[Dragaera] Orca Reconsideration 2

[Philip Hart]

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010, Sean Whalen wrote:

>
> Philip Hart wrote:Sean Whalen wrote:
>>>
>> 1.  Kiera says Buddy is an old dog but energetic.  What are the chances
>> that an old Dragaeran would have an old dog at any particular point? 
>> Their lifespans are so different that a Dragaeran with a dog would feel
>> they died of old age all the time (and they would sometimes die of accident
>> earlier) much more than their attitude towards Easterners.
>>>
>
>>
> People keep fish which live a year or two.  They put a lot of energy into
> growing annuals.  They have rats as pets, which live just a few years on
> average.
>>
>
>
> This is not the biggest coincidence; it is one of them.

If I can reasonably explain it away, then it's not useful for the 
argument.  The rest could be just Buddy being sensitive to Hetc's 
and others' moods, something to be expected in a companion animal, no?

Or in the case of arguments like,
"but the parallelism was intended by the author to let anyone suspicious 
know his suspicions are accurate" just question-begging.

The Buddy-is-a-familiar idea might have some trouble with Loiosh - recall 
from _Phoenix_, when he reacts immediately to Verra's cat and implies it 
is a familiar.  Also I think he has an interaction with Ambrus which might 
suggest sensitivity.

Incidentally, have we seen any indication of Loiosh getting middle-aged? 
Or Rocza, for that matter?  Vlad makes a point of not knowing anything 
about jheregs in _Issola_, maybe a form of lampshading, to use a recent 
term.