On Wed, 14 Jan 2004, Jeffrey Kiok wrote: > > > > Given that I think Mario's a figment or dead, when SKZB has said > > ex cathedra (or ex sofa or wherever) that he lives, from my point > > of view it would reverse spoil the revelation to give it away now. > > Should SKZB come out with a statement confirming my Sethra-killed- > > Tortaalik hypothesis, I pledge to publicly, streunously disavow it. > > > > > Uh, maybe this is a stupid question, but what is Sethra's motivation to > kill Tortaalik? > > I mean, we all know she doesn't like him, but in Five Hundred Years > After, doesn't she explicitly say that she wouldn't join Adron because > she wouldn't fight against the cycle, even though she would fight > against the empire. Since Tortaalik was the true phoenix emperor > (although decadent), wouldn't that pit Sethra against the cycle, and > that's not something she would do? Hi. You may find a different or more cogent version of the following by grepping the list archives for my sparse postings, but anyway: I'm positing a rather more Machiavellian Sethra than portrayed elsewhere (well, _Taltos_ supports me). In my version of events, Sethra sees Adron's spell, realizes it may destroy the Orb, and decides that since Adron would anyway make a better emperor (as would any breathing Dragon) (and since it would make Aliera really happy and grateful) she might as well save a lot of bloodshed by taking out Tortaalik. She arranges with Khaavren to do it, perhaps with Aliera's help. Unfortunately Adron acts sooner than she expected, and boom (saving her the trouble of killing the witnesses). It's possible she was told to get into the mess by the gods, who wanted to get their hands on the Orb and reorganize Dragaeran society. A few hundred years later, she pays a call on a hack historian and tells him to write up the story as a tragedy in which she comes off as super- human and highly moral (above screwing with the Cycle). Why go to the trouble? Perhaps she wants to move in human society again, perhaps she wants to be able to assemble a larger army against the J under her banner. Maybe we'll be better able to constrain this theory when The Enchantress of Dzur Mountain comes out this spring. > > -Jeff >