From: Rebecca wrote Sat, 11 Sep 2004 21:20:12 -0500 >I don't think that the "people named after dragons" theory is going to >hold up, Hi, Spoiler below if you have not already read Jhereg and Issola. Wild speculation below too. My wild speculation is that not only are people named after the dragons they have memories of, but they also have the abilities of the original dragon. "e'Lanya blood" "grasp of tactics is without fail." The Phoenix Guards page 131 I was thinking that tactics was one of those innate abilities the Jen took from a Lanya the dragon and merged with an Easterner soul/body. And then Sethra is a descendant of that soul/body. This speculation is based on Vlad having memories of the original dragon that the e'Kieron soul/body line is based on and his ability to create amorphia. The ability to create amorphia is older than Kieron the Conqueror who we think the e'Kieron line is named after. D*livar did not get the ability from his brother. He could have gotten the ability from his mother or father. I think he got it from the dragon that was captured and given to Verra who added the ability to create amorphia to the dragon's soul as a surprise for the Jen. Issola page 182 Vlad says "I had found those innate abilities inherited through the connection of my spirt to ancestors stretching back to when Sethra was young." Aliera talking about "the ability to create amorphia" page 112 Jhereg paperback, page 81 The Book of the Jhereg trade paperback: "It isn't a skill one can learn. It goes back to genes again. So far as I know, it is only the e'Kieron line of the House of the Dragon that holds the ability." Vlad is an Easterner. He is not a descendant of Kieron. Where did the ability come from? The only connection we know of is his soul. Of course, we do not know who his mother was and there could have also been a vial of blood involved. From: Rebecca wrote Sat, 11 Sep 2004 21:20:12 -0500 >because all the people were at different times in history. They had the >last names of an earlier Dragon line, and their descendants took theirs >in honor of their deeds. Yes. And certain souls keep popping up again and again at different times in history. And I think the first names keep popping up because of the soul/body memory of the original dragon or Easterner/Dragaeran. Bye. Linda G.