Dragaera

Great Weapons Redux

Maximilian Wilson wilson.max at gmail.com
Fri Apr 1 15:26:30 PST 2005

On Apr 1, 2005 3:48 PM, Peter H. Granzeau <pgranzeau at cox.net> wrote:
> At 16:01 04/01/2005, Scott Schultz wrote:
> >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.

> I think the operative word in Sethra's comment was "weilder".  For a Great
> Weapon to be  of use, it must be with its owner.  Do we have any instance
> of a GW doing anything while not unsheathed?

Well, Vlad attributes the fact that Morrolan and Aliera are not
disarmed by the Jenoine to fear of their Great Weapons. Vlad/Godslayer
heals Vlad's nerve damage while it's still stuck to the hilt through
Lady Teldra's body (does that count as "sheathed"?). Sethra refers to
the "wielder" of a GW as if it were a state of being, not a temporary
action--in fact, did Morrolan have Blackwand unsheathed already as he
was teleporting in (before he was killed)?

Basically, we haven't seen the Great Weapons *do* much of anything,
sheathed or unsheathed, so we don't know a lot. But Sethra doesn't
seem to draw a distinction between their abilities, and, most
intriguing to me, Vlad--who explicitly states that Spellbreaker, Lady
Teldra, and himself have become to some extent one, er,
thingey--doesn't seem to draw a clear distinction between his own
abilities and Lady Teldra's. "Almost as an afterthought, I repaired
the trivial damage in my left arm which had been repairing itself
anyway." He also says something interesting about now understanding
how Pathfinder saved Aliera, which makes me wonder if it was the fact
that Aliera was _holding_ Pathfindger when the Morganti knife tried to
eat her, or the fact that Pathfinder is tied to Aliera's soul.

I guess we'll find out eventually. Right now we're just killing time
indulging in what Sethra would probably not even deign to call
"enlightened speculation."

Max Wilson

-- 
I die! I attempt a speeling flame, but my flamer explodes and covers me
with burning oil. The fire spreads to the walls and nearby houses. The
smoke from the flames blots out the sun. Crop failures abound and
civilization collapses. The last humans huddle around their pathetic
campfires as a new ice age ensues and the glaciers approach. The light
of the fire attracts many wolves. All die! O, the embarrassment!