> > On 10 Mar 2003, Jag wrote: > > [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. I would say "not remotely", since we have at least one clear counterexample. It seems to me that SKZB has been broadly hinting, since at least Dragon, that souls are, in fact, indestructible. Check what the Serioli says (and which phrases the author prevents him from finishing). My belief is that morganti weapons prevent the soul from manifesting in their vicinity (I'm leaving "vicinity" purposefully undefined; it seems to at least cover the Empire, but could cover the planet, or even the "plane of existence"). See also Brokedown Palace, where Verra is "killed" in a way that (as later becomes clear) means "unable to manifest in a given place." This would explain how GWs are able to "hold souls" for later retrieval; *all* MWs "hold" souls, it's just that GWs are the only ones that can be convinced to let go. And it also neatly covers the case we see in Issola. It also suggests why the Jenoine would tend to have them; given their peculiar relationship with spacetime, "prevention of local manifestation" may be one of the few things they recognize as a significant threat. This theory does suggest that the destruction of the MW might "release" the souls. That somewhat weakens the theory, since the Serioli would presumably find them less of a war-deterrent therefore. OTOH, it may be extremely hard to destroy a MW. IIRC, we only know of a single case where it has happened, and it's a sufficiently strange circumstance that it could easily be exceptional in a number of ways. This also raises the issue of whether a MW can "fill up". It seems that they ought to have a finite capacity. Perhaps this accounts for their varying "strengths". They all start out with a large capacity (say, 20, on average), but get weaker over time as they "fill up". Hey, this would also answer another problem! If this is the case, holders of Great Weapons would routinely *not* destroy souls (as many have already theorized), not out of any kindness, but simply because they can't do it an unlimited number of times. They only "destroy the soul" of those whom they *really* never want to deal with again... It may be that this information on the nature of MWs isn't generally known outside of the Serioli (though I expect those who have a good deal of Great Weapon experience probably know). I haven't done a systematic collection of the supporting evidence, but I recall having seen a lot of it in the last few books. Alexx Alexx Kay Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers alexx at world.std.com http://world.std.com/~alexx Pick your enemies carefully -- they're harder to get rid of than friends. [Seen on a Nancy Button, http://www.nancybuttons.com/]