[Dragaera] Vallista, Phoenix, and Mario (minor Dzur spoilers)

[Scott Crain]

In regards to Vallista (tearing down and building up), well -- I miss Vlad being a member-in-good-standing of the Right Hand of the Jhereg.  Since we're halfway through the Taltos Cycle (my new term for the series -- works on multiple levels), and since we've seen in Dzur that honestly, Vlad enjoys the work (and at least the Demon still thinks it'd be great to have Vlad working for him), I think or at least hope that in Vallista Vlad finds a way to get things straightened out with the Jhereg.

Maybe he rends and then rebuilds the Council...

With my wife (not a passionate fan is she) re-reading the Taltos Cycle, and in some instances reading later-published books for the first time, I find myself doing some reading as well.  Having done so with Phoenix, I found an interesting parallel.  Both Vlad and Cawti are imprisoned during the course of the book; Vlad by the Greenacreans, Cawti by the Empire.  Vlad, of course, very willingly takes the opportunity to escape; Cawti, when given the option, refuses on principle.  I found this to be curious in regards to a prison-egg metaphor.

Does Vlad represent the reborn Phoenix because he seizes the opportunity to be 'reborn' by leaving prison, while Cawti represents the decadent Phoenix by refusing to be separated from her companions?  Or is it the other way around, because Cawti remains so due to honorable intentions, while Vlad is, let's face it, a self-serving son-of-a-bitch?  Whichever it is, I still think there's an interesting 'rebirth' metaphor there.

Finally, Mario.  In FHYA, he's a young (and beautiful) Jhereg assassin; another five hundred years later, he's a friendly old man at 2500 years.  I cannot, in good conscience, link these two in my head, which is why I defy Steve's statement that there are no more people masquerading as other people out there.  -I- think Kragar IS Mario, instead of just his contact; Aliera acts towards Kragar the way she does in order to preserve his cover, while Morrolan just doesn't know -- and perhaps inadvertently helped Kragar set up the cover by 'kicking him out'.  Or whatever.  The Mario Vlad meets in Valabar's is, I think, the 'public face' Kragar uses, perhaps keeping in close psychic contact with him during meets and the like.  Granted, I may be wrong; I probably am.  But really, it is -such- an elegant setup...


S. Thomas Crain

Author-in-Training