Dragaera

Great Weapons

Mon Sep 8 13:55:59 PDT 2003

 >
 > > Philip Hart writes:
 > >   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.
 > >
 >
 > Just an oversight on my part.  I completely forgot that, when going into
 > great danger, someone who owns a powerful artifact that might save his 
life
 > will naturally leave this artifact behind.  What was I thinking?

While it seems like setting myself up as Job to continue the argument,
Morrolan, to quote someone I tend to agree with, "fully expects to be
staying."  The main use for Blackwand I can see would be to slay all the
Gods and destroy the control system of the Paths so he could walk out
alive.  As it happens, he makes no use of Blackwand per se.

I suppose that on the other hand in extremis M could have given BW
to Aliera, who no doubt would have been an acceptable substitute.  That
likely refutes my main objection, which is that he was depriving the good
guys of one of their main weapons against the J.  Of course A would have
insisted on staying, as he should have foreseen.  On the other hand, no
doubt the Gods could have shipped Blackwand back to Sethra somehow (some
way that wouldn't have worked for the Orb...) in that case, and perhaps
suitable wielders of BW abound...

I'm still somewhat skeptical.

__________________________






I seem to recall it somewhere being said that there is no quicker way into 
obliteration than to touch another's Great Weapon (at least, when the 
someone is the person for whom the Weapon is destined).  It's a vital 
safeguard that prevents the wielder being killed out of greed for the power 
that s/he carries around on her/his hip.

I believe, though it's never been explicitly stated, that it's also very 
difficult for the wielders to even separate themselves from a Great Weapon, 
much less have someone else touch it.  This would explain not only why 
Morrolan takes Blackwand (I mean, soulmates are together no matter WHERE 
they are in relation to each other--that's part of the definition of a 
soulmate:  A person who is attached to another person's soul, with the 
obvious implication that the soul is all but inseperable from the body of 
the other, and therefore, the two are always together).

I think that, given the pointlessness of leaving Blackwand behind, it's 
pretty much explained why he took it along, and furthermore, why it was 
never mentioned as a problem.  If it was going to be a problem, leaving it 
behind would probably not do too much to prevent it.

Jon

_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail