On Fri, Aug 15, 2003 at 10:53:14PM -0700, Philip Hart <philiph at SLAC.Stanford.EDU> wrote: > On Sat, 16 Aug 2003, Matthew Hunter wrote: > > ... > > normal experience with a Great Weapon. In particular we know > > that Pathfinder was concealed in one way, such that it was > > rendered less efficious and perhaps in some way less active. > > Thus we have two examples from which to generalize, which indeed > > upon this list is in fact two more than required. > We don't know much about Pathfinder pre-Aliera, but it should be noted > that Baritt got a mountain named after him, being suspiciously powerful > (see _Dragon_). IIRC, it was speculated by the characters that Baritt may not have known he had a Great Weapon. Even if he did, it strikes me that if anything could cause a Great Weapon to return to a quiescent state, the death of it's wielder would certainly qualify. > This point is rather a sore one for me - it seems to me > he should have had more visible effects in the Vladiad and Paarfiad. Vlad would have no way to know much about Baritt -- he doesn't travel in those circles. Paarfi has said little, but then there are many subjects and events concerning which he has said little. Note the little nitpick about the second Jhereg-Dragon war in PotD. > > > 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... > > > > Because we have no way of knowing, except by the evidence that > > none of them have made any special note of their weaponry. In > > particular, we do not know what became of that blade. > We know that Adron received it. Adron would notice he was holding a GW, > or a potential GW. I suspect that he wouldn't have needed to blast the > Orb if he had a GW, and certainly Sethra would have noticed if he had one > (presumably he wouldn't have left it at home) therefore... Others have noted that the Orb itself is an artifact with a significance and potency at least the equal of a Great Weapon, perhaps even more so. Moreover, I see no reason why a Great Weapon would necessarily have any effect at all upon Adron's success or failure in his attempt; their powers seem to be orthogonal to sorcery (Elder or otherwise), rather than complementary. > On the subject, I would like to once again assert that Morrolan's taking > Blackwand into the Paths, when he fully expects to be staying, is an > annoying flaw in _Taltos_, which if anyone can explain away I'd be > grateful. I see several possibilities, of which one or more may be sufficient: 1) Morrolan didn't think of it (*very* likely given his attitude in LoCB). 2) Sethra knew Vlad could get him out. 3) The Gods would see that the weapon made its way to some useful soul. I confess that I am still puzzled as to why Aliera's soul was sufficiently valuable to be retrieved from the Paths by such extreme and unprecedently measures. > Also on the subject, in _Issola_, when M and A are kidnapped, BW and PF > come along for the ride, though presumably there was no physical contact - > the J could have grabbed them when they were both in the shower or the > sack, say, if it mattered. A GW is like a shadow, Enclouding be damned. They also came fully clothed, you'll note. This is often a convenient aspect of fictional means of teleportation. ;) -- Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp Politics: http://www.triggerfinger.org/index.jsp