Shadows House (Official Colored) - Ch. 240 - Ryan's Head

[Dudewheresmymecha1]

So is he dead or not?

"His vital functions have just ceased." - Evelyn

It seems his soot-power was barely keeping him stitched back together for as long as he wasn't spread too thin, but getting washed away was just a step too far for even Ryan.


Now, I agree that the more thoughtful approach to problem-solving from the early chapters is more satisfying than the big battles in the last couple chapters, but the violence does seem appropriate here, as Ryan's default way to deal with a problem, and as a contrast to how the children have handled things, and even to how Edward, Thomas, and even Anthony had (more or less) been leading things in the Children's Ward. Violence seems to be Dorothy's default solution to a problem as well, from what we've seen of her, though Dorothy doesn't seem to like to get her hands dirty doing so as much as Ryan does.

I think it remains to be seen how Sophie deals with problems, though - the weird (and pretty creepy) rat-eating, soot-licking butterfly motif for Sophie certainly doesn't seem to imply that Ryan's direct approach is the sort of thing we should expect from Sophie.

And, then there's the Great-Grandfather, who is STILL pretty damned mysterious, given how much screen time he has been given - it's a fascinating testament to the storytelling here that, with all the world-building that has gone into the story, and the fact that we've glimpsed this (presumed) arch-villain for years and heard him speak more than once, that we still don't know what he's up to or what he's about, and know only a little more about his (apparent) henchmen!

Certainly, Joseph has been set up as a more thoughtful sort of character, though, as the exchange between Joseph and Sophie reminds us: he's not been presented as being strong enough to move directly against the likes of Ryan, but he does seem to be an effective strategist and manipulator, suggesting that we can expect a more subtle approach to problem-solving now that Ryan is out of the picture, and for as long as Dorothy is off the table (I wonder what she's been up to since the last time we saw her, which I believe would be when she smashed Anthony's rebellion? Or, what Anthony's been doing, for that matter, since we haven't seem much from him since then, either? I expect we'll be finding that out soon enough, as they surely won't be in stalemate forever, and whichever of the two of them win, it's probably going to complicate things for Kate's faction....)

Seems like we're running out of unresolved subplots to wonder about as they stew on back burners, as everything else seems to be funneling down to the story's final climax and ending.

And if anything, it seems like the story has been making a point of discouraging violence as a solution: nobody that has relied on violent solutions seems to have been rewarded for it, while the more thoughtful solutions seem to fare much better, with the debut storylines (including one of the story's first big conflicts) looking like a small-scale model for the story's biggest challenges to play out.

 

[Dudewheresmymecha1]

"Did you know that shadows can't leave Soot Island?" - Rosemary
"WHAT? What are you on about?" - Ryan
"Nevermind." - Rosemary

That little exchange kinda speaks volumes on what Ryan and the other "adults" don't know about the world outside of the fortified safety of their third-floor isolation. It brings them back down to earth quite a bit: they're extremely dangerous, presumably also extremely ambitious about building their operation until they can export it to the rest of the world, but ultimately they aren't as prepared for the challenge they've set for themselves as they think, and all the horrors they've committed on the island have been for nothing.

I think it's worth remembering here that the children were no selected for their combat ability or anything like that, but instead for their intelligence, and then trained for intelligence once in Shadows' House, with Rosemary being one of the more intelligent characters - she was, after all, a strange sort of mentor to Kate in the "Phantom" storyline, more or less giving Kate a set of three rules for how to defeat the brightest and most dangerous of the older characters in the story.

So, Rosemary has one final, quiet moment to ask one of the oldest and most dangerous characters anything she wants, and of all the things she could have asked, THAT was the one question she chose: "With everything you have done to us, did you ever realize you were never getting off this island?" I think the "nevermind" is a sign that Ryan's answer told her everything she needed to know....

 

[Cloverdex]

such a simple solution with the water and it makes absolute sense too and I can't believe I didn't think about it. had I've been there actively planning everyone would've died!

 

[Dudewheresmymecha1]

Same here!

And the funny thing is, the trick with the water is exactly how Kate defeated Maryrose/Rosemary way back during the Phantom subplot - Rosemary and Barbie at least seem to have remembered it and learned from it!