Chapter 64: Underhanded

''…additionally, much criticism has been levied over the centuries against Heather Ingerman's espionage failures, especially those early in her tenure. Frequently, such critics find support in her own journals, especially with sufficient cherry-picking to avoid her own cogent analysis of what she did wrong and how to do better in the future. What many of these critics forget is that Ingerman was a teenaged girl at the time when she was first appointed to the role of spymaster of Berk; while she had been extensively trained as a spy agent, the higher-level skills required by her new elevated position took her some time to develop from first principles. It was not until later that she found a mentor in the arts of espionage that…''

—Statecraft: The Great Game Of Diplomacy, Espionage & War By Other Means, 1732, Rouen University Press

Foreshadowing
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Epigraph Tie-In

 * The epigraph mentions that Heather's early career as a spymaster included several failures. The chapter shows that one of those failures was missing an assassination plot against Hiccup with the assassins beginning their attack at the end of the chapter.

Links to the Chapter
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