> > After reading Issola, the regret I have is that the morganti weapon that > > was transformed was a long dagger, rather than the fencing weapon that Vlad > > is used to. He is, of course versed in the use of hand to hand dagger > > fighting, but his preffered method is foil and dagger. Now Iceflame is a > > dagger, but both Blackwand and Pathfinder are full sized swords, and thus > > more effective in battle, especially since Great weps AND morganti weps can > > kill with the smallest scratch. The dagger used in the left hand is for > > defence and coup de grace strokes, not for light strokes. > > > > From the Issola reading, I get the impression that Lady Teldra is just a > > bit shorter and much thinner than a machete, more like a thin viking sax. > > I just think that she would have prefered a larger home. )) > > I got the same basic impression. That particular tidbit has > always struck a discordant note for me; first, it's very little > like what you would expect Vlad to use, and second, it's nothing > like you would expect Teldra herself to prefer. I could *easily* > perceive Teldra's personality in a slim, decorative and > deceptively-delicate rapier or similar fencing weapon; it would > fit her personality to a T and match Vlad's own choice of arms > as well. Issola, hc pg 88 - "It was long for a knife and short for a sword. Impractical in every way, and was probably not even balanced all that well, most likely being a bit blade-heavy. This, of course, was useful for chopping away in battle" Issola, hc pg 98 - "It was a narrow blade, very light and useful-feeling in my hand, about eighteen inches long, and not nearly as blade-heavy as I'd suspected it would be." Issola, hc pg 245 - "It fit my hand like an additional finger, like it should have been there all along, or maybe it had been there all along and I'd never been aware of it." Per fencing.net, the epee is the closest of the three modern fencing weapons (epee, foil, sabre) to what was actually used in medieval times. So, an images.google.com search for "epee and dagger" returned the following: http://www.imperialweapons.com/swords/iberia/1032-GT.JPG If you read the specs on the image, the sword has a 37" inch blade, and the dagger a 17.5" blade, which lines up nicely with Godslayer being used as the off weapon. Can you imagine how DISTRACTING it would be to fight someone whose off-weapon was a Great Weapon? It's not like Blackwand, where you just have to avoid being hit by the one sword, all your attention would be focused on Godslayer, which isn't the "primary" weapon! > However, I think the presence of Lady Teldra in the form of a > long dagger makes it somewhat more difficult for Vlad to use her > casually. And I think that's a very good thing for Vlad's moral > development. He has a Great Weapon now; a certain amount of > restraint is necessary. Should he resign himself to eating the > soul of anyone he crossed blades with, at least until Lady Teldra > wakes up? I believe that Morrolan has demonstrated that the owners of the Great Weapons _decide_ when their weapons eat souls. Maybe that is just a trait of Blackwand, but I got the feeling all Great Weapons worked that way. Plus, as I theorized above, I think in a straight up fight (not an assassination), most of Vlad's opponents would fall to the sword, not the dagger (and then he could pick and choose whether to "finish them off" with Godslayer). Bryan Newell (http://bryann.net)
