[Dragaera] [Dzur Spoiler][Orca Spoiler] A slip of the tongue...

[Scott Schultz]

The
Blue
Fox
drew
his
longsword
and 
the
Guardsman's
sword
was
swung.
And
in
the
fight
that
followed,
he laid that guardsman down.

>I don't know 
>how much of this can really be considered "pro-Dzur propoganda"... And 
>since Tazendra is the only Dzur we really see in these (apart from 
>Ibronka, who doesn't really do a whole lot), I suspect you may be 
>generalizing from one example here. 

You're correct to an extent. A great deal comes from the Paarfiad and
Tazendra is certainly key, being as she's the most visible Dzur in those
histories. 

What I mean by "pro-Dzur progaganda", though, isn't "Wow, Tazendra is the
r0x0Rz!" I'm referring more generally to the attempts to "get at" the inner
workings of the Dzur that show them to be something deeper than just the
most efficient killing machines in the Empire as well as people who revel in
any chance they get to die gloriously outnumbered.

Tazendra's earliest personality and escapades aside, it begins in earnest in
_Five Hundred Years After_. Two key things happen: Firstly, there's the
business with Tazendra's battle sleuthing based on the bootprints, which
I've referred to a couple of times previously. Secondly, there's the
business where Sethra brings Tazendra to Gyorg's apartment (Gyorg also being
a Dzur) and asks her to examine it. After first protesting her lack of
intelligence, Tazendra again displays her observational and deductive
skills, but we're also treated to a discussion between Tazendra and Sethra
in which various deep things are revealed about Dzur nature in general and
Tazendra's surprise and gratification that Sethra sees and understands these
things. In other words, we're shown in an oblique way that Tazendra is not
atypical. 

Despite Vlad's own prejudice, the personalities of Ibronka and Telnan both
confirm that the average Dzurlord is probably a lot more like Tazendra than
like the stoic fairy tale Dzur Hero or the hoary and wizened campaigner that
Vlad seems to have met and generalized into the model of the Dzurlord. In
fact, when you consider that Vlad, as a Jhereg, most likely met Dzurlords
under what they would consider dishonorable circumstances that hilighted
their weaknesses, you can sort of forgive him for coming to the conclusion
that Dzurlords are normally dour folks who don't appear to enjoy life much.
Telnan may have been the fist Dzur he's asocciated with in semi-ordinary
social circumstances.

The rest of _VoA_ is not as blatant as _FHYA_ or _Dzur_ but you still see
Ibronka displaying a similar observational capacity and a general good sense
that conflicts with the stereotype of the killing-machine-with-a-death-wish.
Likewise, Tazendra is presented as an accomplished wizard despite her
protestations of stupidity and her good sense is equal to that of her
friends, even if she's still a bit more willing to take on impossible odds
just for the fun of it. If you get to know a Dzur, you find out they're more
complex than that, but, as Sethra tells Vlad, everybody says that.

Steve just seems to have made it a bit of a campaign, perhaps unconsciously,
to show us the deeper side of the Dzur over the course of several books, and
then to write a book whose main purpose is to explore that nature rather
extensively both from the Dzurlord's point of view and from Vlad's point of
view. 

This has its upside and downside. The upside is that you get a better
understanding of the House than you might have if you got stuck on the
stereotypes. The downside is that a story focussing on the depths isn't
neccesarily as "fun" as a story based in the shallow end of the pool. 

I'm one of those people who was initially disappointed in _Dzur_. After
having been through the experience with a couple of other Dragaeran novels,
though, I put the book down, read a bit on the list, thought about it and
went back and read it again. What I've learned is this - When the book is
unsatisfying, it's usually because Steve wrote the book he wanted to write
instead of writing the book that I wanted to read. I wanted Vlad to be the
Dzur Hero challenging The Enchantress. Every time he made some remark about
"well, we could just charge in and start killing people" I was cheering
"Yes! Do it! Go for it!" Given that, I could hardly be surprised at being
unsatisfied with how the novel actually played out.

On the second reading, I was better able to appreciate the novel for what it
was and not for what I wished it was. One of those things being a rather
well-executed culmination of Steve's ongoing exploration of the depths of
the Dzur character and an illustration of how being a Dzur is as much about
standing alone in a good cause and surviving as much as it is about blindly
taking on impossible odds in the name of glory.

So, yeah, in my opinion SKZB is, or at least has been, the Dzur Apologist
for much of the last few years of his chronicling of the history of the
Dragaeran Empire. As just some guy who reads his books as opposed to someone
who knows him intimately, I can't really say what, if anything, this says
about Steve. It does make me think that he probably sees so clearly into the
Dzur because he feels a bit of kinship with that House. I imagine there's a
bit of Don Quixote living under the big hat and the mustache someplace.

Or maybe he just derives amusment from messing with people's pre-conceived
notions. ha ha!