>From: David Silberstein <davids at kithrup.com> >To: Dragaera Mailing List <dragaera at dragaera.info> >Subject: Re: Possible spoilers for _Sethra Lavode_ (was Re: Dumas) >Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 19:33:00 -0700 (PDT) > >On Fri, 15 Aug 2003, Steve Simmons wrote: > > >And real spoilers for ISSOLA. > > > >On Thu, Aug 14, 2003 at 04:11:33PM -0400, Alexx S Kay wrote: > > > >> Spoiler space, so I can stop talking around possible future spoiles. > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Morrolan has a big Morganti weapon he refers to as his "black wand" > >> (note the lack of capitalization), and which none of the >better-informed > >> people in his retinue have yet referred to as a Great Weapon. > >> > >> Remember, in _Issola_, how a powerful Morganti blade only became a GW > >> when combined with a human soul? I believe that we'll be seeing a > >> similar scene at some point in _Sethra Lavode_. > > > >If I'm reading Alexx correctly, he's saying that the 'black wand' > >will become a Great Weapon and will bond with Morrolan only when > >consuming a human soul, possibly combined with some other qualifying > >event. If so, I must disagree. > > >As a part of that process, a soul was consumed by the Morganti > >weapon which shortly after became Godslayer. That process also > >seemed to result in the bonding of Godslayer to Vlad. > >I am not sure "consuming" is the correct word. Vlad had to go to >great and extraordinary lengths in order to ensure that Lady Teldra's >soul was *not* consumed. So I think it is important to note that it >is not just that Spellbreaker+Morganti blade+Teldra's soul that made >Godslayer - it was also Vlad's exertion of... something, maybe >witchcraft, maybe a little of everything, that caused the combination >to meld properly. Teldra's soul was *bound* to the Morganti >weapon+Spellbreaker - she was not *consumed* by it. > > >However, we have seen another case where a GW meets a bonded owner > >without a soul being sacrificed. When Aliera obtains Pathfinder, > >no such sacrifice, assembly, or reassembly occurs. Aliera picks up > >Pathfinder and the bonding seems to be there immediately. > >I believe there was a significant event that took place some time >before Aliera picked up Pathfinder, which was that the "cloaked" >Morganti blade killed Napper. > >I have speculated elsewhere that the only Morganti blade that was in >there was Pathfinder itself; that the feeling that it was a "weak" >Morganti blade was caused by Pathfinder being covered with more >mundane metal. So in other words, the Morganti blade that took in >Napper's soul (I hesitate to say "consumed"; see above) was in fact >Pathfinder itself. > >On the other hand, the feeling that Vlad gets from Pathfinder does not >appear to be consistent with what we saw of Napper's personality. So >I may well be utterly worng on that count. > >At least part of the reason that speculation has tended toward >Tazendra's soul being bonded with Blackwand, though, is that the >fierce, female personality that Vlad senses from that weapon could >well be Tazendra, given that she is indeed so much a Dzur. > > >To me, this argues both that the capture of a soul is *not* part of > >the bonding process, but *may* be part of the assembly or re-assembly > >process. > >You may be correct. > >However, I believe that an alternate model of Great Weapons is that >they are created in a "primed" state, where they are fully powerful >but not fully sapient, not truly self-aware - until they take their >first soul, and then that soul, which binds to the bearer, causes the >entire weapon to be a sapient entity in and of itself. > >That suggests that when Morrolan first receives Blackwand, it has >either never been used to kill (that is, never had a soul bound to >it), or that the soul that orginally inhabited it eventually >evaporated, leaving the weapon in its "primed" state again. > >Hmm. In Dragon, the Serioli says that Morrolan does not introduce >Blackwand because they have already met. Presumably, that was after >it (she?) had woken up. > Sure is a lot of speculating on this... lets see, Sethra Lavode is how old? and the empire has been around how long? The Serioles (spelling?)created the great weapons when? The Drageraens crowded out the Serioles (spelling?) how long ago? The Gods rebelled against the Jenoine how many HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of YEARS prior to the time of the Viscount? And the Great Weapons are just being formed? Godslayer was taken apart (to an extent) by the gods... where has it EVER been stated that any other great weapon was dismantled? Why not speculate on something worth speculating on, like whether or not it was a great weapon which Khaavren and company receivered at the Pepperfields from Fenarr... _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus