Final Watch
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Final Watch (Posledniy Dozor, Последний дозор) a fantasy novel by w Russian writer Sergey Lukyanenko, sequel to Night Watch, Day Watch and Twilight Watch.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The entire tetralogy is devoted to the Others - humans able to draw on the magical force flowing through the world. They can enter into the Gloom, a shadowy dimension next to our own, from where they also draw power to perform their magic. The Gloom itself is divided into levels, with each level harder to accss than the one above it. While every Other may enter the first level, only the most powerful ones can get as far as the fifth, and the select few can get through to the sixth. While the first levels are unpleasant and devoid of life (apart from blue moss in the first level), fifth and sixth levels are quite hospitable, with life and vegetation. Nobody knows what is in the seventh level, as no one has enough power to get there. The Others are divided int the Light Others and Dark Others. They are opposed to each other and once they were at constant war. After realising that no side is likely to win, and that the world and ordinary people would suffer too much from magical wars, both sides signed a Great Treaty. The Treaty forces both sides to keep the balance on both sides and limits the ways in which they can use their powers. Light Others created Night Watch, to make sure that the Dark Ones keep the Treaty while the Dark Others created Day Watch, to watch the Light Ones. The Inquisition oversees both sides and ensures balance between them. Both sides watch out for potential new Others, whom they can initiate into the use of magic. Each Other must either choose Light or Dark - usually they make their choice the first time they enter the Gloom and neither Watch may influence their decision. The decision, once made, is final.
The Others live for centuries and can easily influence human minds, making people do their bidding (they are not allowed to do that, however). There are many different ways they can hone their abilities and specialise, both on the sides of Light and Dark. Vampires and werewolves, lowest form of Others, are always Dark and they are the only kind of Others who are able to pass their abilities to ordinary humans - otherwise an Other cannot be made, only born. Others can recharge their strength using human emotions - Light ones from positive emotions, like joy or happiness, and Dark ones from negative ones, like hatred and pain. When a Light Other uses someone's positive emotions, the emotions become weaker. When a Dark Other uses someone's pain or hatred to recharge, those feelings become stronger.
The Others' magical powers do not come from extra magic they have. In reality, magical force is produced by ordinary living people - the Others produce less magic, therefore instead of emitting it, their bodies absorb it, allowing them to use it. The less magic one's body emits, the stronger their magical abilities will be. However, very few Others know this truth - that in reality they are nothing more than parasites, using humanity - and few of those who know like this.
[edit] Story
Anton Gorodetsky is learning to use his new power, when Geser sends him to assist the Scottish Night Watch in Edinburgh in a murder investigation. A young Russian man was murder in a "Vampire Castle", a tourist attraction - apparently he was killed by a vampire. The mystery is greater than it seemed. Someone is trying to attack Anton using robots. Finally the head of Scottish Night Watch, Thomas Lermont, reveals that someone stole an artifact from Merlin's grave and is apparently trying to use this artifact to open Merlin's secret storage. In that mysterious place Merlin apparently hid the "Crown of All" (nobody knows what it is). After the Night Watch is attacked by ordinary humans equipped with magical amulets and bullets, Thomas and Anton follow someone to the Gloom. They get as far as the sixth level (first time for Anton), but all they find out is that there are three people behind this - a Light Other, a Dark Other and an Inquisitor. Thomas also tells Anton that the seventh level of the Gloom is the Others' paradise, where they can exist in peace together (upon death, Others just vanish into the Gloom). Merlin has hidden the Crown of All in the seventh level of the Gloom.
All Others are very worried about these happenings. Geser sends Anton to Uzbekistan, to look up Rustam, a contemporary and friend of Merlin, and a former friend - later an enemy - of Geser. He might know something about where the Crown is hidden and what it is. When Anton is visiting the Night Watch in Uzbekistan, they are again attacked by humans with amulets and magical weapons. Various clues begin to point to Anton's friend, Kostya Saushkin, as one of the perpetrators, even though he is certainly dead. Anton manages to find Rustam. He tells him that the Crown of All is a spell which will destroy the barriers dividing individual levels of the Gloom, as well as the barrier between the Gloom and reality. It might cause the end of the world, strip all Others of their powers or maybe kill them - Rustam doesn't know, nor does he care. They are attacked again and Anton learns that his one-time friend, the Inquisitor Edgar, is one of the mysterious trio of Others.
