[Dragaera] Vlad's passivity

[Jon Lincicum]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Alexx Kay" <alexx at panix.com>
> > How boring would it be to see a Vlad story where he starts out as the
> > aggressor at the beginning of the story, and knows everything that's going
> > on, and just bulls through a bunch of weaker or less-informed opponents
> > the whole time?
> 
> While that would be boring, it seems one could build an interesting story
> where Vlad was the aggressor against a strong, well-informed, difficult
> opponent, but one whom Vlad independently wanted (for whatever reason) to
> take down.

Well... Yes, but so long as the opponent is just a LITTLE BIT more powerful than Vlad is, then he still has to be passive, at least until he figures out a way to overcome the difference.  

/Athyra/ mostly follows this pattern, actually. Vlad didn't HAVE to stay in Smallcliff, he could have run away. Instead, he chose to remain and try to take out Loraan, despite the Wizard being in a strong position. The drama of the story was driven by Vlad's inability to easily dispatch a powerful opponent. This doesn't mean the decision to engage in the struggle was not a proactive one, or that Vlad was not, in some sense, the aggressor.

Sure, you could say he was reacting to the death of Reins. But what loyalty, exactly, did Vlad really have to Reins? This was really a side issue, IMO.

Majikjon