[Dragaera] Vlad's passivity--first half

[Jerry Friedman]

--- On Tue, 10/21/08, Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
> Getting longer.  At some point soon we'll have to give
> up
> and continue the conversation at SKZBcon.
> 
> 
> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> 
> >> How is Vlad going to get into the area without
> Loraan
> >> knowing it?
> >
> > [...]
> > On the other hand, I don't think it's ever
> clear how Loraan knew it was 
> > time to kill Reins.
> 
> Right, that's what I had in mind.
> 
> Ok, if V convinces a bevy of GW-wielders to take out L,
> it doesn't matter whether he saunters up to the door.
> But then they hardly need Vlad to blast their way
> into the keep of an Athyra wizard - or, well.
> 
> At some point this is going to turn into a diplomatic
> embarrassment.

I'm not sure why. 

> >>>  In particular, Ishtvan and his knife probably
> >> won't be around.
> >>
> >> Sure, he'll be pursuing Vlad as he walks away
> >> from the area.
> >
> > Ishtvan has shown no ability to find Vlad.
> 
> It might help to have a warm trail.

I mean that during /Athyra/, Istvan shows no such ability.
Anyway...

> > Anyway, Vlad teleports a couple of times in the book.
> 
> In moments of great danger, mostly iirc.

He teleports himself and Savn from the caves to Smallcliff,
just because Savn said he was late.  This is in Chapter 4,
after Vlad says it's too late to leave.

> But how is that, 
> anyway?  It's dangerous, but not instantaneously
> deadly?

That's a good question, which others (was it Frieda?)
have brought up.

> That's the sense I have from _Jhereg_, but that's
> more pro-warm trail evidence.
...

> > And what could his plan possibly be?  If Blackwand
> > failed, how can he hope to succeed?
> 
> First off, who says Blackwand failed?

Okay, "if there's a possibility that Blackwand failed."

> Second, I figure he means to drown L in a butt of dark
> water.

Assuming you're not just alluding to /Richard III/,
Vlad says dark water "can be used to weaken and repel
the undead".  That might mean that it can help kill
them, but then it might not.
 
> >  He has no reason to expect that a Morganti dagger
> will work-- and is he 
> > hoping all along to use Ishtvan's?
> 
> I would guess that chopping off the head, burning to ashes,
> feeding to one's familiar would work.

That's a good point, though Loraan could for all we know
have magical ways to prevent that from happening.  (If
Morrolan really killed him, it's quite possible that
Loraan had a magical way of keeping his body from
decaying while he worked out his return to it--depending
on how long the process took.)

> V obviously knows about 
> fighting undead from the dark water stuff.

But not necessarily about fighting undead who are also
very powerful necromancers, perhaps capable of dodging
the soul destruction of a Great Weapon.

> >> Who knows?  Maybe he set a desultory trap but once
> Vlad walks away 
> >> he'll pull out all the stops.  Permanent
> teleport blocks, for example.
> >
> > I see no reason to think he can do that.  Ishtvan is
> > impressed enough that Loraan can put a block up over
> > three square miles (Chapter 15).
> 
> What does Ishtvan know about what L can do?

Indeed, he's surprised, but he probably has some idea
of the possibilities.  Anyway, if Loraan could have set
up a teleport block over his whole domain, he would
have when he sent his men at arms to attack Vlad in
Tem's.

> >>> Most important, Vlad can get help.
> >>
> >> How?
> >
> > To be serious, he can get a message to Kiera the same
> > way he did in /Orca/, and he knows Kiera can get in
> > touch with Morrolan.
> 
> That's likely to take a while.

It didn't take prohibitively long in /Orca/.  And I'm
trying to argue that getting to safety and waiting is
in Vlad's interest.  He's in no hurry.

> And, well, I imagine that
> by now there's a Jhereg operative in the Castle Black
> mailroom.
...

These are the Jhereg who didn't spot Vlad at his
estate at Szurke, where his only (known) blood
relative lives.

> > He also communicates psychically
> > with Savn, so he could communicate with others.
> 
> Is this consistent?  I assumed he couldn't safely do
> this, esp. after L has called in the Jhereg.

Maybe it's not consistent.  Maybe teaching eager
Teckla lads is cool enough to be possible, but
sensibly asking for help isn't.

> >>> I imagine Aliera would be interested in
> >>> getting revenge on Loraan.
> >>
> >> Why would she care?  Loraan didn't know it was
> >> her soul, presumably.
> >
> > I don't think it's presumable--we have no idea
> what he
> > did or didn't find out with over 200 years to
> > study the staff.  And Sethra or Morrolan could easily
> > have told him, though that's pure speculation.
> > Certainly he figured out that it was someone important
> > to them.
> 
> Ok, Aliera can't know if he knows.  And if she cared,
> she would have found L a long time ago, as I argued.

Unless she's been assuming he died before she was
rescued.

By the way, Kiera is surprised to hear that Loraan
needed a second killing--for what that's worth
(/Orca, Chapter 3).

> Come to think of it, in _Taltos_ S and M could just tell
> L that he's holding the soul of the Dragon heir and if
> he doesn't hand it over the Empire will end him.

The Empire might delegate the matter to the Court Wizard.

I get the impression the Empire sees the whole thing as
an internal matter for the Dragons.  No textev, but no
sign of the Empire getting involved, either.

To Be Continued.

Jerry Friedman