[Dragaera] Dragons and The Worm Ouroboros

[Jerry Friedman]

From: Philip Hart philiph at slac.stanford.edu

On Mon, 13 Sep 2010, Jerry Friedman wrote:

>> From: Philip Hart philiph at slac.stanford.edu
>> 
>>> Serious spoilers for The Worm Ouroboros.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Eddison spoilers follow...
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Turn back now, unless you don't care.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> So I just read The Worm Ouroboros,
>> ...
>>> 
>>> The good guys utterly defeat the (in part very) bad guys after a long and
>>> costly war in which fleets and armies and uncounted civilians are destroyed; 
>>>and
>>> their reaction is to sink into depression, because there are no more worthy
>>> opponents.  When it's suggested that they rule over an age of peace and
>>> prosperity for the whole world, their response is that they would rather 
risk
>>> their nation's existence again than give up knightly warfare.  As I read this 
>>I
>>> realized that these people, a couple of whom are not just heroic but pretty
>>> funny and capable of deep feeling, are basically just psychopaths.  The book
>>> ends with the gods granting their prayer that the bad guys be resurrected 
and
>>> rearmed.
>> 
>>> Anyway, I wonder if I'll ever have cause to feel this way about Morrolan and
>>> Co.
>> 
>> You don't feel they're psychopaths?  But they're not *just* psychopaths, any
>> more than Eddison's characters are.
>
> I think the Demons are pretty different from what we've seen of the Dragons.  
>When Adron is presented an honorable peace treaty with the Easterners,
> he's pleased.

Though to the left... Okay, I suppose Adron doesn't imagine what the 
consequences of one plan could be.

> If Sethra or Aliera could permanently banish the J, they would do it in a 
>flash.

Probably, so they're psychopathic in a somewhat different way, except the Dzur, 
who are basically Spitfire.  Incidentally, Vlad points out plausibly that Sethra 
would hate never being scared (at the end of /Orca/).

> If M uses Blackwand as a Morganti blade when slaughtering Teckla and 
>Easterners, then ok, I can't defend him (unless Verra tells him to, in which 
>case > things are a bit more complex); but what else is there to hold against 
>him beyond his enjoyment of what comes down to being ultimately harmless
> god-sponsored entertainment for consenting adults?

The one about cutting somebody to pieces?  Or risking a Dragon-Jhereg war 
because of what strike me as very fine points about hospitality toward someone 
who got an invitation under false pretenses?

> (Or are some of the foot soldiers in _Dragon_ conscripts?)

Yes.  The Dragon volunteers spruce up a bit in front of the Teckla conscripts, 
as I recall.

>> I can't see Lord Juss buying a bakery to distribute bread to the rabble.

Maybe if it would embarass somebody important.

>> I must admit I hadn't connected the two sets of psychopaths, though.  That's 
>>interesting.  (Next, "Rogue Moon"?)
>
> Lord Brandoch Daha might be a bit of a model for M as he appears in _Taltos_.

Yes, although I think that kind of dandy was a stock literary figure.  (I'd 
think it even more if I had any examples.)

Jerry Friedman