[Dragaera] Vlad's Destiny (Was: Re: Lavode - possible spoilers(Dzur))

[Scott Schultz]

>From: andy Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 2:07 PM
>To: Howard Brazee ; dragaera at lists.dragaera.info Subject: Re: [Dragaera] 
>Vlad's Destiny (Was: Re: Lavode - possible spoilers(Dzur))

>It is entirely possible that Verra and Sethra could be working at cross 
>purposes at some time.   Verra may have grand designs upon her little 
>easterner that Sethra is tweaking to fit her own needs.

Y'know, I don't see that. (A heaping helping of personal opinion coming up.)

We have plenty of evidence of Verra manipulating Vlad. She's even up-front 
about his position as a tool when he calls her on it. There's no doubt that 
their relationship is one of mutual benefit even if the benefit to Vlad is 
sometimes rather like the benefit of Crom to Conan; which is to say, not 
much beyond having someone to curse at when the chips are down. I've always 
had a great fondness for the exchange in, ah, Phoenix, I think, where Vlad 
takes his "orders" from Verra and asks sarcastically "and what will YOU be 
doing?" and she says "Looking after you and yours, like I've always done". 
What more is there to say to that? In a world where you can stand in front 
of your patron God and know that she is, in fact, watching over your 
family's well being, then being a tool is just a fair price to pay for that 
attention.

As far as I can tell, Sethra in any guise has never attempted to be anything 
other than a friend to Vlad. Whether this is simply because she likes him, 
or because she remembers her affection for Dolivar, or because she herself 
is another of Verra's tools is hard to say. I don't think Vlad really knows 
and the situation with Kiera, for whom he has great affection, probably 
confuses the issue for him (or maybe it clarifies it, I dunno). In any case, 
I can almost see Sethra refusing to manipulate him rather than choosing to 
manipulate him for her own ends. Whatever the reasons that Kiera befriended 
and maybe even loves him, those reasons are real and not just a kind of role 
playing or an order from the Demon Goddess or some game that Sethra is 
playing to mold Vlad into something useful to herself.

That's not to say  that she'd never use him as a tool, but she'd do it as a 
general employing a unit in a war, not as an opportunist attempting to 
achieve some end of her own.

I CAN envision a situation where Sethra sees a need to act contrary to the 
will of the Gods and offers Vlad a choice to follow her or not, knowing the 
consequences.