that the name of the song is 'Banshee'. Banshee is an Irish entity anyway, but the name is Anglicised. In Gaelic, she's bean-sidhe, which translates as woman of the fairy mounds. If you ever wanted evidence that the fairies aren't always sweetness and light, then take note that the banshee is one of them.
Can you hear their voices singing?
And they were once known as angels from the sky and heaven
But now they are known as devils, demons, alien monsters
Let them fill your dreams with wonder, fever, pain and passion
Let them fill your head with thunder...
She will lead if you will follow
Down the road that leads to sorrow
From the Dreamworld she is calling
Come to me, come running, falling
Come and sip the sacred poison
'Away with the Faeries' by Inkubus Sukkubus
A witch bottle, in folklore, has several uses. All of them are concerned with the protection of the house and its occupants; unless it's used maliciously, in which case it's a curse against the same. One of the major uses of the witch bottle is to pacify and/or restrain the fairies. As Kiana replaces the bottle, it is with both of the latter intentions. She actually names them, in their Welsh incarnation, though she says does so in Gaelic: 'A twyleth teg bennach ar sét, nachar·tair bét'. That translates, roughly, as 'fairy folk, bless our road, that calamity does not befall us'. The Twyleth Teg are Welsh fairies. Although Kiana's trying to get them on side, and petitioning them for assistance, she is also binding them from causing harm. This is both 'away with the faeries', in the sense of conversing with them; and 'sending away the faeries', insofar as stopping their supposed antics.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 18 - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
This is the title of a song by We Are Scientists. I listened to it on repeat, whilst writing this chapter.I had Matt in mind at the time. The chorus of 'my body is your body, I won't tell anybody, if you want to use my body, go for it' screams Matt any day of the week. However, Matt's in shut-down mode. Less than an hour ago, he literally wouldn't move; utterly frozen in place in his petrified panic. Now he's just mute, until Mello prises a handful of words out of him. Matt just wants to hide in a static, silent shelter of himself and Mello.
The day you move, I'm probably gonna explode.
It's true, I'm probably gonna explode.
Whoa! You'll pray for proof;
I'm probably making this up.
'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt' by We Are Scientists
Then you get the fact that if Hal moves, then she might get her throat cut with Matt's knife. (Or, considering that it's Hal here, there's a strong possibility that Mello or Matt moving means that she might hurt them.) Plus when Mello moves, ie runs away, Matt is emotionally hurt by that. And when Matt moves in search of him, Mello is hurt by his own anxiety and guilt. So if everyone would just stay put and calm down, everything would be alright.
Or you could go with the fact that this was the first chapter that I wrote post Glastonbury Festival. I'd been watching the coverage and fell in love with this song. I was going to be listening to it on repeat regardless of its relevance to the chapter. :p
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 19 - Yes, I Dwell in Hell
It's a lyric from Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing in the Name of...'A world of violent rage,
But it's one that I can recognise
Having never seen the colour of my father's eyes.
Yes, I dwell in hell, but it's a hell that I can grip;
I tried to grip my family
But I slipped
'Killing in the Name of...' by Rage Against the Machine
Neither Mello or Matt are communicating well with each other in this chapter. They are each other's family. Pick your POV.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 20 - Sister
For most of this story, the Wammy alumni are rivals. This is how they were raised and this is how they behave. There is only one winner and there is no second place prize. Mello, Matt, Deontic, Fenian, Century and Lauren are playing by defined rules, which the rest of those present can only guess at.But when the circumstances are right, then another aspect of their shared childhood comes to the fore. They are fundamentally foster siblings. As families go, they are downright dysfunctional, but nevertheless they are the closest to family that each other has.
In this chapter, we finally see that. Deontic is the sister of Mello, Matt, Fenian and Century. They are her brothers. It's a rare glimpse of a different dynamic and the one which, perhaps, stalled Mello from shooting Near in canon.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 21 - It's Judgement That Defeats Us
This is from a line from the classic 1979 film, 'Apocalypse Now'. Marlon Brando plays Colonel Kurtz, a man who disappeared into the jungle of Viet Nam during the war. Willard is sent after him to investigate what is happening. He discovers that Kurtz is living like a demi-God, but he is utterly insane.It feels like a travesty to not quote that whole scene, but the revelant line is:
These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment! Because it's judgment that defeats us.
I would have liked to embed the scene, but I can't find a version on YouTube with embedding enabled. Here is the link.
Matt has been quoting Willard and Kurtz throughout this chapter. Even he is worried about how Mello seems at the moment. This was Matt's way of subtly telling Mello that he appears criminally insane and he's frightening them.
Mello nodded slowly. "What did you attempt to say in Croatian, when you were feeling braver?"
Matt's shoulders sagged, as he loudly exhaled. He wrinkled his nose. "I said, 'I don't see any method at all, sir.'"
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 22 - I'm Somebody's Mother!
This is what Deontic shouted at her attackers, thus implanting a humanisation in their minds. Linking herself with their own mothers, which isn't what you want, when you're trying to have an erection.The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 23 - There Were Rats
This chapter title is just an English translation of something that Matt says in Spanish.Matt blinked blearily at his husband. He was in the chalet, in Wales, caked in sweat. It wasn't even dawn yet. He mumbled, "Hay ratas."
However, it could also refer to the main thing worrying Hal by the end of the chapter. There was a human rat in the SPK, who provided information to the Mafia. This allowed the Death Note to be used to kill most of the SPK at the time.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 24 - Visitors
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 25 - Acts of War
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 26 - Y Gwir yn Erbyn y Byd
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 27 - Taken Back
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 28 - Consiglieri
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 29 - True Watari
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 30 - The Hour Strikes
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 31 - Black Mirror
I was listening to 'Black Mirror' by Arcade Fire at the time of writing this chapter. The mood and lyrics fit very well too.
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 32 - Whom Does the Grail Serve?
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 33 - Por Favor
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 34 - In Search of the Holy Grail
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 35 - The Screaming
The Annals of Fear Pt 2 Chapter 36 - Thistle and Weeds
'Thistle and Weeds' is a song by Mumford and Sons. I don't think I was listening to it while I was writing, but I definitely thought of it when I came to stick a title on this. It feels like a very Matt POV song around now.And your faith in shreds, it seems
It's pretty much Matt accepting the fact that Mello has lost it and, therefore, getting out of this alive rests on Matt's shoulders. Mello doesn't necessarily share this view.