[Dragaera] Vlad's passivity

[Jerry Friedman]

--- On Thu, 10/16/08, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote:
> From: "Scott Schultz" <scott at cjhunter.com>
> > 
> > > While that would be boring, it seems one could
> > > build an interesting story where Vlad was the
> > > aggressor against a strong, well-informed, difficult
> > > opponent, but one whom Vlad independently wanted
> > > (for whatever reason) to take down.
> > 
> > Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like a
> description of _Jhereg_. 
> 
> /Jhereg/, /Athyra/ and /Dragon/, all seem to fit this
> pattern pretty well, IMO.

Instead of "reactive" and "proactive", maybe the distinction
is whether Vlad is trying to prevent someone from messing
up a long-standing acceptable situation or trying to improve
a long-standing situation.  In the three books you named,
Vlad is doing acceptably till Mellar, Loraan, and Fornia
threaten him (and in two cases, his friends).  Alexx's
point may be that we have not seen Vlad, unthreatened, say,
"It may seem like things always have to be this way, but I'm
going to change them."  Improving things, for him, has been
gravy while protecting himself or getting revenge or doing
something he was hired to do.

One exception might be courting Cawti.

By the way, I've seen this distinction cited as part of
the distinction between science fiction and fantasy.
The typical fantasy plot supposedly centers on returning
to an original paradisal state that is threatened or
in abeyance.  The typical science-fiction plot supposedly
centers on making the future better than the past.
Sorry, no cite, and there are lots of exceptions.

Jerry Friedman