On 1:13 PM Jon_Lincicum at stream.com wrote: > Hmm, If I recall correctly, Morda had wrapped up his soul in that > finger-bone, which made him think he was immortal. When Taran > surprised > him by finding it and waving it in his face, he was seriously put > out. While the most common use of this in storytelling seems to be as an Achilles heel, where the Chinese Wizard is invulnerable until you find his soul, I am also intrigued by the option to save one's soul - as in Gaiman's _Neverwhere_. If Vlad is somehow connected to that finger, lots of possibilities exist - from him being controllable , Demon like, or summonable, or that he can use it to find refuge or even access to someplace otherwise inaccessible. <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380789019/sr=8-4/qid=1144869728/ref=pd_bbs_4/104-0900024-3884758?%5Fencoding=UTF8>