Whilst browsing the Cracks and Shards web pages, I noticed that the esteemed Mr. Mandel suggests that a "noble's point" is just a different name for a widow's peak. Well, I have an embarrassing confession to make: Until quite recently, I had no idea what a widow's peak was. The dictionary definition was no help. But I quickly decided that Google images might be able to show me examples, and I was amazed. "Ah!" I said to myself. "Is that all? The hairline goes up, then down (in a point), then up again? Well, I suppose that *is* all." However, now that I knew what it was, I started looking at foreheads to see if people I saw had it. I've noticed that some men have it very prominently, and emphasize it with their hairstyles, especially if they are actors or TV newscasters. With others, I am less sure if it is real or just a manipulation of hairstyling or of a balding pattern. One thing I've noticed is that women don't tend to have it, or if they do, they hide it well enough that I can't see it. I imagine that our resident medical/biological experts could explain learnedly about the widow's peak being a recessive or dominant trait, and the genetic implications behind the fact that it shows up in all Dragaerans except Teckla. I also started looking for it in portraits of Dragaerans, since that was kind of the whole point. The covers of the Paarfian romances do in fact show Khaavren & Piro having a clear noble's point, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812506898 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812515226 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312864787 but these otherwise excellent portraits do not (which make me wonder if the artist does not know that a noble's point is, or perhaps what a widow's peak is): http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/d/a/danisylv/sethra.jpg.html http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/d/a/danisylv/kiera.jpg.html Anyway, now that I have been enlightened, I found myself wondering if perhaps a sufficiently clever Teckla might move up a social notch by having a hair-styling done to make it look like he had a noble's point, or if perhaps a Teckla who was able to buy into the Jhereg would do so. There probably are Teckla-Jhereg halfbreeds who look like Teckla and yet have noble's points. The Jhereg don't care, after all if someone is a halfbreed. Or do they? Do (Whatever)-Jhereg halfbreeds automatically become part of House Jhereg, or do they have to buy their way in like everyone else? Hmm. Do Easterners who buy in to the Jhereg get their hair styled to make it look like they have a noble's point? Vlad probably wouldn't, at any rate.
