[Dragaera] Just got ahold of Dzur

[Davdi Silverrock]

On 8/26/06, Steve Rapaport <steve at romlin.com> wrote:
> (And read it at one sitting.  Too short!)
>
> But now that I'm skimming through the last 2 weeks' spoilers on the list, a
> couple of late answers:
> (spoilers)

As
he
rode
o'er
hill
and
dale,
All
armored
in
a
coat
of
mail,
Fa la la-n-fa,
da-n-da da-n-fa,
lanky down dilly.

>
> =====
> Now I'm going to have to go back and re-read this thing a few times to see
> if I get more satisfied about:
>
> * Why is simply giving South Adrilankha up to whatever faction not an option
> for Cawti or Vlad?  Neither of them wants it.  How is Vlad saving Cawti
> somehow by helping?  I expect I'll catch this on the second time through.

Oh, and in addition to everything else I posted about, I think there
is also the psychological  aspect of saving "face".  Cawti has a
certain status in the Jhereg, and respect from potential associates
based on her reputation, and self-love based on her strengths and
integrity.

Giving in to the Left Hand on the matter of South Adrilankha would
lessen all of those, causing her to lose face.

> But more questions are bugging me:
>
> * Why does Vlad want to blame stuff on Verra?  Aside from some memories
> coming back, I didn't see any reason to believe that she was responsible for
> (or even interested in) any of the books' events.

Verra is a manipulator.  Vlad knows that Verra is a manipulator.  Vlad
also knows that Verra's manipulations can blow up and go wrong in
spectacular ways.  Verra has already manipulated him overtly in ways
that screwed up his life badly.

Vlad has now learned that Verra has been doing things to him and
manipulating his memories of those things.

If anyone did to you what Verra had done to Vlad, would you not be
just a wee bit annoyed, and paranoid as to how much they had been
manipulating you?

> * The strained dynamic between Vlad and Daymar makes even less sense than
> ever.  They learn from each other each time they meet, and Vlad has long
> since accepted Daymar's literal thinking, yet he can't stop jibing at
> Daymar.  Even Daymar has begun to notice it.
>  And Vlad seems more mature than he was, and less intimidated by powerful
> folk, so why hasn't he relaxed a bit around Daymar yet, and perhaps started
> to even be civil when he's the one asking for favors?

One mildly pararectal notion:  Perhaps Daymar reminds him
uncomfortably of Loraan.

But it might be more generally that Daymar (and Aibynn, come to think
of it) are just so alien to him in the way they think.  And yes, he's
had some time to get used to the difference in thought processes, but
I think it still confuses him, and throws him off balance.


>
> All of these add up to something in my mind -- it's getting harder for SKZB
> to keep plot and dialogue going without giving away  too much information.
> If Vlad were actually civil with Daymar, he'd actually learn something, so
> he can't be.  If Telnan had any kind of curiosity or character, we'd learn
> too much about Sethra through him.  If Vlad actually spoke to Verra instead
> of threatening her, she might give him some info too.  Likewise if Vlad
> asked questions to Sethra instead of sparring with her verbally.

Heh.  Vlad knows that Sethra will tell him exactly what she wants to,
and ignore (or reply ambiguously about) everything else he asks about.

Besides, the sparring is amusing, and underscores that Vlad is
comfortable enough around a 250,000-year-old undead vampire sorceress
military expert to verbally spar with her.