[Dragaera] Jhegaala crack (spoiler)

[Philip Hart]

On Mon, 28 Jul 2008, Maximilian Wilson wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 9:45 AM, Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
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>>>>
>>>> "Yeah, I know that", and furthering the conversation.  But rereading the
>>>> passages you helpfully quote, everything seems perfectly fine.  In
>>>> _Jhegaala_, Vlad says, I heard someone claim x, and that's stupid.  In
>>>> _Issola_, Teldra tells Vlad x, and he's surprised, because, well.
>>
>>>> [Me saying M couldn't be that dumb was snipped]
>>
>>>
>>> He's not surprised that something he was skeptical of turns out to be
>>> true. The notion of Morrolan not knowing he was human is new to him,
>>> hence "You're going to have to explain that."  He is baffled and THEN
>>> surprised, which is inconsistent with Jhegaala.
>>
>> As I said, Vlad thought not x because x->y, and he's sure of not y
>> (that is, he knows M isn't stupid) - he "hadn't known he was Dragaeran -- just thought he was a very tall human. I'd never asked him if it were true, but I didn't believe it; the differences were too obvious."
>> I don't at all understand the bafflement then surprise distiction you're
>> trying to make.
>
> In Issola, it's clear from the text that the idea that Morrolan could
> have thought he was human was new to Vlad. You're claiming that he
> believed !x since x -> y, but in fact he had no opinion about x
> because it had never occurred to him.


Ok, slowly I see what you mean.  But considering that Vlad was talking to
Teldra, we have to keep in mind that he can't say, "I heard that claim
but I dismissed it because it would mean M is an idiot."  He can't even
say, "I heard that but dismissed it", because the second part is clearly
audible.  He's stuck saying, "Get out!" and "Seriously?" and "No way!".

Also, well, he doesn't want to spoil the joke by being too obvious.

And for that matter he might not recall at the time of recounting of 
_I_ that he had known the rumor but had dismissed it.