Back in Moscow, Anton figures out who is the Dark Other in the mysterious trio - it is Gennadiy Saushkin, Kostya's father. They can't identify the Light Other. Both Watches assign operatives to protect Anton's and Svetlana's five-year-old daughter, Nadya, the only zero-level Other in the world (she does not produce any magical energy, she can only absorb, therefore her power is practically unlimited; Merlin was also a zero-level Other). Only zero-level Others may get to the seventh level of the Gloom. Edgar and Gennadiy kidnap Anton (they can't get to Nadya) and take him Edinburgh, so that he can help them figure out a way to get to the Crown. Edgar found some information in the archives of the Inquisition saying that the Crown of All will give all the Others who departed into the Gloom the thing they want most. In Edgar's interpretation it will bring them back to life, and he wants to reunite with his wife who was killed. Gennadiy wants to get his son and wife back. They meet the third part of the trio, or. as they call themselves, the Final Watch - the witch Arina, who managed to change her affiliation to Light. Anton does figure out Merlin's secret, but he knows the Final Watch will not like it and he manages to lie to them. They take him to the fifth level of the Gloom, were they encounter Merlin's guardian. While the Final Watch is busy fighting it, Anton gets to the sixth level. There he meets Merlin as well as Tiger Cub, Igor, Alice and all his Other friends who departed into the Gloom, including Kostya (who tells him he doesn't blame him). They are all hoping he will activate the Crown. However, he cannot go back, because the Final Watch is there and he cannot go forward to the seventh level, because he doesn't have enough power. At this point Nadya appears - Svetlana just initiated her and sent her to get her father. Travelling through all levels of the Gloom is not a problem for Nadya. She takes Anton forward - back to the real world. The Gloom goes in a circle. The seventh level is the one we all live in.
Anton goes to activate the Crown of All, which is indeed hidden in the seventh level. Merlin put the spell in the ancient stones of the Edinburgh Castle. The Final Watch appears, but Anton will not be bothered with them. Edgar got things wrong. The thing the Others in the Gloom want most is not resurrection, but death. There is no paradise there, they are stuck forever in a world were everything is just a pale copy, trapped in an imitation of life. They want it to end, because once they fully die, they can be reborn. Merlin has foreseen this and created his spell (its Gloom-destroying effect is temporary). However, the lost Others asked Anton to forgive, so he allows Gennadiy and Edgar to die, so that they can join their loved ones before it's too late. Arina chooses to live. Then Anton activates the Crown.
[edit] Characters:
[edit] Light Others
- Anton Gorodetsky (Grand Light Mage) - a member of Night Watch. During the series he went from a low-level mage to a Grand Light Mage. He is fully aware of the nature of the Others, of the way they operate and he's quite cynical about Light Others and their cause (he's not overly keen on Dark Others either). His favorite pastime is listening to randomly arranged custom mini-discs. He is married to Svetlana and has a daughter who is the most powerful Other in the world.
- Boris Ignatyevich/Geser (Grand Light Mage) - an ancient mage of Tibetan descent who taught a number of heroes and philosophers during his lifetime. He moved to Europe during the early 15th century. Although he has had many opportunities to advance to high-level posts within Night Watch, he chose to remain a regional director of the Moscow division. Geser is a battle-hardened tactician who's been known to turn devastating defeats into small victories. He cares a great deal about his subordinates, though he doesn't hesitate to put them in harm's way for the sake of greater good. However, Geser's idea of "greater good" might sometimes be hard to understand.
- Svetlana (Grand Light Sorceress) - a young doctor who became a Grand Light Sorceress. Her powers were severaly drained by the Mirror and later restored by the Inquisition. She is currently married to Anton and has a daughter who the most powerful Other in the world. Svetlana left the Night Watch to save her relationship with Anton - her powers were much greater than his and it was putting big strain on their love. Since then his powers increased to Beyond Categories (i.e. outside the usual 1-7 scale used for Others) and now match her own, but she did not go back.
- Nadya Gorodetskaya (Grand Light Sorceress) - a five-year-old daughter of Anton and Svetlana. Even at her young age, she's capable of feats few Light Others can match. In spite of the knowledge that comes with such power, she retains child-like innocence, which occasionally results in her using her powers without thinking of the consequences. She is a Zero-level Other - she does not emit magic, only absorb. In all the novels, only two more Others had such a level: Jesus and Merlin. Nadya was intended to be the Light Messiah, with help of Geser's manipulations with fate. However, due to Zavulon's intrigue, the only Light Other apparently able to be a teacher and mentor to a Messiah, voluntarily defleshed himself. Nadya is still going to become an incredibly powerful Light Sorceress, but it is not certain whether she will actually become Light Messiah.
