On 10 Mar 2003, Jag wrote: Spoilers for Issola and A Dream of Passion. @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > I dunno if that'd hold up, unless the magic were still present there @> > holding the wounds open. It seems like once the damage is done, the magic @> > would be over with. Although maybe I'm being mistaken in trying to apply @> > physical rules to magic. @> @> I don't think it absorbs the magic, but more disrupts it. The energy @> from the magic would still be there, it would just be disrupted so that @> it no longer has any form[1]. Right, OK. But what I'm saying here is that by the time he's healing his arm, the problem isn't necessarily that there's some malicious spell in his arm eating it, it's that the nerves are disrupted in some way (and are slowly healing themselves). I think. So even if it's magic (which it isn't necessarily, because of the Jenoine possibly doing magic and technological stuff at the same time), disrupting the magic shouldn't work if there's no magic to disrupt anymore. Anyway, I think it's probably established that Spellbreaker had the power to heal Vlad's wounds no matter what caused them, and now Teldra has that power to some greater degree, and in fact has other powers that we don't know about yet. @> > [1] Tangent two: I wonder how Spellbreaker/Godslayer/Teldra would react @> > to pre-Empire sorcery or witchcraft? I don't recall an incidence of this @> > in the books offhand. @> @> If I remember corectly, Spellbreaker is made out of yellow Pheonix @> stone, or something similar, so it probablly only works on sorcery, @> Imperial and pre-Imperial. The Great Weapons weren't made by @> Dragaerans, so it probablly can't tell the difference between Imperial @> and Elder sorceries. I think it was Gold Phoenix Stone, but yeah. Even Spellbreaker had properties that couldn't be closely associated with GPS (heh), and who knows what Teldra is now? @> > [3] Tangent four: how sure is it that souls consumed by Morganti weapons @> > are really gone forever? Could they be extracted from the weapon later by @> > some process? The Mysterious Case of Mr. Loraan makes me wonder, even @> > apart from Vlad's "Jewel of Judgement" experience in Issola. @> @> What is the Mysterious Case of Loraan again? Despite having Blackwand carve a whopping great hole in his chest, Loraan is still around (although not actually alive). It's entirely possible that Morrolan asked Blackwand not to eat Loraan's soul, but on the other hand something more mysterious might be happening. @> I want to say that the end of _Issola_ supports souls being absorbed and @> a Great Weapon would be able to pull them out, but as I think about it @> more I realize that's probablly just a case of the Morganti short sword @> refusing the destroy Teldra's soul due to it recognizing the soul as @> being part of itself.[2] <nip, tuck> @> [2] So, what would have happened if Teldra would have first gotten cut @> by a different Morganti blade. Would Godslayer be lost for all time? @> Or due to the Great Weapon connection, would she somehow be immune, or @> at least have her soul stored in the attacking weapon instead of @> destroyed? Hmm. The impression I had is that it could have possibly been someone else's soul. The important ingredient, if you will, was the soul of someone who loved Vlad. The fact that it happened to be Lady Teldra specifically was due to the gnomic workings of fate. Y'know, coincidence. I think the JoJ scene just says that you might be able to do something about a soul being eaten if you're on the spot with exactly the right tool and you do something instantly (there's definitely time pressure involved, or so Vlad believes at the time). Similarly, I bet it could have been any Morganti weapon. This would be supported by ADoP, in which Godslayer appears to be some other (larger) weapon and also seems to contain somebody else's soul (or maybe not). The important component is probably Spellbreaker, which is a tool that ties together the wielder, weapon, and soul when the appropriate time occurs. This also might explain why Spellbreaker isn't part of the other Godslayer: perhaps it can be disconnected once the weapon is actually created, or perhaps it can be divided into pieces without destroying its special qualities, or perhaps there is more than one Spellbreaker floating around, and a different one made the Giant Godslayer Sword. Of course, it's also possible that the other Godslayer is no longer canon (or never actually was). Has Mr. Brust said anything about that anywhere?