--- Jim Millen <J.Millen-99 at student.lboro.ac.uk> wrote: > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Jerry Friedman [mailto:jerry_friedman at yahoo.com] > > Sent: 18 March 2004 21:42 > > To: dragaera at dragaera.info > > Subject: Re: Issola, Dragon, J Whedon, and Chandler's The Long Goodbye > > > > > Spoilers for _Dragon_... > > > > > > ...is this considered necessary, by the way?... I think so. Some people may join the list without having read all the books. > > > > > ...wasn't sure, but thought I'd best preserve space... > > > > ...that should do it. > > > > > > I enjoy _Dragon_ a lot, partly for the reasons you describe. > > I also like the sabotage, the battles (though why aren't > > there more bows?) and the dreamwalk and the scene with the > > Necromancer. I didn't enjoy the postlude with StY, though. > > I guess Aliera's a Dragon, so it makes some kind of sense > > that she fights to bring about the exact bargain that she had > > just refused. But you have two people fighting with swords, > > and StY's will turn into a Great Weapon when confronted with > > a Great Weapon, which Vlad recently took great care to avoid. > > Then he summons somebody specifically with a Great Weapon. > > Then somehow StY ends up unconscious, but apparently not > > bleeding heavily or suffering from a collapsed lung or > > anything--how did Aliera and Morrolan do that with swords? > > And StY's sword does turn into Pathfinder--why doesn't it do > > her any good? > > I always got the impression in this section that either Aliera or > Morrolan would be a match for StY in a one-on-one fight, as Vlad > mentions at various times that they are both extremely good swordsmen, > and StY has been known to overestimate her own abilities from time to > time. So I assumed the scenario would go as follows: > > Aliera and StY commence duelling. Vlad contacts Morrolan, asks him to > teleport in, But why, and why not ask him *not* to bring Blackwand (or to leave it sheathed)? > and starts worrying about his furniture. > > After some period of time - almost certainly only minutes, if that - > Morrolan arrives on the scene. This is going on the deduction that they > can't have been fighting for that long, as there is still intact > furniture at the end of it. <g> Why does Morrolan show up so obediently? > Morrolan steps into the fight - Vlad says he "...had broken up the > fight, much to Aliera's disgust..." - which to me suggests something > other than a full on attack. Makes sense, but how *does* one person with a sword break up a swordfight? Beating down their weapons? Magic? I guess he doesn't have to actually cross blades with StY if he uses Blackwand's magic. > This is now pure guesswork, but what I envisage happening is that StY > objects to Morrolan's intervention and attacks him. He defends himself, > causing Pathfinder to reveal itself. Perhaps the shock of this sudden > revealing makes StY lose concentration, maybe not. > > Either way, Aliera, annoyed that Morrolan is spoiling her fun, hits StY > in the head with the flat of her blade, knocking her into > semi-consciousness. Hm, I sort of wondered whether that was reasonable. > I'm assuming it was Aliera who delivered the blow, > but it could have been Morrolan. This seems to me the only way StY > would have ended up the way she did, as I can hardly imagine either A or > M stopping to pick up some other handy blunt instrument. (Aliera could have, if StY was temporarily fighting with Morrolan. It hardly seems in character.) > StY's lack of success despite possession of Pathfinder could be > explained by shock at the blade's revealing or by Aliera and Morrolan > simply being better than her. They'd have to be a *lot* better. > More interestingly, it could be that > Pathfinder wanted to come to Aliera, and did something of its own accord > to arrange things that way. Maybe? This makes more sense to me. > Do you think it would be shameful for StY to have been defeated in such > a way as to leave her alive, and not even particularly harmed? I kind > of imagine that for a warrior in the Dragaeran culture, that might be > rather embarassing, but I could be wrong. I'm not clear on that--in fact I'm not clear at all on what Dragons consider shameful. Wouldn't "shameful" include whacking somebody on the head while one's cousin is dueling with her or disarming her? But you've come up with more sensible ideas than I had, so thanks! Jerry Friedman __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html