[Dragaera] Jhegaala *Spoilers*

[Bryan Newell]

I believe Eugene intended this for the entire list and not just for me, so
I've included his full text in my reply.

But first, some spoiler space (for those who haven't yet read the book): 

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> From: Eugene Zaretskiy [mailto:eugene.zar at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:44 PM
> 
> Hi all -- new to the list. Anyway:
>
> Regarding Dahni calling Vlad "Lord Taltos", I don't think 
> there was any confusion.
> 
> Immediately after Dahni says "Lord Taltos", Vlad contemplates 
> killing him immediately. There is a pretext that Dahni is 
> trying to get information out of Vlad, but it seems to me 
> that the statement comes at a strange time in the 
> conversation. It seems to me like Vlad's sudden suspicion was 
> triggered very much by the use of his real name.
> Furthermore, I think very often (particularly in this book), 
> Vlad does not make his reasoning known until much later. In 
> this case, when Loiosh later asks how Vlad knew Dahni for 
> what he was, Vlad tells him that Dahni's mention of being in 
> darkness giving him an edge, is what gave him away. Why 
> didn't he also mention the use of his real name?
> Because it didn't really prove much -- he knew that the Guild 
> knew his name and for a long time did not understand what 
> Dahni was doing. The raid on his house finally provoked him 
> into giving away Dahni's true purpose via that comment. At 
> least, that's the way I see it.

It seems odd to me for Vlad not to at least mention this when explaining to
Loiosh why he thought Dahni would rescue him (especially since he spends so
much time explaining his thinking to various people in this book) but Steve
appears to agree with your assessment (see comment #26 at
http://dreamcafe.com/words/2008/07/06/jhegaala-spoilers/).

 
> That's all I got. Your other comments highlight most of the 
> moments where I was confused, too. I thought the "agreeably 
> dissapointing"
> comment was trying to convey that Vlad was agreeable to Rocza 
> having some affection for him but disappointing because Vlad 
> thought he had performed a very unusual familiar summoning on 
> her. Now he finds out that she just likes him, and while his 
> "spell" may have brought her to him initially, it's not his 
> skill that was keeping her there. That's the best I can do on 
> that one.

I nearly think I agree with you.  Thanks.

> Eugene

Bryan