> > > > 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. > > Vlad knows something about history. And he's curious. And he has a > personal grudge with the guy. And he's buddies with a bunch of > chatty Dragons, one of whom worships B in a way that is hardly consistent > with a low-profile kind of guy. > Yeah, and I can hear Vlad saying "that's one of those things I ought to learn more about, one of these days. Or not." Doubtless, he could learn as much as he wanted about Baritt were he in the mood to listen to Morrolan hero-worship shamelessly. Note also that much of Vlad's adventures, as high profile as they have been in some circles, would have been more or less completely unrecorded in history. There is no reason to suppose that Baritt's adventures have been noised about. > > > > > 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). > > That's fine, but S would have insisted he be responsible. > > > 2) Sethra knew Vlad could get him out. > > She couldn't. Vlad nearly kills himself with his spell, and barely thinks > to do it. > > > 3) The Gods would see that the weapon made its way to some useful > > soul. > > I agree on this point, but I think the logistics wouldn't be as simple as > you present it, and who knows when the J will show up? > Morrolan and Black Wand in the PotD would be perfectly useful to the gods, I would think. Not at his full potential, maybe, but were the gods desperate enough to start pulling from the paths, I doubt there would be any great difficulty in doing so, which lets out the excuse of the J being an issue. > > > > 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. > > This seems explicable - she's one of the handful of leading souls from the > dawn of the Empire. Being the Dragon Heir doesn't matter much, surely, > but perhaps being Sethra's friend (and representing a rare failure) does. > I think that the explanations that Vlad has received since he started demanding them are sufficient to suggets that there was enough reason behind the decision to go through with the whole Aliera/PotD thing which we are unaware of. Also, I suspect that someone in Sethra's position goes on a lot of instinct/intuition. I have this picture of her feeling "right" about Morrolan going, even though she can't think of any good reasons for it. Whether her subconscious is prompting her, or some intuitive ability to read the future ( ... not read the future but maybe feel the future), or Verra prompting her, I dunno, but that's the picture I get. > > > > > 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. ;) > > I think they didn't come clothed. I think they told Vlad that if he > mentioned the truth they'd filet him. Note the Jenoine provided a chamber > pot - nice touch on their part. > I think they were normally dressed. Remember: the Jenoine don't think like us ... Whoever "us" is in this context... perhaps they wanted the two great weapons to be present so they could test the limit of their ability to block them. Maybe they had a failsafe in place ... Kisc Wild, unfounded speculation is my specialty.