Dragaera

Jenoine and Gods

Wed Feb 15 19:56:45 PST 2006

Claire Rojstaczer wrote:

> Very probably this has been discussed before and I missed it, but I 
> happened to be rereading Phoenix and Issola at the same time, and 
> noticed a little snippit of conversation between Morrolan and Vlad 
> that I cannot reconcile with Sethra's speech to Vlad at the beginning 
> of Issola.
>
> <Phoenix Version>
>
> How can we mesh this with Sethra's version of events?
>
> <Issola Version>
>
> The obvious answer is that Morrolan's mistaken, but can anyone come up 
> with a cleverer reading?


How's this:

The servants who caused the explosion had no idea what the exact results 
of their sabotage were going to be, they just threw a monkey wrench into 
the works and <BLAMO> there's amorphia everywhere. Some of them manage 
to survive by adapting themselves, and by exercising control over the 
Flux and using the free illiaster to change their form--er, I mean, by 
using Elder Sorcery to manipulate the amorphia to change their physical 
makeup so they can survive.

The Jenoine who *became* gods were nearly overcome by amorphia in the 
explosion, and only survived by changing their forms. These "reformed 
Jenoine" may or may not be members of the Lords of Judgment--the change 
in form had a profound effect on their outlooks--but they are still 
gods. The other Jenoine who were not present during the explosion and 
still exist are *not* gods.

This interpretation takes a rather liberal use of the word "destroyed" 
as it applies to the Jenoine who became gods, as they were more properly 
just "altered". But at a certain point, if your self-identity is wiped 
out, the "old you" may actually cease to be. (See Obi-Wan Kenobi's 
comments re:Anakin Skywalker for a similar interpretation)

Majikjon

-Who just finished re-reading "To Reign in Hell", in case you couldn't tell.

:-)