>I am a bit confused. >Wasn't there a point made (in _Jhereg_)that Vlad's soul is actually a >brother to Keiron the Conqueror, the founder of the Jhereg? Yes. Hence the speculation about whether his soul "belongs" in the Halls or not. >Maybe souls are sent back, but the individual who receives the >recycled sould evidently doesn't have a memory. That certainly seems to be the case. Even Aliera says that she knows about her past lives because Sethra helped her to relive them. >And I have no idea >why Vlad received the soul of a Dragaeran--maybe the gods wanted a >"quick fix" for something, and to beings that live 2 or 3 millenia, a >human lifetime is almost like nothing at all? Yes, that's entirely possible. Aliera thinks of it as a kind of poetic justice. Considering the friends Vlad has made, the fact that they all have Great Weapons, and that Godslayer has conveniently showed up in the posession of a person who has exactly the right background for using it (assassin versed in two different schools of magic)I am inclined to believe that Dolivar's reincarnation as an Easterner was no accident. Verra or some other God set it up this way for a reason, even if the only reason is "it feels like I should do this". The fact that Vlad will die quickly compared to a Dragaeran could be construed to be some sort of fail-safe designed to get Godslayer back out of commission "quickly" once its purpose has been served.