Pathologic - Character Quips Part 1 - The Utopians

*Spoilers*

Part 1 of 'Character Quips', following from the previous entry, Linguistic. In this part we will hear from those characters most important to the Bachelor's scenario.

"If we are the majority, the fragile Polyhedron will not be touched. We can support life in it. Maria will be able to work wonders."
(Variations of the above line are spoken by the Utopians on the final day, but curiously, some of them confusingly omit the last word, 'wonders'...)


The Bachelor (Daniel Dankovskiy)
"The poisoned town must be destroyed. It is impregnated by the Sand Filth. It cannot be eradicated in any way."
Awkward: "My head breaks. It is necessary to have a rest."
Insightful: "The truth is not so beneficial as harmful, it appears."


Eve Yahn
Branch: Golden Hair
"I really wanted to give my soul to our Cathedral to bring at least something immortal to it."
"Uh, the pain in my breast is a torture."
Coming from any other character, the above line would probably be unremarkable, but seeing as Eve is clearly presented as the sexiest woman in town, any self-reference to her "breast" is bound to receive attention. 'I understand, Eve, shall I help you to relieve the pain? I hear that a massage is good for that...'

And if that weren't enough, prepare yourselves for this innuendo:

"In my bedroom, it is warmer than here."
Yes, Eve, you don't have to tell me!

Here are some more awkward and funny lines:

"You see my varnish has peeled off."
(Varnish on what, exactly?)
"How still it will become around."
"Do you hear what mad pulse I have?"
And to finish off with some [cryptic] wisdom:

"Sometimes a person is as hardly similar to himself as to others."


George Kain
Branch: Necrology
"I wanted to do everything so that death would never touch my precious brother."
George Kain, being the eldest of the Kain family (one of the three ruling families in town), and brother of alleged immortal Simon, has an abundance of seeming wisdom to share:

"Tell me what you want - and I shall tell you who you are."
"People die more often only because they cannot oppose death."
(Is it me, or is this kind of obvious?)
"By old age, people become more reckless, and wiser."
"Even the most famous act cannot be named great if it is not a consequence of the great plan."
(Dunno about this "great plan", but fame =/= quality? I dig you there, George.)


Victor Kain
Branch: The Mistress
"I had to keep the memory of my wife for the town."
As alluded to here, Victor Kain, brother of George and Simon, was married to the previous Kain Mistress, Nina, now deceased. Victor's daughter Maria follows in her mother's footsteps.

"The blood seems thickening. This, is an ominous sign - right?"
Speaking of ominous signs, many characters have greetings that, rather than being completely non sequitur as many are, serve to add to the spooky atmosphere of the town. Unfortunately, the delivery of these lines often betrays the 'spook'. For example, when Victor says, "I hear rustling", instead of cautiously checking out the window, I find myself chuckling - 'really, Victor, you hear rustling? That's fascinating.' XD

Here's some wisdom for you:

"We resist our passions not because we are strong, but because they are weak."
(Personally, I'm not sure about that one.)
"The best way to be deceived, is to consider yourself more artful than others."
"It's easier to show wisdom in someone other's affairs, than in your own."


Maria Kain
Branch: The Return of Magic
"I wanted to get the power and to create a space where miracles and fine lawlessnesses would have been possible."
Fine lawlessnesses? Beats me. Or wait, does she mean the laws of Nature? That would make sense, I guess.

"In me there is more life than I can live."
"Ah, why can not I move?"
I just love the way she says that one - a bit dramatic. (You'll have to trust me that these are written 'sic'.)

"Our whims are more freakish than whims of destiny."
"It seems to me all the time that someone looks at us, from the other side."
(Creepy, but...other side of what? Death? Or the curtain?)
"No, those who have fewer passions and more virtues are differentiated by the greatness of spirit from the vulgar people. Only those who have really great plans..."
Sometimes I wonder if there is a time limit on these greetings, resulting in some confusing truncations...


