The madman

The madman is a single-appearance antagonist in City of Last Chances, a figure in an Indweller beggar's costume and wooden mask who ambushes Vidsya Sirovar and Shantrov Sirovar in the pre-dawn hours before the garrison raid on Gownhall, killing Vidsya in the streets of Rathbridge while screaming for an unnamed object he calls "it." His significance to the novel's architecture lies not in what he reveals but in what he withholds: the weapon he pursues, the identity Vidsya recognises before he stabs her, and the nature of the force that drives him past all reason and self-preservation are never named. He functions as a manifestation of the city's deeper pathology - a man reduced to a single desperate need, unable to cross the ward-line of the Reproach and shouting accusations at something no one else can see.

His arc is instantaneous and terminal. He falls from the coach roof, murders Vidsya in a frenzy, recalibrates his pursuit to Shantrov, and is halted by the inscribed bronze wards ringing the cursed district. His final image is one of frustrated impotence at the threshold of the Reproach, shouting at an unseen adversary. In a novel preoccupied with what cities do to the people inside them, the madman is the figure who states plainly, mid-slaughter, that he "only ever wanted to save the city" - a line that reframes the entire confrontation as a grotesque act of distorted loyalty rather than simple predation. His relationship to the Indweller beggar tradition, to the wooden mask he claws at his own throat, and to the two opposed "Its" he distinguishes in his ravings are left wholly unexplained within the single chapter of his appearance.

Character

Appearance

He presents as a dark shape dropping from the coach roof, then as a man dressed in an Indweller beggar's costume with a wooden mask fixed to his face - ch 35. Throughout the confrontation he clutches the mask at his throat, physically fighting to pull it over his face, as though the mask were an external force trying to consume him - ch 35. No further physical detail is given; he is seen entirely through Vidsya's terror and Shantrov's frozen horror.

Personality

His temperament swings between screaming frenzy and eerie, flat calm. He demands his object in repeated shrieks, then speaks levelly to Shantrov moments after carving Vidsya's body open - ch 35. He is fixated to the point of self-contradiction: he says he needs "it" to keep him safe, yet also insists "it" is going to make him, a thing he dreads - ch 35. His obsession with the mask mirrors his obsession with the object; both are external forces he resists while simultaneously being drawn toward them. In his final moments he directs a childish, wounded cry - "It's not fair!" - at something beyond his target, suggesting the rage is never really about the person in front of him - ch 35.

Beliefs & Motivations

He asserts a single justifying claim: "I only ever wanted to save the city" - ch 35. Everything else flows from his desperate need for the unnamed "it," which he insists will keep him safe, and his simultaneous terror that "it" will remake him against his will - ch 35. He distinguishes between two opposed "Its," one pursuing him and one he claims to need, though their nature and the difference between them are never specified - ch 35. He does not appear to regard Vidsya or Shantrov as enemies in any personal sense; she simply "didn't have it," and he turns to the next person who might - ch 35. His physical inability to cross the ward-line of the Reproach is the one absolute limit on his pursuit, and he accepts it without attempt - ch 35.

History

City of Last Chances

The madman appears once in the course of the novel, in the pre-dawn hours preceding the garrison raid on Gownhall, when Vidsya Sirovar is driving her cousin Shantrov Sirovar out of the city by coach through the Gutter Districts of Portbridge and Rathbridge - ch 35. A dark shape falls from the coach roof behind them, and when the vehicle crashes onto its side on the dilapidated Rathbridge, the horses shriek and fall silent - ch 35. Vidsya is hauled screaming from the overturned coach by the figure: a man in an Indweller beggar's costume, wearing a wooden mask, who clings to her at the edge of an overgrown dyke and demands an unnamed object, screaming "Give it to me! You took it. I need it!" - ch 35. Vidsya recognises him - "I know you-" - before he knifes her in the breast and continues carving, still insisting he needs "it" to keep him safe - ch 35.

When Shantrov Sirovar draws his sword but freezes at the sight of Vidsya "turned into meat," the madman speaks calmly: "She didn't have it. You've got it." He asserts that "She gave it to you," and speaks of two opposed "Its" - one that is pursuing him, and one he says he needs - ch 35. He states, "It's going to make me. I don't want it to make me. I need it," and later cries, "I only ever wanted to save the city" - ch 35. Throughout the confrontation he clutches the wooden mask at his throat, fighting to pull it over his face; the mask is connected to the "it" he pursues - ch 35.

Shantrov Sirovar retreats into the overgrown scar beyond the last buildings, and the madman will not cross the ward-line of the Reproach. Shantrov realises the horses died at the inscribed bronze wards buried in a ring around the cursed district - "an unbroken chain to cage the curse of the place" - and that the madman, whatever possesses him, cannot enter - ch 35. The madman then glances past Shantrov into the ruins and shouts at something else: "You can't have it! It's not fair!" - ch 35. He is last seen at the ward-line, his confrontation with Shantrov ending in the madman's frustrated shout directed beyond his intended target - ch 35.

The madman's exact identity, his relationship to the Indweller beggar tradition, and what Vidsya recognised in him before her death remain unresolved. The nature of the "it" he pursues, and the distinction between the two opposed "Its" he describes - the one that hunts him and the one he claims to need - are likewise left unexplained - ch 35. What possesses him, and the source of his fixation on the wooden mask, go unaccounted for within the chapter.

Relationships

• Vidsya Sirovar - She recognises him at the moment of attack - "I know you-" - but dies before completing the identification, while he stabs and carves her, insisting he needs "it" and that she "took it" - ch 35. The recognition implies a prior acquaintance of unspecified nature; its content is never recovered.
• Shantrov Sirovar - After killing Vidsya, the madman recalibrates his demand onto Shantrov, calmly informing him that "She gave it to you" and that he holds the object - ch 35. He pursues Shantrov to the ward-line of the Reproach but will not cross, and his attention shifts past Shantrov to an unseen presence in the ruins - ch 35.

Notable Quotes

"Give it to me! You took it. I need it!" - the madman, City of Last Chances, ch 35

"She didn't have it. You've got it." - the madman, City of Last Chances, ch 35

"It's going to make me. I don't want it to make me. I need it." - the madman, City of Last Chances, ch 35

"I only ever wanted to save the city." - the madman, City of Last Chances, ch 35

"You can't have it! It's not fair!" - the madman, City of Last Chances, ch 35

Tags

1. assassin · #indweller-disguise · #murder