On 2/4/06, Davdi Silverrock <davdisil at gmail.com> wrote: > On 2/4/06, Maximilian Wilson <wilson.max at gmail.com> wrote: > > On 2/4/06, Francesco Nicoletti <francesco.nicoletti at pacific.net.au> wrote: > > > [snip] Fenario. That seem to leave a subset of with one member, Cawti. > > > If Cawti did write Brokedown Palace & Brigitta is her mother, perhaps > > > Cawti sees herself in the same catalyst role in Dargaeria as she wrote > > > for her mother in Brokedown Palace. > > The idea that Cawti is the narrator of /Brokedown Palace/ is indeed > Cool. It works well with the fact that she is a poet (which we learn > when she recited a poem to Vlad on the return from Greenaere in > /Phoenix/), which might further explain some of the odd depictions of > things and events (I'm thinking of the River and the Tree, here) - > she's using poetic license to recast events she doesn't quite fully > know about. Assuming she wrote BP before she met Vlad, it also might > also explain why she believes that with sufficient will and effort, > the Cycle *can* be defeated, or at least made less important, and the > downtrodden raised up. That is, Cawti has the example of the events of > /Brokedown Palace/ to inspire her, and even if various events did not > occur exactly as she depicted them, we have Verra's own word that as a > result of the actions of a prince of Fenario, she (Verra) can no > longer manifest in Fenario, so that core of truth has been confirmed. > And perhaps Cawti hopes that something similar can be done against the > Orb and the Cycle in the Empire. > > Also, finding out more about her own roots might explain why Cawti no > longer uses a patronymic (that is, she discovered that she is in fact > illegitimate). > [following up with some additional thoughts] There's also that line about Dragaerans having to watch out for "her", that is Cawti. If she herself wrote that, it's a rather self-referential acknowlegement of her being both an assassin and a political revolutionary (but from what I can tell, not a political assassin). Continuing with this pararectal conceit, I find myself wondering what her thoughts were on being given a commission to assassinate someone named "Taltos". Did she wonder if it was a sign that Vlad was unkillable? Did she have some half-hope that he would prove to be a similar support of political change in Dragaera that Bolk was in Fenario? Might that have been part of why she found herself attracted to him when the assassination attempt failed? Might that further have been why she was so disappointed by his complete political apathy (and indeed, antipathy), not too long after they married? Oh, well. Just some random maunderings.