More on V. Pikul

I just re-read his Bayazet—one of his early novels about “the Seating at Bayazet”—a failed, “300”-like siege of the titular fortress, defended a small Russian garrison, by the overwhelming Turkish force during the war of 1877-78. It made me think about how hard it is in a historic novel to show the lead having an impact on the story’s outcome. The hero—lieutenant Karabanov—had been downranked for refusing to shoot at his opponent at a duel. Having gone through the siege, which was a terrible ordeal of hunger, lack of drinking water, disease, and pointless deaths due to chaotic command, he fights the same duel again and again forfeits his turn. But this time, his luck fails him. It’s like he’d used up all his luck at Bayazet. Overall, the epilogue reminded me of the Final Destiny movies: the author follows each main character till their crisis or death. It's as though they’d cheated death at Bayazet and now it’s catching up with them. Another pop culture trope that seemed relevant to me: Godard’s Breathless, in which the hero is (metaphorically) wounded lethally in the opening scene (Karabanov’s 1st duel) and then just stumbles through the film (the siege) till he drops dead in the final frame (2nd duel). [Image: Defense of Bayazet by L. Lagorio; public domain]