[Dragaera] Ten New Questions after Dzur. [Dzur Spoilers]

[Michael Wojcik]

Erzsébet of Catspirit Wood wrote:
> Michael Wojcik wrote:
>> Also, part of the appeal of Great Weapons and other Morganti blades,
>> for the reader, is that they represent finality. A world with
>> resurrection and reincarnation needs some sort of real threat. If
>> it turned out that Great Weapons routinely hang onto the souls of
>> folks they kill, that would undermine their value as plot devices a
>> bit - and, for me, seem a bit of a cheat.
> 
> I think there's a distinction between Great Weapons and other Morganti 
> blades, in that when a Morganti blade is used, the soul is gone, whereas 
> with a Great Weapon there may be ways to retrieve it.

Yes.

 > However, one might
> have needed to specify this *before* using the Great Weapon.

Agreed. That's why I objected to the idea of Lady Teldra holding the 
sorceress's soul automatically. Having a Great Weapon take someone's 
soul, preserve it temporarily, and then restore it ought to be a rare 
and (and, I'd hope, at least a bit chancy) thing that requires 
premeditation and effort; otherwise it's too easy, and we get another 
route for casual do-overs.

> Vlad didn't 
> specify anything; he just didn't want the oncoming spell to hit him. So 
> Lady Teldra acted independently, and apparently destroyed the soul.

Daymar's partial explanation could be read as suggesting that the 
soul's destruction was an accident - that it had something to do with 
the nature of the spell, and how Lady Teldra acted to block it. He 
refers to a "channel through the etherium" and "reverse influx" (139, 
in the paperback); so it's conceivable that Lady Teldra bounced the 
spell back and *it* actually destroyed the soul. (Note the Left Hand 
is messing with some unconventional sorcery, per Vlad's conversation 
with Sethra on 82.)

But I'm also perfectly happy with the "Lady Teldra isn't awake and is 
acting instinctively" explanation, and probably even with the "Lady 
Teldra the Great Weapon is not as subtle as Lady Teldra the Issola" 
one - though a polite Great Weapon has some real storytelling potential.

-- 
Michael Wojcik