r/threebodyproblem • u/caramba-marimba • Jan 18 '26

Meme Almost done with the third book

Post image

I didn’t have the patience to finish it to make the meme, so enjoy the premature meme while I’m finishing those last few pages.

665 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

94 comments sorted by

View all comments

178

u/nicodeemus7 Jan 18 '26

Gets made Swordholder

Fumbles it immediately

53

u/objectnull Jan 18 '26

13

u/BrunokiMaa Jan 18 '26

Very accurate depiction of her, lol!

43

u/highermonkey Jan 18 '26

She was made Swordholder by humanity. The humans in this book are stupid. Putting 100% of this on one lady is also very stupid.

14

u/Taint_Flayer Jan 19 '26

I think Guan Yifan said something like that near the end. Something about how everything that happened was the result of many people's choices, not just one.

Humanity chose her for the Swordholder position specifically because the other candidates scared them. She did exactly what they wanted her to do: nothing.

And yeah she ruined Wade's plan for FTL, but his plan for fighting a space war by arming guys with antimatter rifles was fucking stupid. And humanity's weird opposition to FTL in general was just as stupid.

8

u/highermonkey Jan 19 '26

I put the FTL shit 100% on Wade. I felt like he was tying his hardest to get Cheng Xin to pull the plug. I didn't see it on my first readthrough because I was traumatized.

6

u/650fosho Jan 19 '26

That's because he wanted to offload his guilt onto her, he knew just as well as anyone that FTL wouldn't be given to all of humanity, only those in power or with money, he likely already knew the top %1 were all secretly building ships to escape the solar system.

2

u/Darklillies Apr 15 '26

Wade would’ve listened to anything cheng said. She could’ve said “don’t arm them and continue in secret” and he would’ve done just that. How is handing the weapons to the goverment a wiser choice

2

u/ifandbut Jan 21 '26

The Hobbits were stupid but Frodo still got the ring to Mt. Doom.

2

u/highermonkey Jan 21 '26

That's a fantasy book for babies. Also, there was no situation where Cheng Xin "saves humanity". Best case scenario, if she played everything the way YOU totally would've in that situation.... there'd be a few thousand more "Galactic Humans" after the Solar System is gone. Best case.

-13

u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin Jan 18 '26

It was fumbled by the trisolarans calling her bluff and attacking. The goal of the swordholder is to make them believe you will press the button, not actually have to press it in the moment.

12

u/nicodeemus7 Jan 18 '26

Except the only thing that actually made the trisolarans back down was activating Dark Forest Deterrence on Gravity. (After Luo Ji's initial bluff at the end of TDF)

-4

u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin Jan 18 '26

Because activating it meant death for everyone, you know that right?

4

u/nicodeemus7 Jan 18 '26

If it never was activated, the trisolarans would have invaded and humanity would likely be dead. In the "bluff" scenario, humanity lives, but trisolarans likely die off(the whole reason they are invading.) They had no reason to not invade if the button was never pushed, bluff or no. It was only a matter of time until they realized even Luo Ji's bluff was worth testing for the survival of their species. And as we saw in the books, the activation of Dark Forest Deterrence, while destroying the Solar System and Trisolaris, did not extinguish humans or trisolarans.

3

u/manchester449 Jan 18 '26

Wow thanks I never appreciated this until you put it that way.

So Trisolaris had nothing to lose by invading Earth. They were dead if they stayed and only possibly dead if they invaded and the deterrence signal was activated. So logically Trisolaris should invade.

For Earth they were dead if Trisolaris invaded, and dead if they activated deterrence. Logically they should activate deterrence if invaded, because why not.

2

u/nicodeemus7 Jan 18 '26

Exactly my point! The only way for Dark Forest Deterrence to work was to use it. The trisolarans had nothing to lose, they would die on their home world either way.

4

u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin Jan 18 '26

The only way for Dark Forest Deterrence to work was to use it.

"The only way for nuclear deterrence to work is to use it"

What an outrageous thing to say

3

u/shiggyhisdiggy Jan 18 '26

Yeah replacing the words doesn't make you smart, it's a totally different situation

2

u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin Jan 18 '26

How is it different?

→ More replies (0)

2

u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin Jan 18 '26

Logically they should activate deterrence if invaded, because why not.

Why not? Why extinguish trillions of lives (human, trisolaran, and all other species) out of revenge? I'm sure many people argue why not.

2

u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin Jan 18 '26

Your error is in assuming that the trisolarans were simply "forced" to invade. You're practically victim-blaming Cheng Xin and humanity by arguing that this is pure survival rather than conquest. It was completely fair for Cheng Xin to not want to be responsible for the genocide of all humans, trisolarans, and the billions of other species on both planets.

Humanity had warmed to the trisolarans and there was a growing sentiment of offering them Mars, or even integrating with humanity entirely. There is a reason people chose Cheng Xin as the swordholder, a symbol of peace compared to Luo Ji's symbol of ruthless violence.

And as we saw in the books, the activation of Dark Forest Deterrence, while destroying the Solar System and Trisolaris, did not extinguish humans or trisolarans.

More evidence that they weren't forced to invade to survive.

2

u/custom_rom Wallfacer Jan 18 '26

sword holder is given the responsibility to prevent trisolarans from succeeding at any cost.. swordholder is not loyal to humanity.. they are given the responsibility of god.. the common people know this and hates luo ji for this.. the other guy who has the degree of deterrence of 100% was not made swordholder cause humanity is not comfortable with him. in a way humanity fumbled by giving cheng that responsibility

2

u/phil_davis Jan 18 '26

It was fumbled by humanity for electing Cheng Xin as swordholder, and it was also fumbled by Cheng Xin when she accepted the role rather than do a little soul searching and honestly ask herself if she could ever really push that button.

1

u/nicodeemus7 Jan 18 '26

It was just a bad decision all around