[Dragaera] Dragaera Digest, Vol 92, Issue 12

[Jerry Friedman via Dragaera]

>Supposition:  perhaps the last book involves Vlad dying and is done in a
>different narrative voice, since Vlad isn't there to recount his exploits.

Or at least the last chapter or epilogue is.

>If that's so, one wonders who would be chosen for the honour; there are
>many good guesses, but my money's on either Kragar, who would have been
>closely involved with Vlad, if not with the events in question, to know
>enough to recite the tale; or Vlad Norathar, for obvious reasons. Remember,
>this person not only has to have known Vlad (and well) but also be
>permitted by Sethra to use the black box that Vlad has used to record his
>adventures.  Which, imho, leans it towards Vlad, if I had to choose one of
>the two above.

I think it's quite likely that Vlad Norathar will play an important
role in the last book, and narrator seems like a reasonable possibility.

>I think Sethra would be out as narrator because she's Sethra.

In addition to what Alexx said, I don't think there would be a problem
with her narrating as herself.

> Devera
>because she's ...not really all there the way you'd have to be to tell a
>story.

She narrated the beginning of /Tiassa/.

>The Dragaerans because they're too noble.

Do you mean the Dragons?  Kragar's a Dragaeran.

>Cawti probably because
>she'd be not involved enough. A Serioli would be too alien, I think.

That might be good.

There are lots of other possibilities.  If Vlad doesn't narrate all of the
last book, I'd somehow hate to make an idle guess and spoil the surprise as
it dawns on the reader who's actually narrating.  But maybe no one on this
list would mind.

>Regards,
>
>Jon Carey, B.A.(Hon), CHRP




On Sat, Oct 25, 2014 at 4:10 PM, via Dragaera <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info>
wrote:


> From: Andrew Mason via Dragaera <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info>

> Greetings! I've been lurking for some time, but haven't felt able to post
> until now because I hadn't read all the relevant books, but I think I have
> now managed to catch up.
>
> Here are a few thoughts about _Hawk_:
>
> 1. I was disappointed, but not really surprised, to find that Paarfi was
> not in this book. I _was_ surprised to find that Vlad Norathar?s porcelain
> hawk from _Iorich_ was not in it; when I read that passage I had supposed
> it was a set-up for _Hawk_.
>
>
> 2. Vlad can?t have been killed _immediately_ after the end of the story,
> since he has time to dictate it. But the odds on his survival seem to be
> diminishing. One wonders how close we are to the end of the saga: there are
> five books to go, but some of them at least are likely to be flashbacks.
> Indeed, I think we have been given a hint about where _Vallista_ fits in;
> and there are plenty of events earlier in Vlad?s career that we would like
> to know more about.  So it may be that we are now quite close to the final
> conflict.

Or /The Final Contract/.

> 3. Vlad refers to Cawti as his ex-wife, which I don?t think he has ever
> explicitly done before. This raises questions about how divorce works in
> Dragaera. I do wonder if they have marriages by habit and repute, and, as
> the converse of that, divorces by habit and repute ? i.e. once two people
> stop living together and giving themselves out as married, they are no
> longer married. This would of course mean that on some occasions it might
> be uncertain whether they were in fact married or not.

That's an interesting point--we've seen two proposals, but we know nothing
about marriage and divorce among either Dragaerans or Easterners.

("Marriage by habit and repute" is known as "common-law marriage" in America.)

>  4. On a related note, who is Deragar?s mother?


Probably someone who doesn't know she has any children.

> 5. Vlad seems to have met the Warlock between _Iorich_ and now. Talking of
> which, has he actually used the word ?warlock? before? Paarfi uses it in a
> way which suggests it might be simply an equivalent of ?witch?, but Vlad?s
> use seems to imply that it is not so. Is it perhaps the equivalent for
> witches of ?wizard? for sorcerers?
>
>
> 6. Will we see Asyavn again?
...

And what's with all the appealingly helpful boys and young men?  After Savn we've
had Telnan, the one in /Jhegaala/, and Deragar as well as Asyavn.  A counterbalance
to Devera?

Jerry Friedman