[Dragaera] Sethra Suppositional Speculation and Suspicions Symposium

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: Jonathan Carey <carey.jonathan at gmail.com>

...

> "Vlad, I was kidding  about that."
> "No you weren't.  You had that look that you have when  you're telling
> the truth in a way you hope won't be believed."
...

> Juxtapose that with her remarks in the Desecrator,  when Telnan asks
> what she's up to or something -- and Sethra replies with  something to
> the effect of "I'm trying to bring about the downfall of the  Gods".

Actually “To further her plot to destroy the Empire.”  (End of page 1.)  That's 
very different.
 
> I think she was doing the exact same thing there; but Telnan has  just
> met Sethra, and so is too new to her to know when she's (not)  lying.
...

I have my doubts.
 
> There are more GW's connected to Sethra  than any other person; it
> can't be an accident that she knows a so much about  them; and it
> starts to look more than simple academic interest when she  literally
> is playing matchmaker with one after the other.

I don't think anyone has suggested that it was simple academic interest.

> Sethra has  Iceflame which is probably the strongest of the GW's (if
> you were a  collector, wouldn't you save the best for yourself? --being
> aware that the  matches have already been made of course).  Moreover, I
> would not be at  ALL surprised to find that it is her OWN soul that is
> the soul of  Iceflame.

Me neither, now that you mention it.  Or Tukko's.

> Morrolan got Blackwand from Sethra.

Though if we believe Paarfi, Tukko had to tell her that Morrolan was the  
prophesied owner.  (I'd be interested to know who made a prophecy that  Sethra 
believed enough to act on.)  If we don't believe Paarfi, what do we know about 
where Morrolan got Blackwand?

> Telnan got Nightslayer  due to a mission from Sethra.
> I cannot currently recall the specifics, but I  know that Sethra was
> very involved in the revelation of Pathfinder.

She was involved in hiring Vlad, who kept Fornia from getting it.  If  she was 
involved in the fight when Aliera took it from Sethra the  Younger, I don't 
think we know.

> Vlad  was an extremely unusual recruit for the mission which he
> performed; it  cannot have been by chance that he was linked with
> Spellbreaker, and finally  with the Morganti weapon.
> 
> I think Sethra is able in one way or another,  to see the resonances
> between the GWs and the souls of those who are destined  to become
> their wielders.

So she saw the resonance between Vlad's soul and Spellbreaker while it  was in 
Loraan's castle?  Or between his soul and the Morganti dagger in  Jenoinesburg?  
Those would be good tricks.  Or maybe just saw the connections once Vlad had 
them and didn't try to talk him into giving them to her or something?

> Furthermore, I believe that she realizes  that, if
> those two components are put in close proximity to the other, even  if
> someone is well aware of the resonance between the two, and is  also
> immensely powerful and wishes to prevent their being joined, it  would
> still be next to impossible to keep the wielder from finding  the
> weapon, and/or the weapon from finding the wielder.  Is this a form  of
> destiny?

I was hoping you were going to mention destiny.  See below.

> Next, it can't be random happenstance that Sethra seems to be  creating
> a whole bloody army of GWs and their wielders.  And it can't be  a
> coincidence that she is playing a key part in the lives of each
> wielder  (and who knows, maybe the souls that inhabit the GWs as well)
> and  specifically a key part in the actions that bring those two souls
> together;  in such a way that the GWs and their wielders would think
> twice, thrice,  before acting against Sethra's interests.  They are
> indebted to her;  frightened of her somewhat, but always in awe of her.

That keeps her safe no matter what her goals are.  (And Aliera isn't noticeably 
in awe of her that I've noticed.)

> I think that Sethra  regards the Gods as a lesser order of oppressors;

They don't do a great deal of oppression, except maybe for those purple  robes.  
I agree that she might still resent them, or just want to kill  them anyway.

> the Jenoine are the  masters, the Gods their ex-servants, but all are
> interlopers and trespassers  on Dragaera, and she wishes to be rid of
> all of their interfering  influences.  I think Sethra is connected
> intimately with the Seas of  Chaos, the presence of Flux (oops, I meant
> to say Amorphia) on the planet  itself.  It could be that Dragaera is
> the last place that Jehovah  "made".  The "walls" of Heaven and Earth
> being advanced further and  further until only a small pocket of Flux
> existed and the shell of the planet  is not so much to keep the magma
> of the planet's core IN as much as it is an  oddly-inverted wall to
> keep the amorphia OUT of the rest of the created  universe.

Interesting connection.  I've pretty much forgotten /To Reign in Hell/.

...

> Sethra is undead; moreover, she is a vampire.  Loraan  was also undead;
> but I believe he would be called a Lich.

I'm not sure this D&D distinction exists on Dragaera.

> Since we  don't know how a
> vampire is formed, we can't speculate.  We don't know  if being a
> vampire is a necessary part of being undead; or vice versa; so  we
> don't know how she died and was "resurrected".
...

True.

So if anybody's still reading this, here's what I think.  We've known since 
/Jhereg/ that Steven has something in mind for Vlad beyond settling Dragaerans' 
disputes, or in story terms that he has a destiny, and Sethra and Aliera at 
least have known that since /Jhereg/ if not /Taltos/.  We've known since Steven 
announced the title of the last volume that Vlad's destiny was likely to involve 
killing one or more gods, and Vlad and other characters must have been 
speculating about that since /Issola/.  In story terms, the things you cite 
don't seem to be mere coincidences.  And I think you agree that whatever Vlad's 
destiny is, Telnan, Aliera, Morrolan, and Sethra are almost certainly part of 
it, Sethra in particular as a planner and commander.

But how does such a destiny work?  Is some character manipulating everything?  A 
lot of people around here think Sethra is.  Or maybe it's Verra, who as she says 
uses Vlad.  (Verra could even be planning her own death--gods have done that in 
the history of myth.)  But maybe it's some more powerful being that we haven't 
met or recognized.  Or maybe it's some impersonal force, what we usually mean by 
"destiny" or "fate", or part of the structure of the universe like the Cycle.  
Maybe Sethra and Verra are trying to read the winds and go with the flow as much 
as they're trying to control events.  I think that's the most likely possibility 
at this point.

Jerry Friedman