[Dragaera] More Jhegaala Spoilers -- Analysis of the life stages

[Steve Rapaport]

I just added this to the wiki but I'm proud of it and wanted to share with
y'all.

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The Part headings and descriptions of the Jhegaala species transformations
are meant as a parallel to the plot and Vlad's own internal shifts.

Part One: (Egg) is the stage where the mother must leave the vulnerable egg
alone with a father or father-substitute. The parallel to Vlad's inquiries
about his early days with his absent mother, and clues from his own
father-substitute, is obvious.

Part Two: (Apoptera) is the stage of curious inquisition with all senses,
while sight (and insight, by frequent metaphor in the book) is the last to
develop. During this stage Vlad is constantly assaulted by smells, and
tastes, but sights are always obscured by darkness or shadow. His
understanding is similarly bewildered.

Part Three: (Steminastra) is the Jhegaala's vulnerable yet reckless stage.
The plot shows Vlad undertaking self-healing spells in a way that shows
"reckless disregard for the size and characteristics of his predators".

Part Four: (Notonide) is the Jhegaala's fast adolescence, a period of high
vulnerability, intense and rapid physical transformation, development of
wings and venom glands, and yet the Jhegaala is "never so much *itself* as
when under intense pressure". Vlad is during this time helpless and
tortured, being slowly crippled and intensely damaged, and yet learning fast
and finding the information levers and threats (the venom glands) that will
allow him to be effective when he is himself again.

Part Five: (Levidopt) is both a state of maturity and a recapitulation of
the previous developments. The parallel to Vlad's reassessment of the rest
of the story in light of his new outlook is evident. An interesting side
note -- in this stage, Vlad spends most of his time bedridden, gathering
information and manipulating events from his immobile position.

It's too bad the Levidopt stage isn't mentioned as an immobile stage,
because it would present an attractive parallel. Instead, an oblique
reference to Nero Wolfe <http://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Nero_Wolfe>, the
overweight armchair detective, is brought to our attention in case we hadn't
noticed that Loiosh is acting as Archie
Goodwin<http://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Archie_Goodwin>to Vlad's Nero.
(P.260: "You know, Loiosh, I think I could get used to
having you fly around and find out things for me while I just sit and do the
thinking." "Heh. In a year you'd weigh three hundred pounds.")

I should do this kinda thing more often....

Steve the Younger