[Dragaera] Hawk

[Joshua Kronengold via Dragaera]

On 10/22/2014 11:45 PM, Jerry Friedman via Dragaera wrote:
> Things I don't get about /Hawk/:

Let me take a stab.
>
> Vlad forgot to tell Khaavren to start proceedings if he's held captive.  The Council could hold him in some basement and make him write Khaavren periodic letters saying he's having a wonderful time.  He also forgot to leave his enemy a way of escape.  He's likely (though not certain) to die of old age while the Council members are still alive, and if that time approaches, they'll have no incentive to let him die naturally instead of killing him Morganti.  By the way, there could be an amusing plot where the Jhereg try to use whatever they can to keep Vlad from doing anything risky.
Vlad is assuming (correctly, I think) that the Jhereg can't hold him 
indefinitely.  And if they try that approach and he escapes (or, with 
his set of very impressive friends, is rescued) then he will, of course, 
withdraw his request and they'll be in big trouble.

Old age is a very good question.  But Vlad has a lot of play there when 
it gets close--he can change it to "if I die Morganti", or whatnot.  And 
it's possible that there is a a statute of limitations -- this might not 
hold the Jhereg forever, but it gives Vlad time to find another way to 
keep the peace.

Plus--who really thinks that Vlad is going to die of old age, anyway?
> Vlad says in Chapter 16 that if the bad guys had tried to stop his heart and attack him with the knife at the same time, he'd have had problems.  So why didn't they?  Specifically, stop his heart or maybe better his breathing, not to kill him, but to make him too weak to block the knife.
Because they didn't want to risk that he wouldn't block the heart 
stopping and die.  At which point, the Morganti weapon is so much metal.

> What are the three Council members guilty of?  They haven't done anything except receive psychic messages to watch Vlad listen in on them.  They certainly haven't done anything for gain or anything that puts Imperial security at risk (yet).
Intent and conspiracy.  They received the technology to spy on messages 
through the Orb with clear intent to use it for profit.
> How does the Council's situation here differ from the one in /Jhereg/?  There, the Council was willing to start a "war" that would have gotten a lot of them killed rather than let Mellar live a few more /days/.  Here, they're willing to let Vlad live indefinitely rather than /risk/ that the Justicers will lash three of them and confiscate a lot of money.
It's a good question.  Of course, one big difference is the difference 
between Vlad's situation and Mellar's.  Mellar screwed the Jhereg over, 
big time, in a matter of money.  He needed to be dead, and soon -- or a 
lot of other guys might decide that it was worth the risk.  Also, note 
that while a war with the Dragon would kill a lot of Jhereg, it wouldn't 
kill any -specific- Jhereg, necessarily, so the council members could 
enter it with the illusion that they weren't personally going to die.

On the contrary, Vlad broke a lot of House laws, but didn't actually 
screw over the Jhereg in a material way; no money was lost, and while 
the Jhereg need to make sure the laws he broke are respected, they don't 
(except when they do) have something personal behind it. The Demon even 
likes Vlad--but rules are rules.  So when Vlad is offering them a -lot- 
of money (and note: they're still planning on using the psychic spying 
spells; if it wasn't illegal it wouldn't be worth doing, right?)--a deal 
they already took, even if they broke it, and with their personal necks 
on the line?  It's a good enough play to not set a precident, and they 
have personal motivation to toe it.

Also, note that this isn't a risk.  The sentence is very, very clear; 
it's just in abeyance as long as Vlad keeps it that way.
>
>
> Complicated one: If Vlad gets killed, how can Khaavren get the Council members convicted, assuming they've committed a crime?  As far as I can tell, Khaavren has no evidence except Vlad's account of what he was planning, and Vlad won't be able to testify.  Could the Justicers compel the suspects to testify under the Orb?  If so, how, by keeping them in prison till they do?  They might prefer prison to that mass confiscation.  Or by torture?  And if they can be compelled to testify, why couldn't Count Szurke always have gotten them compelled to testify about the price on his head?  Maybe they never said, "We'll put a bounty on him", but the Justicers could ask, "If someone had destroyed Count Szurke's soul, would that person have received money?  From what funds?  Who would have authorized the payment?" etc.
Khaavren was, himself, the witness; Vlad prepared the ground, and 
Khaavren saw/listened to the whole thing.  Thus, there's an impecable 
witness to the crime, one who is -not- forbidden by house law from 
testifying against the Jhereg.



>
> Incidentally, Vlad murdered Terion without being caught by the Jhereg.
Sort of.  Everyone suspects that Vlad murdered Terion.  But it's not 
like he's going to cop to it.

>    Couldn't someone in the Right Hand as well as the Left murder Vlad, not for the bounty but for revenge against the Demon, Poletra, or Dyann, or to create a vacancy at the top?  If word gets out, couldn't someone outside the Jhereg murder Vlad for revenge against the Jhereg?  Would you sell a life-insurance policy to the bodyguards and sorcerers who know the deal?  I think both Vlad and the Council members have to worry about this as well as about the Left Hand in some future book.
>
Yes, totally.  Also, while it's not explicit, I'd expect that the Right 
Hand will want to keep Vlad safe from the Left Hand (as they did here, 
in fact).