" They feared one another because they knew what they were capable of doing, and maybe in some cases, had done. The more weapons they created, the more frightened they would have been of the weapons they imagined their enemies had created, and so they strove to make worse weapons, to discourage any attack. I don’t think any of them imagined anyone would dare to use them and yet what other end could there be to it all?’ ‘They "

― Isobelle Carmody , The Red Queen (The Obernewtyn Chronicles, #7)