[Dragaera] Paarfi's Whiteash of Adron

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: Scott Schultz <scott at cjhunter.com>

> 
> I just realized something.
> 
> Paarfi is covering up for Adron. It doesn't  much matter whether it's because
> he's doing it purposely or whether he's  allowing himself to be misled by
> people who wish to protect Adron's  reputation.

Does it make a difference if he just misunderstood what he was told, or changed 
the story because he thought his version would sell better?

Not that I think his version is impossible by any means.
 
> The final minutes of Adron's life could not have gone down  the way that
> Paarfi describes.
> 
> Here's why:
> 
> The scenario we get  from Paarfi is that Adron attempts to subvert the Orb
> and attach it to  himself, thus forcing the Cycle to Turn, or at least
> causing everyone to  acknowledge publically that it had Turned.
> 
> Mario kills Tortaalik. This  causes the Cycle to Turn in actuality.

Not necessarily.  Vlad says in Chapter 16 of /Taltos/, "At that point [when the
Cycle changed], either the Empress would step down, /or she would have
recently done so/, or would soon do so, or perhaps she would refuse and
blood would run in the Empire until the political and the mystical were once
more in agreement."  Emphasis mine.

So it seems that transfer of power, probably including transfer of the Orb, 
doesn't
have to coincide with the Cycle's turning.  In particular, when the Empress
abdicates, the Cycle doesn't have to turn immediately.

After Mario killed Tortaalik and the Orb came back on line, "it interrogated the
Cycle and searched, in its own way, for the new Emperor."  (FHYA, Chapter
the Thirty-Third.)  Vlad's remark above suggests that even if it found that the
Cycle still pointed to the Phoenix, the Orb could conclude that the new Emperor
would be the Dragon Heir.  It might have been helped to that conclusion by the
Heir's daughter claiming it.

> A Orb attaches to Adron on its  own, and Adron is simultaneously channeling
> raw amorphic force (pre-Empire  Sorcery) to force it to attach to him. The
> result is a runaway feedback loop

(Or somewhere his spell included an expression of the form x / (Adron - 
Emperor).)

> that ultimately detonates and consumes
> everything within a few miles of  Dragaera City to be consumed and converted
> into amorphia.
> 
> The  establishment of this supposed feedback loop requires that the Cycle
> Turns of  its own volition. In fact, the Cycle did NOT Turn at all. The
> supposed  feedback loop could not have been created in the first place.

In addition to what I said above, we don't know that the Cycle didn't turn.
It could have turned and turned back later.

> You can of  course, wave your hands and postulate that the Orb got confused
> or something,  as a result of Adron's spell.

All you have to postulate is what Vlad has strongly implied: the Orb isn't 
always in
sync with the Cycle.
 
> I believe, though, that an application of  Occam's Razor can only lead to the
> conclusion that Aliera's version of the  event is actually the closest we've
> ever come to hearing the true facts of  the matter. Adron was a rebel who,
> first and foremost, was attempting to  destroy the Cycle. 

As you seem to note, this isn't quite what Aliera says.  In Chapter 14 of 
/Taltos/,
she says, "He thought it was the end of the Cycle, that a new one could be
formed."  Thus even if you think Paarfi's account is impossible and that the
Cycle couldn't have turned and then turned back, you still have the possibility
that Paarfi (not a sorcerer, as I recall) gives us the best account but is 
partly
wrong--the Emperor's death messed up Adron's spell for some reason other
than making Adron the Emperor.  In your view, Aliera gives us the best account
but is partly wrong.  I don't think Occam's razor helps you choose between
those two.

> Paarfi can make him out to be a gentleman who was  attempting to act for the
> good of the Empire and failed. The truth is that he  was a power-grabbing
> noble who as acting for the good of House Dragon and  himself in attempting
> to take the Throne and keep it permanently.

I think that, regardless of what Paarfi's version of Adron says (including his
ambiguous last words), Paarfi does show us Adron as what you say except
the phrase "and keep it permanently".  He may have been acting for the good
of the Empire as he said, but it's no coincidence that his method is to grab
power.

> He might or  might not have seen
> himself as some kind of freedom fighter who was acting to  liberate his
> people from the yoke of the Gods or the Cycle. We don't have any  objective
> testimony as to his state of mind and Aliera has likely said all  she will
> ever say on the  subject.

You never know, you know.

Jerry Friedman