[Dragaera] Vlad's passivity

[Steve Rapaport]

Great observations, Alexx!
Now look over The Lord of Castle Black and see how many things Morrolan does
proactively.

As I recall, he goes on the (traditional) name, familiar and soulmate quest
of the Art, and looks for lodgings.  From then on, everything comes directly
to him, leaving him only to accept or reject --Mishka, a name, a meeting
with Arra, dedication to the Goddess, circle of witches, war with
neighboring villages, Mishka again, Teldra, seeking out his ancestral home,
finding it.

Even after that, most of his decisions seem to be reactive, though they're
occasionally boldly reactive.

I wonder if Steve just thinks that this type of decision-making is cool.

StY

2008/10/16 Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com>

> I'm rereading Jhereg now, and was struck by a resonance in the first
> chapter.  Kragar discusses briefly with Vlad the notion that he (Vlad)
> isn't expanding to meet his potential, and Vlad responds with "No. If and
> when something comes up, we'll deal with it. In the meantime, I have no
> intention of hunting for dragons."  Of course, something immediately comes
> up, derailing the conversation.  But it occurs to me that that quote is
> emblematic of Vlad's entire life.  He is almost completely *reactive*, and
> practically never initiates anything.  Out of the major plots of the
> books, only two are even arguably started by Vlad: In _Jhegaala_, he
> decides to investigate his mother -- but _Dzur_ suggests that he does so
> only due to being prompted by a dream from Verra.  In _Orca_, he actively
> seeks out professional help for Savn -- after a full year of, apparently,
> just hoping he would get better by himself, but taking no positive actions
> to make that come about.
>
> Even in the less plot-oriented aspects of his life, Vlad is never the
> active party.  His grandfather decides that he needs to get a familiar.
> (Digression: why did Vlad end up with a jhereg familiar, anyways? Is this
> an actual choice he made?)  Kiera proactively trains him, then recommends
> him for a job in the Organization.  Kragar gets assigned to him.  His boss
> decides he's ready to do 'work'.  Cawti proposes to him.  As far as we can
> see, he only expands his territory as a response to external threats.
> Well, I guess he did make the original choice to *take* territory from
> Tagichatn.  But even that was in response to a growing sense of annoyance
> with "god-boss".
>
> If Vlad ever makes a positive decision about something he wants (or wants
> to become), and actively pursues it, I expect he has the wherewithal to
> accomplish such goals.  But, so far, he seems entirely lacking in such
> motivation.
>
> Alexx
>
> "There are things that are so serious that you can
>  only joke about them."      -- Heisenberg
>
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-- 
\Steve