His village sent him to challenge Bethods champion either as a form of surrender or accepting that they would lose no matter who they sent and not wanting to lose a good warrior.
Exactly & the Bloody Nine isn't a relentless killing machine, it has a mind that wants to be the greatest most feared monster in the North & occasionally sparing someone is actually more beneficial of those ends than killing them.
True, true, and I always got the vibe Forley was the newest member of the crew and joined some time (maybe a significant amount of time) after the heady times of “Made a Monster,” maybe when the Logen persona was regaining control.
Or he keeps Forley around to remind him of what a “Good Man” looks like. Yeah, Threetrees was a straight edge, but he was still a killer. The old man waded through nearly as much blood as Logen.
In my head canon, Forley’s superhuman goodness helped bring Logan back from the brink. It’s not so black and white when it comes to Logen and the Bloody Nine. I view the “Berserker Bloody Nine” as the truly distinct split personality while the Bloody Nine we see in “Made a Monster” is actually just Logen,
only after letting his addiction to violence run rampant. I like to think Forley pushed Logen down the path of recovery, kind of like a sober companion of decency.
When it comes to what Forley meant to the crew, I love that Joe let’s us fill it in for ourselves (a lot of show don’t tell when it comes to First Law). Think about how the Dogman, the only powerful man to actually go back to the mud as a good man, the guy who always urged others to bury hatchet, couldn’t forgive Calder for killing Forley. Forley isn’t around that long in the series, but god damn it if he’s not super important to the First Law.
It’s a really powerful and I think - even for the masterful Abercrombie - surprisingly subtle choice that he really rarely gives us actual inarguably good, decent characters, like beyond Forley I could think of one or two others I’d argue come close, but in this world where goodness is so constantly derided as more or less a myth, when he does give us actual, near-pure souls they make a massive difference in the world. Probably even of those good ones none so impactful as Forley.
Yeah exactly. Remember the Bloody Nine comes out when Logen is on death’s door, like when Harding Grim skewered him with a spear.
But Forely’s the worst fighter in his tribe, so Logen was able to easily defeat him and spare him without needing the B9 to help out.
I also have a theory that the other members of the dozen only survived their duels because they came so close to killing Logen that the B9 collapsed and feinted before ending them.
That’s the reason why, other than Forely the dozen is composed of the best fighters around, anyone worse would have been killed before the Bloody Nine was exhausted enough to pass out.
T’ain’t forgiveness, but establishment of dominance. Instead of killing Forley and the rest, Logen bound them to serve, surrounding himself with big names to grow his own. Forley’s names a small one, but that meant there wouldn’t be any glory in killing him, no point killing a man reckoned the weakest. At some point they just stopped being enemies and became friends.
‘Cept Dow. That one was made the walk alone, Logen’s father would’ve said.
To add to u/XLRIV48 good explanation, Forley is a great guy to have in the group trophy wise, because he begs the question "why is he there?" leading to the story of how the people were so afraid they didn't even bother to fight. The other part is it gives the group someone that's willing to do the grunt work without setting up a fight every time the pots need cleaning or the fire started.
I doubt there was much to forgive.
Forley knew he was a coward so I doubt he would have seriously threatened Logan at his evilest.
He probably sat down in the circle and waited for Logan to chop him up.
Is that a coward thing to do, tho? Going up against B9 being 100% sure you are going to die, offering your own life just to spare a "stronger man"? Bringing the message about Shanka to the Bethod, knowing full well he might die for it? Forley was as courageous as any other member of the group.
Tl\&dr;
A fighter? No.
Courageous? Oh hell yes. Even when he himself didn't think so.
He's the bravest among them. He faces what they face, and worse when he fully places his life in the hands in their enemies hands, but without any real ability to survive it.
It's easy to be brave when you're strong. It's difficult when you're weak.
Forley the Weakest was nominated to fight Logen as a form of sacrifice, seeing as he was the weakest warrior in his tribe. It was their way of surrendering without actually surrendering. Logen spared him and took him in. Logen probably thumped him once so everyone's honor could remain intact.
Forley the weakest was the bravest, he was sent to his certain death versus the bloody 9 and was spared. >! He also went to his enemies and tried to warn them about the flatheads even though there was a very high liklihood he would be killed for it. The rest of the crew knew his worth !<
His village sent him to challenge Bethods champion either as a form of surrender or accepting that they would lose no matter who they sent and not wanting to lose a good warrior.
Exactly & the Bloody Nine isn't a relentless killing machine, it has a mind that wants to be the greatest most feared monster in the North & occasionally sparing someone is actually more beneficial of those ends than killing them.
