Rafal, The Prophecy, And The Tale Of Faithful John

Rafal, the Prophecy, and the Tale of “Faithful John”

"Trusty John," "Faithful Johannes," or "John the True" are alternate names to this fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. I feel like Rafal fits the “Faithful John” archetype.

Here’s the tale for context:

TLDR: In the tale, an old king is about to die. He asks Faithful John, his most trusted servant, to watch over his son. Faithful John vows to do so, and to give his life, if it comes to that. The king also commands Faithful John to show the prince the entire castle, except for one forbidden chamber containing the portrait of the golden princess, whom the king believes his son will fall violently in love with. The young king (formerly the prince) finally gets Faithful John to show him what is behind the door. Predictably, the young king falls in love, and goes off to woo the princess. Once the young king has captured the princess, Faithful John overhears three ravens talking about the young king’s certain yet preventable death. Faithful John decides to take on the burden, and not tell the king because he doesn’t want to be turned to stone for saving the king as a side effect. Faithful John does various tasks, and the young king continues to defend Faithful John despite his odd actions because of their trust. But, after the final task, the king cannot understand what Faithful John has been doing, sees Faithful John as a traitor, and sentences him to death. Faithful John confesses to his valiant deeds, and the king finally understands, but Faithful John turns to stone. The king mourns him, makes a sacrifice to bring Faithful John back to life, and Faithful John, the young king, the queen (formerly the princess), and their children live happily ever after.

Now for the parallels:

The young king = Rhian

Faithful John = Rafal

The princess = whichever of Rhian’s love-interests, take your pick.

The ravens = the Sader prophecy

Faithful John is the only one in the know. And, he’s overhears that he can never tell his master why. He does what he does. And, it looks like he’s actively thwarting his master's chances at True Love, but actually he’s sparing the king from a painful death, every time, even when he takes on personal sacrifices. He’s basically this under-appreciated, loyal, and actually competent companion. This sounds a bit like Rafal in Rise to me. Because it looks like, from the outside, that he is sabotaging his master’s chances at an ending, but he’s so loyal that he’s doing the very opposite! The people must have scoffed at him about the horse, and looked at him like he was a loon. The bridal garment would have burned through skin, and people wonder at his decisions. It would be sheer common sense if they knew, just like how Rafal shouldn’t withhold the prophecy from Rhian. But, "common sense" is not so common. Or, in Rafal's case, arcane knowledge is hard to come by. Is that too much to ask, for him to tell Rhian? Probably. Anyway, the point is that the king made a major sacrifice, and revives him because Faithful John was so faithful and deserved better, just like Rafal, assuming Rafal doesn’t do anything worse in Fall.

A Cut Epilogue from "Simony"

Here, I present you with a scrapped epilogue to “Simony” that didn’t quite fit in the fic, or meld well with my characterization of Rafal. His murder of Rhian is supposed to be uncalculated and driven by unrestrained emotion, and it comes across as planned in this:

⸻

The Evil intent, the injurious intent, festered in Rafal’s heart since Rhian had wounded him with his words at the start of the year. Rhian hadn’t paused to see how he’d hurt Rafal. To see how Evil would be useless, futile, lack all purpose to live if everyone was reformed to Good. Did Rhian ever spare a thought as to how he’d affect the other side? And look at his brother. His own brother. A revelation, Rafal thought bitterly. A walking contradiction of the waking world. In other words, for Good, not for Balance like he’d once vowed.

For the sake of the Woods, they’d better not judge by appearances again. Yet, that was how it continued, year after year. The tales became predictable, the bound tomes piling up like stones in his tower.

All the princesses were the same. Vapid but virtuous and beautiful, as beautiful as they were virtuous. It didn’t console him to know that all the lovers would become graves in time.

All the villains were the same. Rafal was more than a bit unnerved, but as such was how the tales went: they were as ugly as they were wicked, and they were woefully sore losers. Every new crop of Nevers was worse, more hideous, incompetent, and pitiable than the last. And just as unloveable as he was. Not that any love was worth the effort. Better to teach them they were incapable of love from the beginning.

The “Faithful John” arc relates to how I see Rafal as a constructive villain. He dirties his hands and does what ranges from necessary to extreme, to save Rhian’s reputation, doing him a favor! (When I say “dirty hands,” I mean criminals acts.) Because, Rhian is considerably reputation-/image-obsessed, and can’t publicly stain his hands.

That’s what I consider their dynamic to be. I always think back to that part in Rise where Rafal finds Rhian out in the Woods, and one of them says something like “That’s why you’re you and I’m me,” after Rafal says he’ll mount Vulcan’s head on the wall, if I recall correctly.

Essentially, I characterize Rafal as pure efficiency, taking on the deeds/sins, so Rhian doesn't have to. It is a role, what they are publicly known as. This could change in Fall though.

Fic Snippet

The brothers are around seven years old in this flashback:

"[...] it gave me an idea.”

“What about? I was with the Dean for Etiquette that day. He says ‘Etiquette is what separates Good from boorish Never thugs,’” Rhian intoned.

Rafal’s expression soured, and he rolled his eyes. “Ok, at some point, we have to have a talk about not believing everything you hear.”

That talk, if it ever arose, came to fail miserably. Ha!

Note: I will try to finish this last prediction fic before May 2, if I can.

Evidence that Rafal could be an Ever: Stymphs only like Evers. In book 1, this claim is presented. The Stymphs cuddled Agatha, and attacked Sophie. Also, the Great Mistake wasn’t a mistake; the Stymph was never confused.

At the same time, the Stymphs are Rafal’s birds. So, he could be the exception, not the rule, because he’s their master. Plus, Rafal has a streak of sadism that feels like it disqualifies him from being an Ever, and I think the twins’ Good-Evil statuses are more nuanced than this, probably. By comparison, Agatha’s just morbid, not sadistic.

Sometimes, I think Rafal isn't a School Master, just a glorified custodian, cleaning up Rhian’s messes, and literally the only one with more than a single brain cell.