Andrei Stamatin
Branch: Jump Above The Head
"I have done everything that I wanted."
The first half of the Stamatin brothers duo - the architects employed by the Kain family to build magic structural shells for their miracles - Andrei, who hangs out at the tavern and patronizes the local exotic dancers, can be considered a man of vice.

"Why do you all come and stare at me?"
"The destiny is considered to be blind, mainly by those whom it does not grant luck. It was an aphorism."
"A fake is always unpleasant. Because of those features which are charming in the original, that is cruel."
"Ohh, I would give vent to my hands, if it wasn't for these brackets?"
Alright, that one is just hilarious. There are some cases where I wasn't quite sure what the character was saying, as what they were saying made very little sense, but this is the best I could come up with for this one. Besides seeming to make no sense at all, what makes this line so very funny is the way it is read. The voice actor gets to the end of the sentence, and reads the final word incredulously, with a questioning inflection, almost as if he was just as baffled reading it off the script as I was listening to it - it's almost as if he's saying to himself, 'brackets? Is that the word? That can't be right, that doesn't make any sense at all!' XD Or, maybe he saw a pair of empty brackets at the end of the sentence, the result of an incomplete translation...

"I have danced all my dances. The show is over."


Petr Stamatin
Branch: Calligrapher
"They could not allow me to forget about my deed, and they could not kill me. So, everything...just...begins."
Alllllright... Petr has a reputation for drowning his concerns in Twyrine, after all...

"Drink with me!"
"The head stiffens from bad Twyrine. It is good!"
"Your face blurs - are you sick?"
(I think we know, Petr, which one of us is sick...)
However, Petr also has a fair dose of [drunken] wisdom to share:

"The main thing is not to have time to think. This...is a ticket to paradise."
"We, brother, easily forget our mistakes when they're known only to us. So, this is so."
(Oh, is this so, then?)
"We are afraid of everything, brother, as all mortals are. And, we want everything. As if immortality is granted to us."


Mark Immortal
Mark Immortal, owner and impresario of the Theatre, is a curious character, who spends the whole game in the safety of his Theatre, almost detached from the terrors of the town (except when his Theatre gets turned into a 'hospital' - actually more like a morgue - and he starts complaining about having a stiff audience). But, he possesses a penchant for the dramatic.

"People who are more likely to slander themselves, rather than be silent about themselves."
(Not without awkward grammar, of course.)
"Even the most reasonable people are reasonable only in insignificant matters. In the significant affairs, the reason usually fails them."
"Real crafty is the one who is able to hide the cunning."
"While someone is able to do good, he is not threatened to face an ingratitude."
"We are all strong enough to bear a misfortune of the neighbor."
"Having lost the hope to find a reason in those around, we already do not try to keep it themselves."
(Wha-?)


Young Vlad
Branch: The Blood of Land
"Actually, I found out hence that occurs. The conclusions are obvious."
Right, clearly obvious.

Despite being a member of the Olgimskiy family, and his connections with the Burakh family (with which the Haruspicus shares blood), it appears that Young Vlad is in fact a Utopian, believe it or not (I myself was surprised). Although the fact that he is not on the best terms with his father, and lives in a separate bricked-up house where he works on his well, may corroborate that.

"Was it a sound from the well, or...am I just nervy?"
(Yes, he actually says "nervy".)
"Self interest plays any role - even a role of unselfishness."
"Who never made follies is not so wise as it seems to him."
"It is easier to operate people than to prevent them from operating us."
(I assume he's talking about psychology, and not surgery...)
"We promise in accordance with our calculations, and we carry out in accordance with our fears."


The Inquisitor (Aglaja Lilich)
Despite her opposition to the Utopians, and her feelings for the Haruspicus, the Bachelor has the most direct communication with the Inquisitor, so I include her here.

"People do not cease to surprise me. I know too little about the limits of the possible."
"How many crows gathered above the town?"
Stay tuned for Part 2!