Just finished a re-read of the series in order to catch up on this volume, extremely disappointed to learn that this is also me catching up to JP. /sigh
@Windsagio said in Seventh Vol. 10 Discussion!:
To me it was clear. Basil. Basil Walt, the founder beat Agrissa.
he was the one who absolutely insisted the child of calamity is real
Unfortunately, the timelines don't really add up for this. The fall of the pan-continental empire is supposed to be ~300+ years ago. Assuming an average generational length about 30 years (which is on the longer side of estimates), that'd be 10+ generations ago, but even including Lyle, we're only at 9 maximum.
Also, having just finished the reread, I was able to roughly remember when Basil talked in detail about the Heretical God's Child, and the quote supports my generational math:
"The way my gramps told it, it almost sounded like they were locked in a dream. When asked what their motivations were—why they split into loyalists and traditionalists and fought each other—he said they had no idea. Why do you think that is?” the founder asked solemnly.
“Uh, maybe because their passion for freedom had cooled—”
“Wrong! It’s because of the Heretical God’s Child!”
So we’re going down this road again, huh? But I decided to keep my silence and listen to what he had to say.
“Have you heard of the Courtesan Beauty, Agrissa?
(Vol 1, Ch 5) (emphasis mine).
Novem’s memory is specifically about Basil, in comparison to Lyle.
I'm not sure this counts for much -- Novem seems to know things about all the feudal Walt heads and their (mis)deeds. She's seemingly knowledgable about the 5th's relationship with a Qilin, the 6th's bastard child in a village in the middle of nowhere (which is supported, I think, by the idea that the village was getting financial support while his kid was alive despite no Walt head knowing about it -- gotta be the Fuchs, right?), and the 7th's predilection for snapping to open up his Box space (as well as the arguably more-damning fact that the snapping is not actually necessary to open the holes). She also seems to be familiar with the 3rd's tendency to say "let's have fun with this" or something similar when jumping into things, since she's initially surprised that Lyle has picked that up.
it explains why the Walt family has Septem’s Jewel.
This one's already explained:
“Yes,” Novem affirmed. “The yellow Jewel Ceres holds is the same yellow Jewel that Lady Zenoah brought into House Walt.”
The seventh powerlessly agreed. “That’s right. Zenoah was looking after it. If everything went without incident, she was supposed to pass it down to Clare or Ceres, but...”
(Vol 7, "Ch 86" [9th chapter of that volume])
They didn't always have it, it was a late/recent addition.
Hope it doesn't feel like I'm ripping into you or anything, but once I noticed, I felt I had to point all this out.
I just caught onto this while writing this, but "Septem" and "Novem" are quite similar names. "Septem" derives (at least, in our world -- who know if it's the same diegetically) from the Latin "sept", meaning literally the number 7... which tracks, since that's apparently the name of the 7th Goddess.
If "Novem" is supposed to have the same kind of etymology (i.e. a Latin root modified with "-em"), "Nov" would either be the number 9 or relating to "new" (Latin "novus", from which modern English derives words like "novice" and "nova"). If I had to bet which of the two it is, I'd bet on the former, but really neither would surprise me.
As for whether it's supposed to have the same kind of etymology... I'd say it's almost certain if you consider this line we heard way back before we could parse its significance:
With the staff in hand, Gerald offered it to Novem. “Take this with you. It’s only one single staff. Even if the Walts do complain, we can easily make excuses. Besides, it’s only fitting that you have this. You have inherited the name Novem, after all...”
(Vol 1, Prologue) (emphasis mine)
(EDIT: added/fixed volume and chapter references)