- Olga (Grand Light Sorceress) - an old friend and an occasional lover of Geser. She served as a mentor to Svetlana.
- Semyon (Light Mage) - a crusty, experienced mage with a wryly cynical outlook on the world. Unlike many of his fellow mages, he is a capable fighter even without his magic.
- Foma (Thomas) Lermont - once known as Thomas the Rhymer. Head of Scottish Night Watch and friend of Geser.
[edit] Dark Others
- Zavulon (Grand Dark Mage) - an ancient schemer about the same age as Geser. His true form has taken on demonic characteristics because he had spent a great deal of time in the Gloom.
- Gennadiy Saushkin (High Vampire) - father of Kostya Saushkin, once a neighbour of Anton. Gennadiy was a model vampire, who never hunted and lived on donors' blood. After losing his son and wife (she defleshed herself voluntarily after Kostya's death) Gennadiy was possesd with idea of revenge against Anton, whom he blamed for everything. He boosted himself to High Vampire (by drinking all blood of fifty humans) and later joined the Final Watch.
[edit] Unaffiliated
- Edgar (Dark Mage, Inquisitor) - a strong dark mage (1-2 level) that had been recruited to the Day Watch from Estonia. After getting tired of Zavulon's schemes, he joins the Inquisition. Interestingly, while Maxim divorced his wife when he joined the Inquisition, Edgar got married (to a witch). After losing his wife in a car crash Edgar, obsessed with the idea of getting her back, became a renegade. He found information about the Crown of All and with two other Others created the Final Watch to get to it. Edgar will stop at nothing if he believes it will get him to his goal.
- Arina (Grand Light Healer) - once an extremely powerful Dark Witch. She was involved in an experiment intended to create a perfect society, organised by both Watches together with the Inquisition, but she sabotaged it, together with an unknown Light Mage. Then she put herself to sleep for several decades, to wait out the hunt. Arina does most of her magic using plants and herbs. Though she chose Darkness, she is not evil and does not like to hurt people. After events in the Twilight Watch Arina became the second Other in history to change affiliation when she switched to Light. For idealistic reasons she became the leader of the Final Watch.
- Rustam (Grand Light Mage) - Rustam is an ancient mage, a contemporary of Merlin, with whom he was friends. He was also a close friend of Geser once, but they fell out later. Rustam finally became a recluse, after he lost interest in the world. He moved permanently to the Gloom (but he did not disperse in it), visiting the reality only occasionally - for those purposes he borrows the body of Afandi, a relatively low-level old Other he once initiated. Rustam lives close to the Plain of Demons, a place were once he and Geser fought a war against Dark Others and used a spell so terrible that no one ever dared to use it since. That spell caused disruption in all levels of the Gloom, causing the opposing mages not to vanish into the Gloom, but to turn to stone in the real world, remaining alive but immobile and without any senses. They are still there.
- Merlin - one of the few zero-level mages who ever lived. He left many artifacts and spells, including the one Geser and Rustam used on the Plain of Demons. He was the only Other who changed his affiliation (going from Light to Dark), until Arina. Apart from other artifacts and spells, he left behind the Crown of All, hidden in the deepest level of the Gloom and protected by carefully set obstacles and guardians.
| Sergey Lukyanenko |
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| Bibliography |
| Island Russia: Today, Mom ! · Island Russia · Tsar, Tsarevich, King, Prince |
| A Lord from Planet Earth: A Princess Is Worth Death · The Planet which Doesn't Exist · Glass Sea |
| Line of Delirium: Line of Delirium · Emperors of Illusions · Shadows of Dreams |
| Labyrinth of Reflections: Labyrinth of Reflections · False Mirrors · Transparent Stained-Glass Windows |
| The Stars Are Cold Toys: The Stars Are Cold Toys · Star Shadow |
| World of Watches: Night Watch · Day Watch · Twilight Watch · Final Watch |
| Genome: Genome · Dances on the Snow |
| Seekers of the Sky: Cold Shores · Morning Nears |
| Other fiction:: Knights of Forty Islands · Nuclear Dream · The Boy and the Darkness · Autumn Visits · Not the Time for Dragons · Spectrum · Rough Draft |
| Short Story Collections:: H is for Human · Nuclear Dream · Gadget |
