> >Spoiler space inserted > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On the Blackwand issue: When Morrolan finally draws it, while everyone else cringes in horror Morrolan is described as feeling he's just met his future lover. And still have a pleasant link to it when he sheathes it. Based on the text, even if it's not fully awakened yet it's definitely not a normal Morganti. Vlad's dagger didn't link to him, it just seemed like a really powerful (grr) Morganti blade. On the "based on the text" issue: There's two possible schools of thought. One, inspired by the desire to believe what we read, is that what Paarfi writes is mostly to be trusted, unless contracted by something reliable by Vlad, or just outright implausible. We ignore implausibility of how Paarfi knows this stuff. The other, inspired by believing the text, or rather what Paarfi himself and his critics say about the text, as well by general skepticism, is that anything Paarfi says without an actual paper trail or quoted reference should be regarded as made up from scratch. Given that he's admitted to reading people's mail the paper trail might be wider than expected, but still, from this POV there is no need to reconcile what Paarfi writes about Blackwand with what we think we know about it and Great Weapons (which I think is much less than many have extrapolated from _Issola_) because Paarfi knows jack about Morrolan and Blackwand. Ditto the assassination of the Emperor, say -- given that he didn't say Zerika or Sethra told him how it happened, he knows nothing. The flipside of this is that saying Aliera had a thing with Mario seems so unlikely, not to mention unhealthy, that you figure he *has* to have evidence. Plus Brust has said that's correct. Unless Paarfi is reckless and happened to be right by accident. I do like the idea that Devera might be one of Paarfi's sources, though. -xx- Damien X-)