--- Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > On Wed, 5 May 2004, Jerry Friedman wrote: > > > > > --- Howard Brazee <howard at brazee.net> wrote: > > Philip Hart: > > > I wrote: > > > I would like to once again assert that Morrolan's taking Blackwand > into > > > the Paths, when he fully expects to be staying, is an annoying flaw > in > > > _Taltos_, which if anyone can explain away I'd be grateful. > > > > > > SKZB replied: > > > Just an oversight on my part. I completely forgot that, when going > into > > > great danger, someone who owns a powerful artifact that might save > his > > > life will naturally leave this artifact behind. What was I > thinking? > > > > > > For more, see > > > http://dragaera.info/mailinglists/archive.cgi/1/9794 > > > > > > After a bit of arguing with myself, I concluded, > > > "I'm still somewhat skeptical." > > > > End of Philip Hart > > > Hey, I may be abrasive, but not that abrasive. I wasn't trying to give you the rough side of my tongue. Non carborundum illegitimi! > > > Since it has been Written, we need to live with that. Steven has > the > > > ability to resolve that if he wants to. Maybe he did not have the > > > ability > > > to will his sword to someone before going to the Paths. Maybe > Sethra > > > thought he would need it (some prophesy that didn't come to fruition > > > yet). > > > Maybe BlackWand didn't let itself be forgotten. > > ... > > > > And maybe Morrolan thought Blackwand would be necessary to complete > > his mission no matter what happened after that, and would give him > > a marginally better chance of getting out, and would be useful if > > he had to stay. > > > My reading of _Taltos_ leads me to believe M didn't expect to make it. > That the mission called for diplomacy more than deathdealing - and as > it happened, BW played no part. It probably helped them get through the 17 Dragons. > But perhaps M had fulfilled his fated role already; and the gods could > have found someone else to give BW to (StY? Aliera?) and some way of > getting it to Sethra. > > At the end of the day, M+BW straight up for Aliera+Kieron's sword seems > like a bad deal, and I don't see why Sethra agreed to it, despite her > friendship with Aliera (or perhaps even in view of it) - unless she had > some inside info she didn't share with Vlad. But I don't see how any > insider plan could depend on V being able to pull off a teleport by > witchcraft. Well, except for prescience, in which case one wonders how > the insiders could ever lose. As Howard Brazee notes, there does seem to have been some limited prescience going on. You seem to have a picture of Coach Sethra planning the whole thing. (I hope no one is imagining her in a polo shirt and orange polyester shorts.) Likewise of Morrolan thinking about whether he was going to get MVP for the home team in the Jenoine Bowl. But my impression of why M went along was that Vlad taunted him and Morrolan "called the taunt" (like a bluff). The only tactics and strategy involved was one-upmanship. Sethra may have thought that M+BW for A+KS needed at least a draft choice [*] to sweeten the deal, but Morrolan wasn't about to be talked out of it. In fact, it turned out that his presence nearly made the mission impossible, since Aliera wouldn't have left without him. On the other hand, we don't know how Vlad would have done alone. Morrolan knew that he'd have to achieve the impossible to get out of the Paths, but he would have thought that if it was going to happen, Blackwand would help. (He wouldn't have thought that an Eastern Jhereg was going to achieve it.) Finally, if M had been trapped in the Paths, we have no idea how useful Blackwand would have been to him or the gods. [*] "but he's not ready yet" Jerry Friedman __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover