How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"But we can't just leave," Sophie said firmly.
Josh nodded. "We're not going anywhere."
[… Flamel] glanced at Sophie and Josh. "You have no choice. If you want to survive the rest of the day, you have to leave now." (5.1-3)
This is the first time Sophie and Josh have an inkling that their lives have changed forever, and that they have no choice in the matter. But here's the thing: do they have a choice? We mean, Flamel could totally be lying to them, right? What might have happened if Sophie and Josh had just said, catch you on the flip side, Nicky? What if they had stayed right where they were?
Quote #2
Ah, Nicholas, you of all people know that when we are gone, when the Elder Race is no more, when even the humani have gone from this earth, then the Allta clans will reclaim it for themselves. Remember, this world belonged to the Were clans first. (14.6)
Is it just us, or does this quote make you think that the history of the world repeats itself? It seems as though the fate of the world is to repeat itself. Maybe Allta is on to something: history seems to go in cycles, and control over the earth passes from one group to the next in the world of The Alchemyst. But where does that leave humans, like Sophie and Josh? Do they just have to sit back and watch the show? Or will they get to fight for their right to live?
Quote #3
In recent years, Nicholas would sometimes awaken at the quietest hour of night with a single thought spinning round and round in his head: if he had known then what he knew now about the Codex, would he have continued his research into the philosopher's stone? […] Most nights he answered yes: even knowing all he knew now, he would still have continued his studies and become the Alchemyst. But there were rare occasions, like today, when the answer was no [… there was] a chance that he had doomed the world. (18.20)
This quote plays with the idea that Nicholas Flamel had the free will to choose to read the Codex, but that choice has some serious consequences that are way beyond his control. You know, like dooming the entire world? But here's the thing, even if Flamel exercised his free will in reading the Codex, couldn't the fact that the entire world is doomed just be evidence of the world's destiny? After all, Hekate herself said that eventually, the world will be returned to the Torc Allta, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Maybe Flamel's reading the Codex wasn't a choice at all. Maybe it was just the first step on the long road to destiny.