[Dragaera] Some speculation about The Silver Tiassa -- SPOILERS

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: Scott Schultz <scott at cjhunter.com>
> To: dragaera at lists.dragaera.info
> Sent: Tue, April 26, 2011 11:09:09 AM
> Subject: [Dragaera] Some speculation about The Silver Tiassa -- SPOILERS
> 
> Y
> A
> D
> D
> A
> -
> Y
> A
> D
> D
> A
> -
> Y
> A
> D
> D
> A
> -
> Y
> A
> D
> D
> A
> -
...

> Assuming that the silver tiassa IS a muse and that Vlad has the right of it
> - (the whole connecting the conscious and unconscious minds thing), it's
> worth raising the question - What effect did the tiassa have on its other
> known owners?
> 
> These other owners are Sethra Lavode, Vlad himself, Feorae, Dathaani, and
> Savn.

After I finished the book, I thought, "This would have been much more satisfying 
if we'd seen earlier that the tiassa inspires people."  Then I reread Devera's 
story and started thinking along much the same lines you did, though I didn't do 
so in as much detail.

Olmo had it briefly too.  Did it improve his acting?

> Sethra is the most straightforward of the bunch, since we know exactly what
> she does with it, even if we are left to speculate about the how of it. She
> owns it for an indeterminate length of time, then gives it back to Vlad. If
> it had any obvious effect on her personally, then we are given no evidence
> of it. Unlike the other owners, though, she uses it actively instead of
> being affected by it passively and perhaps that makes a difference. (Phil's
> theories about Paarfi may be relevant when it comes to talking about active
> uses of the tiassa.)

Or if all the tiassa does is improve communication between the conscious and the 
unconscious, it could still inspire better inventions of things Paarfi has no 
hard information--better meaning more accurate.

See this story that Henry James told about a surprisingly accurate "tale".

> Vlad owns the tiassa during the time period when he is on the rise within
> the Organization. It's been noted in the past that he rose through the ranks
> quicker than almost anybody else ever has, even taking his short lifespan
> into account. He lived or died several times on both his intuition and his
> ability to concoct a plot during that time. How much of his success is, in
> fact, due to the influence of the silver tiassa in helping him make the
> kinds of connections, mental and social, that made him successful? When he
> comes up with the teleport spell that pulls the vial of a god's blood across
> the dimensions from one world to another, a feat never before accomplished
> by a witch to his knowledge, are we seeing the influence of the silver
> tiassa?

Indeed.

I hope this doesn't mean that he won't be able to come up with plans while Savn 
has the tiassa.

> Vlad doesn't seem to have coveted the tiassa at all, despite having
> possessed it for a couple of years(?). He was perfectly happy to part with
> it in order to succeed at a scheme.
...

And again to treat Savn.

> Dathaani  owned the tiassa for about a week, so it seems. A few days,
> anyway; just long enough to put his scheme into motion. This is an
> interesting conundrum. It's possible that he had his scheme worked out from
> the beginning and that stealing the tiassa (or causing it to be stolen) was
> just one step in the larger scheme. 
> 
> There's another possibility, though. I've seen the question raised as to how
> Dathaani ever believed he could pull off his scheme. That made me think -
> What if the scheme came after the theft of the tiassa? Vlad has speculated
> that the tiassa itself has a purpose and goal to its movements. What if the
> scheme was suggested to Dathaani by the tiassa itself and that influence
> over his mind is some greater part of why he felt he could get away with his
> scheme? In any case, it seems at least possible that the muse may have
> inspired Dathaani to create the scheme after he acquired the tiassa, rather
> than the opposite having to be the case.
...

He had part of the scheme in mind--implicating Vlad--when he stole it, since he 
left clues that pointed to Vlad.  And there really isn't much else he could have 
come up with later.

He's the only holder of the tiassa who came to an immediate bad end, 
incidentally.  If it had been any use to him, it would have caused his 
unconscious to remind his conscious that the Heir has connections in the Jhereg 
and might be able to get a lead on an assassination attempt.  We could almost 
speculate that it chooses who to help.

> Interestingly, aside from Devera, Vlad is the only person we know of to own
> the tiassa twice, even if that second ownership was a brief one. Since we
> don't really know how much time passed between Cawti giving it to him and
> he, in turn, giving it to Savn, it might not really even count as ownership
> the second time. More like he was a  courier, as Devera has become, in a
> sense; moving it from one owner to the next.

(We don't know, in any way that Steven is committed to, that Cawti was the one 
who took it from Dathaani and gave it to Vlad, though it seems likely.  I think 
I should have put "committed" in quotation marks.) 


Jerry Friedman