On Fri, 21 Mar 2003, Claire Rojstaczer wrote:
>
>On a more on-topic note, not that we're ever on topic here,
Who is this "we" to whom you have the honor of referring?
> I was rereading Athyra the other day and noted a passage where Savn
>asks Vlad if Vlad has ever been in the army and Vlad says simply,
>"No" (sorry, no page numbers, don't have the book with me at the
>moment). This, fairly obviously, contradicts Dragon. Vlad could have
>been lying -- he certainly lies to Savn about enough other stuff --
>but why lie about that? What motives does Vlad have for keeping his
>(somewhat less than shining) military career a secret?
>
"Dragon" makes it clear that the sorcerous attack he sustained in
battle scrambled his memory, and that's one plausible explanation for
him not admitting his brief stint - he literally blanked on it, the
way I sometimes forget (without benefit of head trauma, even) about
the brief (a few days or weeks) jobs I've had.
But on the other hand, we don't see his internal state when he makes
that statement. For example, maybe it was more like:
"I...", I started - and then quickly thought better of trying to
explain the whole debacle of my short but colorful time as a
foot soldier/saboteur for Morrolan e'Drien and Sethra Lavode, and
continued: "...wouldn't know, myself. I've never been in the
army."
Third person narrative can cover a multitude of discrepancies. We've
*seen* Vlad lie - or omit to tell the truth - when he's telling the
narrative directly, so there's definitely precedent.
And on the gripping hand, Steve sometimes just lies for the hell of
it. Wait. Did I say Steve? I meant Vlad, of course. Steve just
has a better idea at a later date. Yeah, that's it.