PS Power Books • Forum

What I found interesting is that a man who has defeated a 600 year old Vampire in single combat and four arch-demons in battle can’t handle or even get away from a 17 year old girl.
My assumption is that in later books we will be told that he intentionally allowed himself to be defeated so that she could “Assume her Destiny”.
Anyone else want to comment?

Probably just reluctantance, although that's only an opinion. Plus, he did get his butt handed to him by an overweight normal human. The difference was he was reading people and ready for it when he took out the vamp.

So... Really it's not that hard to explain a bunch of different ways. Or even a combination. He also knew she didn't want to kill him probably, just punish or teach a lesson. Then there is the guilt factor...

Having read the books a couple of times now (being off work sick with a couple slipped disks). Sack can talk/read with the hidden/deeper mind, what I'm thinking is he knew what she was mad about (he admitted it a little later) and knew he must be punished. To that end a major as whooping!

Let's be honest we have all been there as kids knowing that what we did was wrong and deserved a good old fashioned spanking. The cultures in the books are different than real would events but it's still the same idea behind them. He was wrong, he knew it and Kate (I think we can use her friend only names as we are pretty much stalking her as we read all about her life) responded as per her upbringing and culture demanded. She may have gone a bit OTT (I'm not saying hitting kids is wrong or right) but as a being of strong emotin she let rip in anger.

The problem here is that when you let someone punish you, you aren't really being punished. Coercion is a key aspect of punishment. Without it, "punishment" is rarely corrective. Sure, it may have made Zack feel better, but it didn't really do much for his behavior in itself. That means the beating had no value for Kate and the others. Hell, Zack even graciously told his captors that he'd stay imprisoned until Kate decided he should come out. As punishment, it was a joke. That doesn't mean it didn't have value for anyone, but it wasn't what she was really after either: evidence that she can correct his behavior through violence. What corrected his behavior was her vow to hate him if he abused his victims again (emotional coercion). I get that for some people the beating would be required for that message to get across that the person was serious, but Zack demonstrably isn't one of those people -- since, you know, reads Shadows.