[Dragaera] Jhegaala *Spoilers*

[Bryan Newell]

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> > Either Steve got confused, or Vlad missed a big clue that something 
> > was amiss:  when Vlad first meets Dahni, Dahni refers to him as 
> > "Lord Taltos" and Vlad doesn't bat an eye (page 129).
   
> At this point, Vlad doesn't know who Dahni is really working 
> for. The way I read it, Vlad assumes (incorrectly) that Dahni 
> is representing the Guild. He already suspects the Guild had 
> the Merss family killed--so his immediate reaction to this 
> revelation is "Turn and walk away." This seems to have not 
> been a simple slip-up on Dahni's part, since two sentences 
> earlier he had called him "Lord Merss". Dahni dropped the 
> Taltos name quite deliberately.
> 
> Later on, Vlad may have either forgotten the comment, and its 
> significance, or if you want to give Vlad more credit, he was 
> simply unsure of how much the Count and the Guild were really 
> cooperating with one another. Perhaps the Guild told the 
> Count, and the Count told Dahni?
> 
> Of course, we find out later that the real reason Dahni knows 
> his name is likely the Jhereg assassin told him.
> 
> My belief is that this was a deliberate clue for the reader 
> on the part of SKZB.

To my chagrin, it would appear that Steve agrees with you (see comment #26
at http://dreamcafe.com/words/2008/07/06/jhegaala-spoilers/).


> > Why Rocza's sudden affection/protectiveness towards Vlad?  Is it 
> > related to Cawti's pregnancy?  

> I think the idea that this had anything to do with Cawti's 
> pregnancy may be a bit of a stretch. I see this development 
> as just being the fact that ever since /Jhereg/, Cawti had 
> been a bit closer to Rocza than Vlad was, and now that Cawti 
> wasn't around anymore, Vlad was only just starting to take 
> greater notice of Rocza.

I can see that.  Thanks.


> This relationship has certainly 
> blossomed by the time we get to the events of /Athyra/.

My memory of /Athyra/ is that she seems more concerned with Loiosh than Vlad
(that it isn't so much that she's worried about Vlad because she likes Vlad,
but because it upsets Loiosh), but I need to reread /A/ anyway.


> > "What's time to a kethna?  Sorry, private joke."  Did 
> > anyone here get this joke?
> 
> Ever see a pig who was impatient to get on with his function in life? 
> Sat watching the clock, counting down the hours, waiting for 
> the big event? That's how I read this line, anyway. Kethna 
> exist to be eaten. If that's your lot in life, you're not 
> going to sit watching the clock all day.

That works, except why refer to it as a private joke?  Has this been
discussed on the List or his blog before, and I missed it?

Bryan