----- Original Message ----- From: "Maximilian Wilson" <wilson.max at gmail.com> To: "Dragaera List" <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 10:48 AM Subject: Vlad's not a Jhereg at heart <snip> > P.S. Much as he would hate to admit it, I think Vlad fits in better > with the Dragons than with the Jhereg. He's got too much concern for > honor. Jhereg, as Sethra points out in Taltos, would be glad to sit > down and listen to a business proposal no matter how they were brought > into it. Vlad is, much as he would hate to admit it, more like Aliera > in "Jhereg" when she volunteers to feed herself to a Morganti blade > because it gives her a better chance of survival than making Morrolan > kill her or letting him start a war. Declaring war on Boralinoi for > Cawti's sake--is _that_ Jhereg behavior? More like a honor vendetta. > Rescuing Morrolan and Aliera from the Jenoine? Spending a year of his > life wandering Dragaera nursing Savn back to health? I'm not saying > Vlad/Dolivar fits in well with the Dragons--relative preferences for > hot meals vs. fighting come to mind--but I don't really think he ever > really fit in with the Organization and it's not really a surprise > that he got the boot. I've been re-reading the books for the ump-teenth time, this time with an eye to all of that reincarnation of the soul stuff, and I have to agree that Vlad acts like a Dragon, and it's not something I really considered before, even though I've read _Jhereg_ over and over for 15 years. He has these odd periods of stubborn commitment, like refusing to bug out in _Dragon_, even though that's clearly in his best interests. He's just not a carrion-eater, and if you pay attention you can see Steve leaving these clues about Vlad's nature. I know I missed them repeatedly just because I was used to Vlad as Vlad, so nothing he did was really hitting me as being out of character for him; but a lot of his behavior is out of character for a Jhereg (though maybe not an ex-Dragon Jhereg; Kragar provides an interesting foil for Vlad in this way, since in him we have an example of a Dolivar type). Just finished _Orca_ again. For some reason I can't find _Phoenix_ or _Athyra_ anywhere around, so I haven't read them in about 6 years. I can't wait to get my hands on them again and re-read with the same diligence. Cheers, Shawn