On Wed, 12 May 2004, Philip Hart wrote: @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > doo dee doo @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> > @> @> Aerich just wouldn't chase a Teckla or fire off lightning bolts. Whether he'd fire lightning bolts is a tricky question. Right now, we don't think he's a sorceror, but that's only because Paarfi said he wasn't, and we know Paarfi is a liar. Post-interregnum, it seems as if virtually everyone has picked up some number of tricks, and it wouldn't be at all surprising if Aerich had learned some of the basics. And since he didn't survive to the present day, it might not be common knowledge that he'd done so. He'd chase a Teckla if the Teckla tried to harm him and then ran away. After all, he couldn't just let a commoner get away with something like that. "That peasant! How dare he strike me!" That said, might Paresh have exaggerated a little bit or (more likely) have been temporarily blinded by fear? Maybe. But I'm going to assume the truth is a /lot/ closer to his version than Paarfi's, which just made absolutely no sense at all. @> > Let us examine the credibility of the witnesses: on the one hand, we @> > have Paarfi, who is a damned liar. @> @> No, he's the mouthpiece of Sethra Lavode. Heh. @> > On the other hand, we have Paresh, who certainly did not give me any @> > such impression in Teckla. @> @> And you would have gotten such an impression from a few pages of reported @> dialogue how? I read it and the impression was imprinted on my brain. Seriously, Paresh is a heavy presence throughout the book. He doesn't have that much dialogue, but he doesn't need it, really. And even Vlad admits, eventually, that he's not a coward. Paresh is a stand-in for all the Teckla supporters of the revolution (since the rest of the folks that Vlad interacts with are human). @> Actually, I seem to recall speculation here that Paresh had met Aerich's @> heir, because the story we extrapolated (and have seen verified) made @> little sense otherwise. Yep. @> > And, in fact, Paarfi's version simply does not square with the character @> > that Vlad met, who was not particularly cowardly or deferent in any way. @> @> Sure it squares. Just imagine Paresh making up the chasing bit. Well, this is the part I can't imagine. And, particularly, I find it much easier to imagine that Paarfi just made everything up. @> > Furthermore, Vlad is working from a primary source (albeit one with a @> > specific agenda), whereas Paarfi is, as has been pointed out, either @> > getting his information from Paresh and manipulating it to his own ends, @> > or dealing with a secondary source (that is, someone who heard Aerich or @> > Paresh's account of what happened and then made their own story). @> @> Alexx suggests a letter from Aerich. That seems a rather more reliable @> source of info than Paresh. Another possibility - Paarfi exaggerating A's @> death - perhaps he received a lingering wound from which he succumbed @> in a few weeks after recounting his story to Khaavren. Piro is another @> possible source of transmission. Piro wasn't present at the time of the encounter. As for the rest, if you're relying on Paarfi's unreliability to explain how Aerich could have transmitted the story, what makes you think the story itself, which also comes from Paarfi, is reliable? @> > As Paarfi's character, he embodies the virtues of the Dragaeran @> > nobility, but those virtues are not necessarily the virtues of @> > present-day Americans. @> @> Oh, I thought SKZB wanted us to admire the bloodthirstiness of Vlad's @> noble friends. @> @> Seriously, one of Vlad's main functions is to provide an viewpoint @> half-way outside noble Dragaeran society; he can thus comment on @> Morrolan's willingness to torture his guests when they insult Adron @> or mock the Dzur liability to blackmail. Which is one reason the Paarfi books aren't always going to match up with the Vlad books, because they lack that counterbalancing viewpoint. And, frankly, I trust Vlad more than Paarfi, too. Or, at least, I expect him to lie about different things.