[Dragaera] Vlad and the Undead

[Jerry Friedman]

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com> wrote:

> From: Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dragaera] Vlad and the Undead
> To: "Philip Hart" <philiph at slac.stanford.edu>
> Cc: dragaera at dragaera.info
> Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 1:38 PM
> Philip Hart:
> >
> > Unless I'm confused, Loraan is a principal in
> opposing the manifest will
> > of (most of) the gods - he's bribed with the staff
> containing Aliera's
> > soul to do something or other - suppress necromancy,
> find the door for
> > the J, I forget what exactly if it's even clear.

As I recall, it's totally clear.  The gods are surprised
to learn that Loraan opened the door for the Jenoine.
You'd think they'd be really, really angry.  I've
wondered about this since /Sethra Lavode/ came out,
and I think I agree with Erszébet--Loraan must be so
brilliant a wizard that he evaded the gods' vengeance
in becoming undead.

The gods may somehow have set up the events in /Athyra/
in an attempt to get their vengeance anyway.  (/Taltos/
too, for that matter, as Alexx says below, though that
attempt would have been less successful.)


> (Alexx pokes at the text a bit, without a full reread...)
> 
> Yes, it seems clear that the gods are annoyed with him, and
> Verra even gets explicit permission to "reward [him]
> appropriately".

I read that as referring to Aerich and Tazendra, and "reward"
as literal.  I'm uninterested in unverifiable speculation,
so I have not spent a minute wondering who Tazendra
(Zungaron) and Aerich were reincarnated as.

> (Which perhaps
> she does later by arranging for Morrolan to learn of the
> staff's location.)
> 
> On the flip side, it may be that the gods do not have
> direct jurisdiction
> over who does or does not become undead.  In _Taltos_, when
> Aliera is
> attempting to argue Verra into letting Morrolan leave the
> Paths alive,
> Verra says "Perhaps he can become undead and leave
> that way. There are
> those who have managed this" (Tt 161).  She
> doesn't offer to make him
> undead, nor even to help him become so.  Which might just
> be her being
> unhelpful, but might also indicate that the process of
> becoming undead is outside her influence.
> 
> Note that the Halls of Judgment are just one part of the
> Paths of the Dead
> (or even another location entirely?).  Most people who
> travel the Paths
> are on their way to the Halls, but someone who was
> deliberately planning
> on becoming undead (and who might suspect that the gods
> held a grudge
> against him) might not have to go to the Halls at all.

I hadn't thought about Loraan's method, but maybe it's what
you describe.

As for whether Loraan was already undead in /Taltos/, all
we know as that Vlad and Loiosh didn't say anything.

Jerry Friedman