As Ever Like the Sun & Moon at War

End Notes

Words: 153 913

Lines: 20 444

Scenes: 110

Acrostics: 35

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading this. I know it's a much more taxing piece than a prose novel and I'm eternally grateful for your effort. If you haven't read the poem and you've just skipped down to these notes, beware of spoilers ahead. I won't blame you for skipping over the poem to absorb just the juicy stuff I'm about to talk about, but still consider yourself warned. Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, I hope you enjoy the little bit I have left to say.

I hid a lot of cool junk in this poem, but given it's a free-to-read story that'll never warrant scholarly study, a lot of it comes down to whether the individual reader notices something through the lens of their own worldly knowledge. In light of this, I'd like to share two notable categories of tricks I think are especially fun and add something to the story.

Acrostics

Yes, there really are 35. I didn't embolden the relevant letters (I figured it'd be distracting and spoil some things), so I don't blame you for not spotting them.

-1-☼☼☼: Lines 87-92: "The lie". Pilgrim begins the story aware of his counterpart. But in this conversation with Leader, he acts as though he doesn't know his body belongs to another soul at night. In this moment he convinces himself of his own lie, gradually repressing all knowledge of Pariah as anything other than a curse and losing his ability to remember Pariah's actions (as opposed to the Pariah seeing and remembering his). In this way, his psyche is able to revoke responsibility for his counterpart's actions. However, he reluctantly regains the ability to remember in 6-☾❂☼.

-1-☼☼☼: Lines 167-177: "Enslavement". The first high sin, delivered by the Leader while joking that his men are lazy and need to get back on the road (the sinister implication, of course, being that Pilgrim is to be dragged behind them again).

-1-☾☾☾☾: Lines 137-142: "Maiden". This is the first time the protagonists' backstory is mentioned.

-1-☼☼☼☼☼: Lines 155-166: "Subservience". The first low sin, delivered as Pilgrim contemplates that the Torturer's punishment isn't meant to kill him, but to drain him of his will to escape, so as to make him a better slave, which it has.

-2-☾☾: Lines 163-165: "Sin". The Owner uses sin to fuel her puppeteer spell. As well, the notion of a cycle of sin>guilt>shame>sin is a central theme of the poem, culminating in the protagonists' ultimate fate.

-2-☼☼☼-I: Lines 65-79: "Loquaciousness". The second low sin, delivered as Pilgrim explains that travel has taken him from more pain than it's caused, and that he'll continue it if just some of his burden can be relieved.

-2-☾☾☾☾: Lines 35-40: "Deceit". The second high sin, delivered by the Owner as she announces Pariah's crimes to the angry mob, pinning the blame on him.

-3-☼☼: Lines 81-87: "Suicide". Referring to the fate from which the Oracle wants to save the Spouse. But seeing this fate sealed upon her departure with the protagonist, she sends her Scholars to document their travels, knowing the Author's manuscript will be used to doom the protagonist.

-3-☼☼☼-I: Lines 138-149: "Acquiescence". The third low sin, delivered when Pilgrim reluctantly accepts Headman's invitation to supper, which of course leads him into trouble.

-3-☾☾☾☾: Lines 57-62: "Battle". Relevant to the battle between sun and moon and the protagonist's personalities (protagonist is branded with the moon in this fight). The significance of the moon brand appearing first is that Pariah was the first of his two personalities to surface up in his backstory.