Dragaera

Great Weapons Redux

Fri Apr 1 13:01:47 PST 2005

So, I ended my latest re-read of the Vladiad by finishing Issola yesterday.
After the discussion about what might happen to Vlad if he was attacked
post-Godslayer, I was tuned into a conversation that took place between Vlad
and Sethra.

Sethra implies that it's nearly impossible to kill the wielder of a Great
Weapon. She accounts for Morrolan's death in Jhereg as a combination of
surprise, sorcery and bravado. She goes on to say that even if Morollan had
not been revivified that Blackwand would have continued to guard his soul.
She finishes by saying that Blackwand (whom I think we could probably
consider to be a sorceror in its own right) was capable of doing a lot more
than it did and the Jhereg assassin was a fool.

Baritt not only died to a Jhereg assassin, he died and went to the Paths.
However, he also hid Pathfinder, essentially seperating himself from it. He
may have forfeited its protection by doing so. Perhaps he even have had a
"falling out" of some kind with it and lost the privelege of wielding it.
That would help explain the concealment of it. "If I can't have you, nobody
can..." Hmmm... Baritt was alive when Aliera was recovered from the Paths.
Some time after that he hid Pathfinder and then was killed. Aliera felt that
Pathfinder had been trying to come to her. Pathfinder's journey may have
begun at the end of _Taltos_ rather than at the beginning of _Dragon_. Once
it "divorced" Baritt he hid it rather than help it travel to its preferred
owner and the rest of _Dragon_ and _Yendi_ unfolded as a result.

Digressions aside, that just shows that Baritt probably does NOT qualify as
an exception to Sethra's "rule" that Great Weapons will do everything in
their power to protect their owner. This is reinforced at the end of
_Issola_ when Vlad "gloats" over the fact that Iceflame and Pathfinder are
powerless to affect the Jenoine because penetrating its defenses would mean
risking destruction of their respective owners and they would not allow
that. Godslayer, on the other hand, was designed for cutting through sorcery
and has no such qualms. However powerful Iceflame, Blackwand, and Pathfinder
are at their magical abilities, Godslayer is actually a superior weapon in
comparison to all of them. I digress again...

Whatever happens to Vlad in Adrilankha, it appears that he's safe from
physical harm and probably from magical harm as well. Whereas Morollan and
Blackwand suffered a sorcerous sneak attack, Godslayer would simply nullify
the spell when it landed.