The prophecy didn't matter. The pros and cons didn't matter. In the end, the only real culprit was her heart. A heart that would reject a king's hand. A heart that would choose to leave everything for love. A heart that would risk everything in a moment to save a single person for which it had lingering compassion.
I think she knew it from the start that it was a choice. With the prophecy haunting her every thought and with Hatta's declaration that she would always have a reason to stay in Hearts, she knew she was supposed to choose between them and Mary Anne. But when she didn't have it in her heart to choose, she went with her gut and her impulses and ran to save the screaming Mary Anne.
The fact that the last thing she had said to Mary Anne before all this was basically “I hate you“ makes her decision to go through that door even more understandable emotionally. But imagine the others who had essentially no attachment to Mary Anne, watching as their fates were possibly decided as Catherine did the one thing the prophecy required.
If we're being honest, throughout the whole book she had been relying on or has had to rely on Jest to defend or protect her. What made her think he wouldn't come through? What made her think she could save MAry ANne by herself and make it back safely just in time for tea and crumpets?
She dove right back into the kingdom she had already decided to abandon for now in the hopes of maybe saving her one friend's life. You could say that she hoped to bypass the prophecy with loopholes by ensuring that no one else went through the door but there are a few too many what-ifs to consider: what if she failed? what if she got killed by the Jabberwock or even Peter Peter? She didn't have the vorpal sword because it was in Jest's hat
If we insert back in the fact that it was a prophecy by which the only way to fulfill it was by going through a door, then we have the possibly worst decision/action made in the entire book or at least by one of our major characters. All it takes was one action, and all it would have taken to avoid the horrifying fate that they were all made aware of was avoiding that one simple action. And Catherine dove right into the action for the one life
If we overlook the fact that she ignored how prophecies work, she still took the risk and did not weigh the pros and cons at all. It was either: a) POSSIBLY save Mary Anne and risk the prophecies happening which would kill Jest, turn Hatta mad, and make Raven a murderer or b) Forget Mary Anne who had already kind of betrayed her. She basically had their fate in her hands and she chose to possibly doom 3 lives to possibly save one.
Now if we compare it to Catherine's involvement and consequences, put together they actually seem much worse. One of her actions/decisions that had direct effect was her decision to go through that door. It is completely understandable because her best friend was screaming in imminent danger and she couldn't just leave her. But it is also stupid because she made the choice to doom them all by going through that door.
Despite Hatta's decision to throw the pumpkin seeds having one of, if not the worst consequences of the book because it ended up being what started everything, the decision or action itself was quite innocent. The karma of his consequences seems quite unbalanced with the actions of his that ended up having an influence.
What are the odds that the pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin that he meant to turn into a hat would be cursed? All the other materials he turned into hats did fine. Knowing Hatta's personality, throwing the pumpkin seeds into Peter Peter's farm was not an act of malicious intent. He was haphazardly disposing them on Peter Peter's property because of the attitude he received from Peter Peter when he was like “We don't take charity“.
I can only imagine how the guilt of being the start to all of this weighed on Hatta. It was such a simple, honest mistake that anyone could have made and it just happened to be him. It might not seem that way but if you think about it, Hatta never considered his hats or materials dangerous because as far as evidence showed they weren't. He must have been a traveling hatter for years and his business seemingly always thrived.
Hatta knew Jest likely years more than Catherine did. After Jest died, with the prospect of him going mad growing ever so close, I can imagine this being the biggest catalyst for him succumbing to it. I can't say who loved him more but I can undoubtedly say Hatta not only had more memories of Jest and fought more battles with him, but he was also more loyal to him than anyone else. At least Catherine sold her heart so she felt no more pain
Maybe because the book is mainly in her perspective or because Catherine was Jest's love interest, we tend to focus on her fate and pain more than others' in the book. We think “She must have suffered the worst right?“ Not only did she end up becoming what she had been trying to escape throughout the entire book, but she also lost the love of her life and even deemed her heart useless. But wait, who else also lost one they deeply loved?
I always wondered what it would look like if the story of Heartless was told from Hatta's or Jest's perspective. I'm particularly curious about Hatta's journey as he sought to escape his generational madness, and also his unrequited love for Jest that was hinted at and basically confirmed by the end of the story. The genius of his character writing was lost on me through my first read, but the second time blew my mind with the subtle nuances