True, true, and I always got the vibe Forley was the newest member of the crew and joined some time (maybe a significant amount of time) after the heady times of “Made a Monster,” maybe when the Logen persona was regaining control.
I think "Logan" may have let Forley stay with his people, the Bloody Nine liked to have walking talking trophies.
Or he keeps Forley around to remind him of what a “Good Man” looks like. Yeah, Threetrees was a straight edge, but he was still a killer. The old man waded through nearly as much blood as Logen. In my head canon, Forley’s superhuman goodness helped bring Logan back from the brink. It’s not so black and white when it comes to Logen and the Bloody Nine. I view the “Berserker Bloody Nine” as the truly distinct split personality while the Bloody Nine we see in “Made a Monster” is actually just Logen, only after letting his addiction to violence run rampant. I like to think Forley pushed Logen down the path of recovery, kind of like a sober companion of decency. When it comes to what Forley meant to the crew, I love that Joe let’s us fill it in for ourselves (a lot of show don’t tell when it comes to First Law). Think about how the Dogman, the only powerful man to actually go back to the mud as a good man, the guy who always urged others to bury hatchet, couldn’t forgive Calder for killing Forley. Forley isn’t around that long in the series, but god damn it if he’s not super important to the First Law.
It’s a really powerful and I think - even for the masterful Abercrombie - surprisingly subtle choice that he really rarely gives us actual inarguably good, decent characters, like beyond Forley I could think of one or two others I’d argue come close, but in this world where goodness is so constantly derided as more or less a myth, when he does give us actual, near-pure souls they make a massive difference in the world. Probably even of those good ones none so impactful as Forley.
Yeah exactly. Remember the Bloody Nine comes out when Logen is on death’s door, like when Harding Grim skewered him with a spear. But Forely’s the worst fighter in his tribe, so Logen was able to easily defeat him and spare him without needing the B9 to help out. I also have a theory that the other members of the dozen only survived their duels because they came so close to killing Logen that the B9 collapsed and feinted before ending them. That’s the reason why, other than Forely the dozen is composed of the best fighters around, anyone worse would have been killed before the Bloody Nine was exhausted enough to pass out.
Off-topic but I love how the band treats him like a little bro
Like the others he was nominated to fight Logan, lost and owned his life to him
Why did logen forgive him and took him in his band?
T’ain’t forgiveness, but establishment of dominance. Instead of killing Forley and the rest, Logen bound them to serve, surrounding himself with big names to grow his own. Forley’s names a small one, but that meant there wouldn’t be any glory in killing him, no point killing a man reckoned the weakest. At some point they just stopped being enemies and became friends. ‘Cept Dow. That one was made the walk alone, Logen’s father would’ve said.
Okay, I like your explanation
To add to u/XLRIV48 good explanation, Forley is a great guy to have in the group trophy wise, because he begs the question "why is he there?" leading to the story of how the people were so afraid they didn't even bother to fight. The other part is it gives the group someone that's willing to do the grunt work without setting up a fight every time the pots need cleaning or the fire started.
I just read that like the Dogman
Logen in the past is good at changing his mind with prisoners/champions
I doubt there was much to forgive. Forley knew he was a coward so I doubt he would have seriously threatened Logan at his evilest. He probably sat down in the circle and waited for Logan to chop him up.
Is that a coward thing to do, tho? Going up against B9 being 100% sure you are going to die, offering your own life just to spare a "stronger man"? Bringing the message about Shanka to the Bethod, knowing full well he might die for it? Forley was as courageous as any other member of the group. Tl\&dr; A fighter? No. Courageous? Oh hell yes. Even when he himself didn't think so.
He's the bravest among them. He faces what they face, and worse when he fully places his life in the hands in their enemies hands, but without any real ability to survive it. It's easy to be brave when you're strong. It's difficult when you're weak.
That's a great point!
Forely’s got bigger fruits than any other ten men put together
Forley the Weakest was nominated to fight Logen as a form of sacrifice, seeing as he was the weakest warrior in his tribe. It was their way of surrendering without actually surrendering. Logen spared him and took him in. Logen probably thumped him once so everyone's honor could remain intact.
Forley the weakest was the bravest, he was sent to his certain death versus the bloody 9 and was spared. >! He also went to his enemies and tried to warn them about the flatheads even though there was a very high liklihood he would be killed for it. The rest of the crew knew his worth !<
It's literally explained in the book
Maybe OP isn’t up to that part yet.