[Dragaera] Status of Great Weapons in Empire law

[Michael Wojcik]

David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> On Wed, October 22, 2008 10:50, Phil Boswell wrote:
>> Isn't the major distinction the fact that the Weapon can *choose*
>> whether or not to destroy the soul of a victim?
> 
> I wouldn't have said it was the *major* distinction; far from it.
> 
> The question is, is it a universal distinction.  I don't recall (but I
> don't have a perfect memory) being given definitive information on this in
> the books.  Maybe only some GWs can spare souls, or maybe only some
> wielders can make their GWs spare souls, or something. Since not all the
> GWs believed to exist by us are active, it gets even iffier.

At the end of chapter 11 of _Jhereg_ (page 141 in the paperback), Vlad
says: "These are the Great Weapons. They are, all of them, powerful.
They all have enough sentience to actually /decide/ whether or not to
destroy the soul of the victim."

(This is during the scene where Aliera is using Pathfinder to find
Morrolan. It sets up Vlad's later insight into how Pathfinder can be
used against Mellar.)

Of course, Vlad prefaces this with "as far as my knowledge goes", and
at this point he's only encountered three GWs (though that's certainly
more than your average Josef), and has not yet owned one himself.

-- 
Michael Wojcik
Micro Focus
Rhetoric & Writing, Michigan State University