[Dragaera] Jenoine, Humans, Gods-To-Be, Amorphia, Great Weapons, Barrett, and Various Combinations Thereof

[Erzsébet of Catspirit Wood]

Scott Schultz wrote:

> Do we have some reason to believe that Dolivar did NOT come to the Paths 
> of the Dead? He lived longer than Kieron, and he was the eventual leader 
> of the outcasts that would become House Jhereg. There's even the 
> suggestion that Sethra had a soft spot for him (which Vlad seems to 
> believe to be at least part of the explanation for Kiera's befriending 
> of him). It seems like he would have made the preparations for the 
> eventuality and had at least one friend that would see that those plans 
> were executed.

My speculation was based on a couple of thoughts that may not hold up. 
One thought was that Dolivar's soul might have ended up being reborn as 
an Easterner in part because the LoJ *didn't* have as much control over 
his rebirth as they might have had if he had gone over the Falls. 
Another was that Dolivar might not have wanted to go over the Falls, if 
he didn't want his soul judged by the LoJ, e.g. because he thought he'd 
be relegated to purple robe status or because he disliked the idea of 
having to serve whatever purpose the LoJ had. I could see Vlad making a 
decision like that. (This would even work if he's been reincarnated 
since then, if this stubborn streak holds true across incarnations.)

Now, Verra is quite sneaky and might have managed to find and 
reincarnate his soul anyway, but might have had to slip him in with the 
Easterners to avoid detection by the rest of the LoJ, or might have made 
him an Easterner for her own reasons.

I think this will end up being significant to the series, either way. 
Vlad's former identity is revealed in the first book SKZB wrote, hand 
has been mentioned periodically since then. I'm quite curious to see how 
it plays out in coming books. (Perhaps there will be an interesting 
conversation with a female philosopher in which some tidbits are 
dropped... before Vlad has to kill her.)

Regarding Loraan, I'm stumped as to why the LoJ would give him 
"permission" to return to Dragaera as an undead. I suspect that in his 
case, he's avoided the departing of his soul by some other means. After 
all, the bait to get him to do whatever he did for the conspirators at 
the end of the Interregnum was the staff with Aliera's soul in it. He 
evidently had some heavy research plans around the nature of souls and 
their containment.

(And is it the case that the primary purpose of the LoJ is to judge 
souls? Despite the name, I rather thought their purpose had to do with 
holding off the Jenoine, and the soul-sorting was a means to that end.)

-- 
Erzsébet of Catspirit Wood
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