This visual novel ("Devil's Gambit") is the most beautiful storytelling I've ever read. Being able to gaze into myself through Hector and Cadgan's struggle to be seen has been an experience I never wish to depart from. On its surface it feels like a tale of longing, but the story refuses to leave that longing purely physical. There is a distance between its lovers that feels almost spirtual, and the story shows, painfully, that two people cannot truly connect until each has closed the gap on their own internal dilemna.
I am in awe of how it uses the environment of Rannai to contextualize the nature of Cadgan, the sentiment of all its wolves, and our own desire for truth. This is a story diligent in making us search endlessly, doubt when at crossroads, and feel invigorated as cracks of light shine through.
And it is, at its heart, a story about redefinition. It takes everything we have been taught to fear and reveals each one as a prerequisite of love.
✳
✳
Spoilers ahead (covers Act I + II). Very long.
Through Hector, we grant Cadgan the confidence to move towards change, regardless of the outcome. Through seeking love, we let the Eye awaken from its slumber. And the corruption spreading through Rannai moves in perfect tandem with Cadgan's own unraveling of his hoarded truth and the failure of his control. By pursuing love, we wake both the land and the wolf.
The story is all about redefining to me. "The Devil" is often seen as one who instills fear. They can peer inside of you and pull out your deepest desires and wishes. But the word can also simply mean one who subverts nature. In other words, one who defies God. That definition alone is not malevolence, and we see how the confusion between the two can be used as a weapon against us (e.g. Rian's schemes, the staged demon-hunts, the corrosion of good/evil). It is through misconception that we fail to understand the truth. If we wish to understand Cadgan, Rian, and the characters of Rannai, we must listen to the story's insistence and dispel our preconceived notions.
That same trap is laid for "selfishness". We often associate that with evil, the very evil that binds all of these previous words. Before the main events of the story, we see scenes of those who foresake selfishness as virtue: the Duke's decrees, Eogan's insistence on a devout legacy of duty. But then, we see the other face of selfish desire. When Hector abandons his duty to chase after his long-lost love, we can see that selfishness can be beautiful.
"There is a kind of love in being understood. In being known. In being seen. And that cannot exist in a world of lies."
It often seems the story loves to play with inversion (a form of "trickery" maybe?). Take for example the split between Cadgan and Silvareth. Both are avatars; both are two sides of one coin. But, which side does each exactly land on?
"He decided to join the Inquisition, while I embraced my demonic heritage. We couldn't be more opposed."
It's Silvareth who is called "Inquisitor", "fireman", a "demon-hunter" for rejecting the role of devil while Cadgan/Rian embraces the mask. And yet it is Silvareth who commits the irredeemable act: eating his loved one to deny his agency, his truth. It's no coincidence that each man mirrors the concept of their dark god. Bodo's dark god represents gluttony; Rannai's Eye represents sight. The first lives to consume at the cost of freedom, and the latter is determined to see and to recognize. In a way, they both act as two axes of desire: possession vs recognition. To put it more simply, each represents what someone can do to someone they want.
Silvareth is drawn in fire because he wills to burn revelation through erasure. He resolves truth by burning it down. Cadgan is instead depicted with water (a mind of a thousand fish) because it represents concealment and slumber. He resolves truth by hiding it from others. And yet, devastingly, they are more alike than they either would like to admit. Both are fearful of pity, which is to be looked down upon rather than accepted. Teo's last act was the look he gave Silvareth, before Silvareth removed his pity entirely. And Rian lives in with the same dread: that when Hector sees him, he will not accept, but pity.
Throughout the story, we see why it's so harrowing for them to be looked upon. Eogan saw young Cadgan as nothing more than an experiment. The Inquisition only sees demons as monsters to be destroyed. Even worse, Cadgan's own mind of a thousand fish only sees people as those to model and manipulate. With pity, they cannot find resolution in the parts unloved.
But the story invites an alternative. They must make the leap of faith towards someone willing to see them. Love requires to conquer that fear and walk into, not to conceal and maintain old cycles. Cadgan can no longer hide himself from Hector, and Silvareth stands as living proof of the consequences of surrendering to fear.
So in his final attempt (his "gambit"), Cadgan does not hide. And Hector is his gaze. Hector is as much like Cadgan as Silvareth is, yet he has all the tells of one who is willing to accept. As a doctor, he meets illness with care and seeks to heal. As a badger, he leans on scent rather than sight to find Cadgan in the dark, the very opposite of that cold surveillence of being seen.
What the story does beautifully is to show the strain of two people's need to be seen without consuming one another. Hector cannot arrest his individuality to his desire, and Cadgan cannot love through control and predation. Without shortcuts, they need to meet, eye-to-eye, in order to truly love.
For what's ahead, we can revisit the title of the story. The devil's gambit, a final move that sacrifices material for an advantageous position. Who plays the devil? It may be Cadgan and Rian, or "the Devil of Rannai". Perhaps it is Silvareth, their parallel. It may be the Eye itself, staging its own gambit to subvert Nature through its abandoned children. It may even be Hector. But whoever holds the last piece, the title is a reminder that this is a tale towards an act -- that every party moves with intention towards being seen.
Through the story, I felt the same desire to be seen for my own truths. And when this story strives to subvert nature for truth, maybe that makes it a devil too.