[Dragaera] Vlad's passivity

[Jon Lincicum]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Alexx Kay" <alexx at panix.com>
>
> 
> Even in the less plot-oriented aspects of his life, Vlad is never the
> active party.  His grandfather decides that he needs to get a familiar. 
> (Digression: why did Vlad end up with a jhereg familiar, anyways? Is this
> an actual choice he made?)  Kiera proactively trains him, then recommends
> him for a job in the Organization.  Kragar gets assigned to him.  His boss
> decides he's ready to do 'work'.  Cawti proposes to him.  As far as we can
> see, he only expands his territory as a response to external threats. 
> Well, I guess he did make the original choice to *take* territory from
> Tagichatn.  But even that was in response to a growing sense of annoyance
> with "god-boss".
>
> If Vlad ever makes a positive decision about something he wants (or wants
> to become), and actively pursues it, I expect he has the wherewithal to
> accomplish such goals.  But, so far, he seems entirely lacking in such
> motivation.

I'd say this is simply a matter of perspective. 

In my opinion, this has more to do with storytelling than Vlad as a character. Vlad SEEMS to be reactive, because every time we see him in a story, for much of it, he's in over his head. He has no CHOICE but to be reactive for most of the stories we see him in, because he doesn't have the knowledge or resources to do anything else. 

A point comes in each Vlad adventure (so far) when he turns the corner on this and then finally DOES have the information and resources to act proactively and decisively against his adversaries...Which then wins him the day, and ends the story.
 
What is his life like IN BETWEEN the stories we have seen? Are these periods reactive or proactive?

This is not reflective of Vlad as a passive person -- in fact, I would argue quite the opposite, he's a pretty ambitious guy who goes after what he wants when he thinks he can get it. It is reflective of the situations we happen to see him in--which just so happen to be those situations that make for good storytelling. Go figure.

How boring would it be to see a Vlad story where he starts out as the aggressor at the beginning of the story, and knows everything that's going on, and just bulls through a bunch of weaker or less-informed opponents the whole time?

Majikjon