[Dragaera] gizmos and mcguffins [Tiassa spoilers]

[Philip Hart]

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A few disorganized thoughts about _Tiassa_ and Vlad.  I recently reread 
_The Maltese Falcon_ with the idea of looking for links to the silver 
tiassa.  I was struck anew by Spade's widow's peak but even more by the 
parallels to Vlad's history.  Spade's motivations are made clear at the 
end of the novel when he sacrifices Brigid.  He says he doesn't think he 
could get away with protecting her, given his position wrt the police, and 
he wouldn't if he could, because he doesn't want to think there was some 
chance she had manipulated him.  In short, he's vulnerable, and that 
overrides all feeling, and more than anything he wants control.  As Kelly 
explains to Vlad at the end of _Teckla_, Vlad has been striving to be 
powerful - to be safe and independent.  But the events he is involved in 
are about to destroy his safety and (to a large extent) his influence.

I didn't see a lot of immediately useful elements beyond that, except 
perhaps the general idea that the falcon awakes people's dreams.

Someone said here that we shouldn't look on the tiassa as a gizmo.  I'm 
still resistant for whatever reason to the idea of it being a link to the 
subconscious, and have been wondering about that argument in reference to 
Kieron's reinsomethinging.  That is a pretty inarguable instance of it 
having an effect in the world - if we understand what that effect is, 
perhaps we can say that's what it does full stop.  I certainly don't 
understand what was needed - not his soul, presumably, since that's what 
he is at this point; not his genes, because 0) the gods have ways (e.g., 
Aliera got her body back) and 1) the tiassa can't have such a corporal 
effect as its sole action.  I'm tempted to say the tiassa makes people's 
dreams real.  Perhaps the bureaucrat who never notices any effect just 
doesn't dream (can't see how to blame _Orca_ on him anyway).  It helps 
people to realize their dreams.  I don't see how that explains what 
happens with Savn though, assuming something does.  If it promoted 
wholeness I could see it allowing Kieron to father a child and Savn to 
overcome his mental damage, and perhaps the artistic effects as well - but 
that's not really consistent with the inspiration that a tiassa should 
cause.  Is there such a thing as spirit in Dragaera, as distinct from 
soul?  Or taking the word a bit literally, maybe the tiassa puts the 
spirit in - it gives the possessor access to everything he or she knows 
and is.  Then what Kieron needs to father Devera is for his soul to be 
bound in his body (presumably this isn't something Verra can do by 
herself), and Savn needs for the parts of his mind or soul or spirit that 
have been blocked off to be present in his conscious mind.  Maybe I'm 
talking myself around to a somewhat expansive version of Vlad's position.