--- Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com> wrote: > > --- Jim Millen <J.Millen-99 at student.lboro.ac.uk> > wrote: > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Jerry Friedman > > > > > > > > > > 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. Alot of the lists I have been on have a rule that spoiler space is only in effect for a certain period of time after a book's release. A typical time period is two months. I would suggest something like this would be reasonable for us as well if everyone is feeling that we need some kind of guideline. > > > > > > > > > > > ...wasn't sure, but thought I'd best preserve > space... > > > > > > > > ...that should do it. > > > > > > > > <snip description of A, M, and StY knock-down-drag-out> > > > > 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)? > I think it's because Vlad had every intention of Blackwand making physical contact with the sword that StY stole at this time. He knew what Fornia was expecting to happen to the sword because he had Daymar mindprobe him on the battlefield, but at that time he didn't want Pathfinder to be revealed because he was afraid that Fornia or one of his minions would end up with it. In typical Vlad fashion, once he found out who actually got the sword after the war was over, he just figure "ah, screw it -- let the dragonlords worry about it." Later, when StY started bugging him about trading A for Kieron's sword, he finally decided it was time to find out what was up with that stolen sword for sure. A and StY starting a fight in his living room was a good opportunity since he needed M to help break things up before they destroyed his flat anyway. > > 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? > I believe Vlad makes a comment at some point about M "knowing when it is a time for action" or something like that. I assume that this is also the case here. We've seen this happen before (I'm thinking when V was trying to stop Norather from leaving Castle Black to hunt Jhereg) -- V yells psionically for M to show up somewhere and help him out and M does it. I assume it is because M knows V doesn't just go around randomly yelling "fire" in a crowded theater -- in other words, he knows that V wouldn't phrase things urgently if things weren't urgent. > 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. So far, I have the theory that M started to duel with StY and, when Blackwand touched StY's sword, it caused Pathfinder to be revealed. I can easily buy that this caused some kind of magical shock and knocked StY silly because she happened to be holding Pathfinder. > > 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. > >From V's many descriptions, I have to guess that either M or A alone would be at least as good as StY. Both of them on her at once would be twice as good as StY. All in all, though, I think it is a moot point. I don't think StY ever got a chance to use Pathfinder on anyone because she was knocked out by some kind of magical shock when Pathfinder was revealed. > > 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. This could fit easily with the idea that Pathfinder's appearance is actually what put StY out. Maybe Pathfinder zapped her because StY was the wrong person to be wielding Pathfinder. > > > 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? Good question. I'm pretty sure that ganging up on her wouldn't be shameful in and of itself. Morrolan, Aliera, and Norather all ganged up on the Sorceress in Green and killed her, but nobody seemed to think that was dishonorable except for maybe V. Whacking her on the head with a blunt object is open to argument, though. I would tend to think that losing a fight without being seriously injured is likely to be shameful. I am thinking about how Dragaerans always duel to the death over things, even small insults. It seems that if it were honorable to lose a fight in any way that did not result in death, most people would duel until first blood, someone is clearly outmatched and surrenders, or something else less lethal. Amy __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html