On Sat, 22 Feb 2003 11:14:50 -0800 (PST), you wrote: > > >On Sat, 22 Feb 2003, Andrew Lias wrote: > >> As I said, I think that House *does* influence behavior. That's what I mean >> when I say that you *can* reasonably stereotype a Dragaeran house without >> necessarily indulging in bigotry. The question is how *much* influence does >> House have. > >This is something we're not likely to be able to evaluate on the basis of >another ten or twenty books, many of which will presumably spend time >introducing small numbers of individuals from Houses we know little about. > >I suspect part of SKZB's interest in placing an Easterner in this >House-dominated world is to show some of the advantages of not having >too determined a nature - Vlad is able to function at the level he does >in part by being able to think or act like a Yendi when needed, or a >Phoenix, etc. > Personally, I think some of the available evidence enables us to draw the conclusion that House is a major influence in general behaviour, but not specific. Basically, the fact that /everyone/ we meet seems to accept completely that members of a House will behave a certain way, with no discussion of seriously trying to overcome fate or anything. >As an aside, Sethra is part Dzur, right? It would be nice to see her >in full hero-mode. > Is she part Dzur, or pre-House? I could never get that straight. In POTD, she speaks to Tazendra of things that only a Dzur would know, but attributes that knowledge to a friendship with Gyorg. -- lazarus "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American Public." -- Theodore Roosevelt