On Tue, Nov 04, 2003 at 01:05:28AM -0800, David Silberstein <davids at kithrup.com> wrote: > On 3 Nov 2003, Jag wrote: > >On Mon, 2003-11-03 at 03:26, David Silberstein wrote: > [Skinter -> Kragar, perhaps] > >It is a rather amusing notion, but I believe I've found a flaw in it. > >It was mentioned that due to Kragar's natural ability/curse of being > >unnoticed, he was unable to lead in battle, and that was somehow related > >to him being thrown out of his original House. > Yes, but that wasn't some ex cathedra explanation, that was Kragar's > own off-the-cuff explanation - which, I think, even Vlad thought was > more than a little fishy. I won't absolutely accept it until I see > Morrolan or Sethra mentioning it. > > And thinking about it, it doesn't really make sense. How in hell > would he get a command unless he impressed his superiors with his > ability to be a commander? They don't just throw soldiers in the > field and tell one of them "Hey, you. You're in charge. If you fuck > up, you're outta the House." (And how would they have noticed him to > do so?) Actually, they do -- with nobility, at least in our own feudal societies. When you have a heriditary noble in charge, you pretty much have to hope that he knows his stuff or else knows enough to leave it to those who do. I can easily see Kragar as the son of someone important, expected to be a military leader for that reason alone, and given various commands that he manages not to entirely fuck up until he's got the chance to *really* get in trouble. > I thought of another amusing fact that strengthens my argument: > Morrolan, when he sees Kragar for the first time (to Vlad's > knowledge), indicates that he knows him, and says "Forgive me if I > don't bow." Assuming my theory is true, isn't that just a perfect > snark to someone who at one time had pretensions of being Emperor? I must admit I rather like this whole idea. It would add a lot of depth to Kragar's character. -- 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