*** Spoilers *** for Issola > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > "Michael S. Schiffer" <mss2 at attbi.com> wrote on Fri, 14 Jun 2002 12:38:12 > At 01:21 PM 6/14/2002 -0400, Thomas Yan wrote: > >She's a god. [...] ([...] Interesting that it skipped a generation.) > > Do we know that it did? IIRC, Sethra mentioned in _Issola_ that she'd been > offered godhood. That implies that Aliera might be able to take up godhood > at some point in the future. [...] Agreed. Tangent: That reminds me. There's an interesting list on pp226-227. Barlen and "other Lords of Judgment appeared". There's a list of beings, ending with "even a dragon which {'should' be 'that' :)} [...] seemed [...] as if it knew me [but] didn't seem like [the "one from the Paths of the Dead"]". I guess "even" means (Vlad thinks) "in addition to the LoJs, there was also a dragon, who is not a LoJ" -- indeed, on p247, the LoJs and the dragon are listed separately. Damn. I *like* the idea of Devera as a Lord of Judgment. I suppose she still could become one. Aside: Let us all bow down and worship Tor: Hardcover and mass market paperbacks generally (always?) are identical, which makes citing pages ever so much more useful! "Monty Ashley" <monty at montykins.com> wrote on Fri, 14 Jun 2002 16:09:29 -snip- > But since Devera also serves a plot purpose in the Vlad books, when a cloud > containing something sentient appears and Sethra first acts like Aliera > should know who it is and then says (on page 230) "Very well. Leave her > alone, we'll adjust," I get suspicious. -snip rest of cool analysis- Nitpick: Sethra acts like Aliera should know who the *dragon*, not the *cloud*, is (p230). So, are there indications that the cloud, which manifests at the same time as the dragon, is also Devera? pp233-234. "tremendous flash of light"; Loiosh thinks it was "Something from that guy overhead". "{Vlad} Did it accomplish anything?" "{Loiosh} I don't know. But one of them is down." The dragon was savaging the downed Jenoine, so perhaps the dragon and cloud coordinated an attack. (Makes me think of fugue states in Zelazny's _Creatures of Light and Darkness_.) Hm. Why don't (more) gods do the simultaneous manifestation trick in that battle? Does it require too much concentration to be safe when facing Jenoine? Or did they do it, but Vlad didn't realize / notice? p236. Although the dragon rushes to Aliera's aid, "mouth open {in menace?}", cloud-guy-overhead was not (especially) evident in this fight, which mildly suggests to me that the cloud is not Devera. - tky