Reepicheep Is Not Macbeth

by Golden Panther

Having Reepicheep speak like a Shakespearean character is great but not 24/7/365. You can have him speak non-formally to people and still get a message. I was told that this was "boring and Shakespeare was written all over it" which is kind of the point, although in truth, I thought it was interesting. This person didn't, so I posted it for that reason.

Non Omnis Moriar (Not All of Me Shall Die) or Reepicheep's Final Words

In a field not too far from Cair Paravel, Death began reaping a mass collection. Amidst the dead, lifeless bodies of an army bent solely on protecting the King, known simply as Caspian X, lay the last two defendants of the realm.

Without voice or inspiration to speak, the soldier lay dying, content to meet his maker. Standing over him, his comrade, his protector and guardian, with face stern and eyes unmoving from his fallen thought to himself how this had happened. How this friend of his, who stood as a firm beacon of light in a dark, cold, lifeless, unforgiving world, was now dying at his feet.

"Incomprehensible questions are sometimes the ones we need Old Boy." The dying soldier said.

"I swear to you," his friend who stood over him said leaning down, "I will find out who did this. They will suffer to the pleading extent. I will see you justice."

"Justice," the soldier laughed to himself, "a word often mislabeled as vendetta. Do not seek vendetta. It brings nothing but torment, severe complexities to the soul, fierce tempests run them, and good intended sprites answer them. They seek the vengeance of their world that had been slaughtered by vacuous men with misguided reflexive motives. To them, there is no such concept as hierarchy, to the world of a sprite, there is everything and everyone, there are no land barriers, war is not existent. Ideally, sprites are perfect beings, but they have one ruinous flaw that makes them impulsive to run to vendettas. They value every life as being important, as being worthy of justice. Although that is true, the problem that sprites possess is the default setting of constant vendetta. Every morning there is a vendetta and every night it is resolved one way or another. This is why sprites are rather unhappy, because they are constantly seeking vendettas for everything. Justice could simply be the coping of death, the moving on of a person, the law of the land imposing sentence. Never vendetta. That requires murder almost always, which is, almost always, unnecessary. Vendettas lead to self misery, self guilt, and the tendencies to destroy oneself. There's a reason sprites aren't around anymore. They kill themselves. They're too busy trying to avenge everyone that they fail to realize that justice can be served in other ways-vendetta is the last resort sir. Don't go down the road that begins narrowly and ends abruptly, for it will destroy you."

With that the soldier looked up at the sky and smiled, "Oh look," he said, having difficulty breathing. "It's raining." He laughed. "Remember to look up Old Boy, see the stars, and go towards them. Fly on grand oh grand inquisitor show the world my peaceful justice. Non Omnis Moriar." He paused and with his final energy and breath said, "Carry on brother."

The soldier's friend nodded, saluted, and carried his friend, his great patron of wisdom and advice, protector of his soul and now martyr to his people to the sea to be cast out there.

The soldier's name was Reepicheep, the last martyr of war.

His friend's name was Hyperion, and he adhered to Reepicheep's advice, after he ignored it. As he would later dictate for a scribe:

"I followed his instruction and committed myself to nonviolent crusade. I only did so however, after I had completed my vendetta against the perpetrators. For he was my brother, and deserved to be avenged. I guess I'm a sprite then."