On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 12:40:33 -0700 (PDT), Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com> wrote: > --- Jose Marquez <jhereg69 at earthlink.net> wrote: > > > Jerry Friedman wrote: > > > --- Chris Olson - SunPS <Chrisf.Olson at Sun.COM> wrote: [snip] > > > > I would say that another huge objection is that Vlad hates Kelly, and > > while he would be tempted to take Verra and the other Lords of Judgment > > to task (using his new toy) for various reasons, I don't think that he > > would really do it unless he had a better reason than Kelly wanting him > > to. > > As I recall, though, he told Kelly at the end of _Teckla_ that > he respects what Kelly's doing. That might be a good reason. > And as Kiera says in _Orca_, maybe being good at something is the > best reason to do it. *shudder* I thought from Phoenix that Vlad dislikes Kelly personally because he doesn't agree with him that Cawti shouldn't be willing to sacrifice herself for the movement, but I always found that questionable on Vlad's part because it was really Cawti who was the source of his anger. I got that Vlad sympathized with Kelly's anger, but didn't agree with his methods; I thought the book was sort of depressing, like Orca, where Vlad is unable to get at the real villains, because Vlad has this real justified anger at the establishment (in Phoenix, when Vlad fantasizes about the downfall of the empire), but other than the way that Kelly has, which he rejects on moral grounds and on practical grounds, what can he do? I don't think that Verra and co. really think Kelly is a threat to the Cycle, unless he makes a deal with the Jenoine or another god or something. Charmian