Dragaera

Sethra Lavode (Large spoilers, esp Orca/Issola)

Tue Jun 13 17:53:45 PDT 2006

Davdi Silverrock wrote:
> On 6/13/06, Jon Lincicum wrote:
>> Jon_Lincicum at stream.com wrote:
>> > "Davdi Silverrock"
>> > To
>> > "Dragaera List"
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On 6/13/06, <Jon_Lincicum at stream.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Sethra Lavode Spoiler Space (which is to say, for nearly every 
>> book out
>> >> there):
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>> > /Phoenix/, Chapter 7. (Page 255, omnibus)
>> >
>> > "You haven't met (Sethra) yet, so picture if you will a tall Dragaeran
>> > wearing...
>> Hmmm... "Tall for a Dragaeran" vs "a tall Dragaeran".
>
> A search for the exact phrase "Tall for a Dragaeran" in /The Book of
> Jhereg/ does find: "Morrolan was a bit tall for a Dragaeran."  For
> whatever that's worth.
Consulting Paarfi, here's how he describes Sethra in /FHYA/:

"Five Hundred Years After", Chapter 8, page 101 (paperback):

"...we must look beyond her physical manifestation, for her appearance 
was not, we know from several sources, unduly prepossessing. She was not 
exceptionally tall; she was neither remarkably handsome nor unusually 
grotesque."

"not  exceptionally tall" to me says "perhaps a bit taller than average, 
but certainly not short".

Paarfi, of course, is going off third-hand accounts, since it seems 
pretty clear he's never actually seen her for himself (personal theories 
of some here notwithstanding), so his description is perhaps less 
reliable than Vlad's.

Given that the "average" is given by Vlad many times as about 7 feet 
tall or so, perhaps a few inches more. This is a good ballpark figure 
for Sethra given this description.

To the left, "small" as it describes Kiera, puts us about 6' 6" to 6' 
9". (ballpark).

There's probably enough wiggle room here to put them anywhere from five 
to nine inches difference, depending on who's description you're more 
inclined to believe.

> Perhaps it was a narrative nudge to remind the readers to vizualize
> someone around 7 feet tall, definitely over 6 feet.  Newer readers
> might forget that, without the hint.  Since SKZB did intend to have
> each novel be readable standalone, he would therefore presumably
> re-introduce the idea in each book that Dragaerans are ~7ft tall, give
> or take, and emphasize it for the main characters.
>
> Or so I might speculate, anyway.
Certainly this argument has some merit, given that the comment about 
Sethra from /Phoenix/ comes on the heels of a comment about "you haven't 
met her yet" reminding us, as readers, that Vlad is supposedly 
introducing Sethra to us for the first time.

All the same, five or six inches difference is a pretty noticeable 
height difference, and one that would be difficult to achieve just using 
elevator shoes, or some such.

Majikjon