Spoilers for _Issola_. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 --- Alexx S Kay <alexx at TheWorld.com> wrote: >> On 10 Mar 2003, Jag wrote: [...] >> [3] Tangent four: how sure is it that souls consumed by >> Morganti weapons are really gone forever? [...] > I would say "not remotely", since we have at least one clear > counterexample. The concept that souls might be truly immutable and indestructible (as they are in the Platonic and most Christian models) is difficult to reconcile with Vlad's concern in _Issola_ for saving those parts of Lady Teldra that can still be saved. If she's really still there, and just can no longer reach this reality -- and certainly if there were any way to undo the process -- I would most certainly expect Morrolan (1) to tell someone about it and (2) to do something about it; and I would expect much the same of Sethra, who I think is sincere when she tells Vlad she would never have permitted Teldra's death / transformation to happen intentionally. (I know that Morrolan is unconscious at the end of _Issola_, but I don't think that Steve has set all this up just to undo it in the next book.) I am entertained by the concept of a Morganti weapon as a sort of metempsychotic shredder, with a storage bin that fills up with bits and pieces of souls. Does one of the purple-robed servants come by periodically to empty the compartment? Do they burn-bag or recycle the soulstuff, or just put it out with the metaphysical trash? Vlad is strongly of the opinion that a Morganti weapon resembles a living or semiliving predator, though -- isn't there also a bit in _Issola_ where Sethra talks about Morganti weapons as semianimate? -- and while Vlad may always be wrong, I don't think there's enough evidence on the other side to make us seriously doubt his perceptions here, nor do I see any reason for him to lie about this particular fact. -- Greg