[Dragaera] An alternative solution to the Mellar problem

[Jerry Friedman]

--- On Tue, 3/2/10, Eugene Zaretskiy <eugene.zar at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 2:49 PM, Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com>
> wrote:
> > A friend of mine has just started reading the Vlad
> books.  Though he
> > clearly quite liked _Jhereg_, he came up with an
> alternative solution to
> > the Mellar problem that I don't recall having heard
> floated before.
> > Presented for your interest:
> >
> > "The thing is, the bad guy had to be killed, but
> couldn't while he was in
> > Castle Black, and the clock was ticking, because the
> Jhereg Council was
> > out eight million, and things were starting to
> unravel. But there's no
> > time limit if the Jhereg can keep operating, so one
> way to save face is
> > for Morrolon to lend the Jhereg enough money to keep
> going for thirteen
> > days. Even if he isn't rich enough to float eight
> million, he seems rich
> > enough, and has enough favors, to scrape up enough
> money to cover things
> > until the bad guy is no longer his guest, and can be
> > killed with no loss of honor."
> 
> >From what I understood about Morrolan, he isn't the
> type to agree to
> "loopholes" like this easily. He was willing to put up with
> Vlad and
> Aliera's solution partially because he had absolutely
> nothing to do
> with it whatsoever. Vlad didn't tell him the plan, if I
> recall, on
> purpose. In the same sense, paying the Jhereg money could
> be construed
> as dishonorable because Morrolan was becoming directly
> involved in
> actions leading to the death of his guest, immediately
> after leaving Morollan's home.

I don't see that as a problem--the connection is
extremely indirect, and Morrolan doesn't care what
happens after Mellar leaves.  I think it's a stronger
objection that, as Jon Lincicum suggested, he wouldn't
lend the Organization money, just as he won't hire
assassins to commit assassination (though he will hire
them as security consultants, recruit them for his army,
and invite them to dinner--cf. the end of "The Marching
Morons").

> Furthermore, I haven't read Jhereg in a while, so pardon me
> if this
> isn't correct, but I don't recall the Jhereg's lack of
> funds to be the
> entire motiviation behind the swift schedule. Waiting any
> longer
> simply multiplied the risk that Mellar's plan would become
> known and
> the Jhereg's reputation is sullied, permanently. Similar to
> why they want Vlad dead as soon as possible.

That's how I remember it too.  Their reputation was
the /main/ reason they couldn't wait to kill Mellar.

Jerry Friedman