[Dragaera] javelin shooters (no spoilers)

[Mark A. Mandel]

--- Louis Eastman <almagaiz at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 8/4/06, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote:

> > Of course, it's possible that "arrows" and "javelins" have been used
> by
> > different armies at different times in Dragaeran history, and that
> > "arrow" is simply not the term that is currently in vogue.
> >
> > This may also be one of those things that can be explained away by
> > "mistranslation" from the Dragaeran tongue to English, also.

> Well, it sounds reasonable, but unless these are very big arrows, I
> don't know
> how effective they would be by sticking into a shield and levering it
> aside, like
> Vlad does in Dragon. Also the fact that they are throwing weapons on
> Vlad's side
> pretty much discounts the arrow theory- I can't think of a useful way of
> throwing three
> arrows that would be accurate and have enough force to hurt someone.

What follows is all my own opinion.

These ARE bows and arrows, but Vlad has never seen them before, and to the
Dragaerans they are less familiar than javelins. A (comparatively) recent
invention, in fact, so they are still called by a name reflecting their
derivation.

Maybe the Easterners use them and have independent names for them in at
least some of their languages. But these experienced and learned Dragon
soldiers know them as a way to shoot (little) javelins.

IMHO (he said redundantly) this "mistranslation" is a clever way for SKZB
to tell us all this.

-- Mark A. Mandel, proprietor, Cracks and Shards
   http://www.cracksandshards.com
   a Steven Brust fan website


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