[Dragaera] Dzur spoilers - 17 thoughts

[Maximilian Wilson]

On 8/12/06, Davdi Silverrock <davdisil at gmail.com> wrote:
> A one, a two, a...
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> 12) Mario
>
> It is interesting that Vlad somehow knew that this harmless-looking
> person, of all the people in Valabar's, was dangerous.  Perhaps one
> professional intuitively recognizing another?  Do assassins have some
> sort of "killdar"?


"Just because they really are out to get you doesn't mean you aren't
paranoid. If they've been after you long enough, paranoia can become a
reflex."

"...I got no sense that he knew how to handle himself, or was looking
around for danger, or that, well, he was anything except an elderly
merchant. Naturally, I assumed he was there to kill me."

The only sense I get here is that Vlad is mocking his own paranoia,
not that he *really* had any sense that Mario was dangerous.

> 16) Courtesy
>
> A minor observation:  The opening of /Issola/ mentioned the different
> codes of conduct that each House has, and that while it might be
> polite in one House to stand to greet guests, it is polite in others
> to stay seated, and that as a complication, a member of one House
> might greet someone of another House using that other House's standard
> of conduct.
>
> Anyway, it was interesting to see that mirrored in the prologue of
> /Dzur/ where Vlad stands to greet his Dzur guest.

> Was Vlad just slightly more courteous to people than he would have
> been normally?  I'll have to try and look for that on my re-read,
> although I note that there's a point when he has a chance to mouth off
> to Aliera, and stops himself.

You mean aside from the overt occasions where he's about to say
something rude and Teldra stops him? I think that happened three or
four times. I also noticed that there's a lot of *discussion* about
courtesy in passing. The first one that comes to mind is:

"He belched. In some Eastern societies, I'm told that's a compliment.
I was taught to excuse myself. Dragaerans just ignored it."

> Although I just checked the exact wording in /Issola/, and it says
> that Dzur remain seated when greeting guests.  So was Vlad being
> inappropriate to Telnan?  Or was he unconciously following the rule
> of, say, House Issola?

Hmmm. I think the latter is more Cool than the explanation I had in
mind ("Steve changed his mind about Dzur courtesy").


> 17)  Vlad Norathar and Cawti
>
> It is perhaps appropriate that the story ends just as Vlad is about to
> meet someone whose very existence he did not suspect, and that it is
> this meeting that perhaps affects him the most, out of all of the
> confrontations that he's had.
>
> Note that Cawti did notify Noish-pa about VN, but consider the
> implication:  Vlad said that he visited Noish-pa during his travels.
> That could mean his own grandfather didn't tell him about his son
> (unless the timing wasn't quite right, in that the visit was before
> the birth, which I suppose might be possible).  Hm.

But he saw Noish-pa "a couple of years ago." Has Vlad really only been
gone for three years? My sense of it is that it was longer. I could
certainly imagine Noish-pa keeping mum about something he doesn't
consider to be his business; he always kept his mouth shut about
Vlad's line of work, for example.

> I wonder, will Cawti/Vlad hold off taking VN to see Noish-pa, given
> the prophecy about VN?

Remind me again? Is this from VoA?

-Maximilian

-- 
Be pretty if you are,
Be witty if you can,
But be cheerful if it kills you.