MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 2637 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Re: Whiney teenagers & Burning Brightly spoilers by =?iso-8859-1?q?Sheridan=20Hoy?= 2) Re: Heralds and Companions by "Layla Voll" 3) Re: Dogs in Misty, Whiney teenagers by "Devin Alicia Harris" 4) Fantasy cats/Fire masters/char ages/forgetting/tylendel reference/MOC lifespan by "Sorana Stargem" 5) Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler by "Layla Voll" 6) Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler by "Devin Alicia Harris" 7) Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler by "Sorana Stargem" 8) Griffon and Lavan Brightly Burning spoiler by "Rebecca McAllister" 9) Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler by "~*~ Ciara ~*~" 10) Serpent's Shadow ?spoiler? by "Roxanne Nolan" 11) Re: Cat people by "Roxanne Nolan" 12) Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler by =?iso-8859-1?q?Sheridan=20Hoy?= ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 01:12:53 +1200 (NZST) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Sheridan=20Hoy?= To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Whiney teenagers & Burning Brightly spoilers Message-ID: <20010711131253.13384.qmail-+AT+-web11005.mail.yahoo.com> Heyla listsibs, tamlin stands and bows in the direction of Moonstalker :) "Many Thanks for the "splosh" and for the towel-covered sheep! I have been lurking for too long - the water has definitely helped with the cobwebs - but I am happy to be back in the Hall WOW Dax, that was an amazing list! I hadn't really looked at the characters in that way before :) BURNING BRIGHTLY S P O I L E R S Question - well 2 actually. I have only part way through reading Burning Brightly, and I have foudn some rather interesting text. Firstly, the King's Own Companion is named Rolan - and it is a good 300 years from Lavan's time to Talia's. I know the King (or Queen's Own) Companion is long-lived, but 300 years? Also, I found this bit of text regarding Tylendel, and wondered what everyone though? "...and only once, in all the history of Valdemar, had one [Companion] ever made a mistake - and even then, it was not in whom she Chose, but that she did not help him when he needed her most, repudiating him in her anger at what he had done." Just wondered what everyone thought about that? Bright the Day, tamlin _____________________________________________________________________________ http://messenger.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Messenger - Voice chat, mail alerts, stock quotes and favourite news and lots more! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 14:13:30 From: "Layla Voll" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Heralds and Companions Message-ID: Kenneth Allen Hyde writes: >On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, Layla Voll wrote: > > > It's interesting: it seems as if Companions regularly lead their > > Heralds through some self-reflection when they have the chance, > > because it's the same kind of conversation Yfandes often has with > > Vanyel. > >Of course, this would be completely counter to their "you know we have to >wait for you to ask" credo. After all, this sort of thing sounds a lot >like a combination of targeted psychotherapy and "leading the witness" >(however benign). I think it's the difference between writing your daughter's essay for her, versus bringing her to the library, showing her how to use a card catalog, explaining what an outline is, and proofreading the final essay. Once they've been asked, the Companions have no problem giving their opinion, and in the conversations I was thinking of (Vanyel/Yfandes, Kris/Tantris), it's always the Herald who initiates not only the conversation but the subject. Lorna Appleby writes: >Kenneth Allen Hyde: > >One crucial point here is that we don't know that the Lady (I assume you > >are talking about the Star-Eyed Goddess of the Shina'a'in) sent the > >Companions. > >Actually, I think she was referring to the Lady of the Lord and Lady >pairing, the main two worshipped gods in Valdemar. Right: I was thinking of the scene in "Oathbreakers" where the Star-Eyed Goddess calls Herald Roald and his Companion "Children of My Other Self." When I read the Arrows books later, I assumed that "My Other Self" was the "Bright Lady" referred to in the majority of Valdemarian interjections. I hadn't really thought of the Companions as being the creation of some kind of Divine Committee on Odd Prayer Requests, although that does have a certain appeal. I was thinking that if you prayed to all the gods you could think of, you got the one which you needed (in this case, the somewhat less-interventionist Lady Bright), since perhaps, on some deeper level, they are all linked anyway. Layla _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 12:40:24 -0700 From: "Devin Alicia Harris" To: Subject: Re: Dogs in Misty, Whiney teenagers Message-ID: <005d01c10a41$55c1c9c0$3c861c0c-+AT+-computer> ----- Original Message ----- From: tntgray > > I haven't read Reap the Whirlwind, Serpent's Shadow or The Ship who > Searched/Sang/ Whatever, so I don't have any opinions on them. > I don't remember Reap the Whirlwind well enough to comment on any children/teens, but I think Tia from "The Ship Who Searched" is the mother of all Noble Near-Adult characters! In fanfic, I think she'd tread perilously close to Mary Sue-ism; nonetheless, "The Ship Who Searched" is still my favorite of the "brainship" books. Go fig. Dev ***** "That's it, I ain't takin' no more lip from a statue." http://www.greendragonpress.net/openzines.htm _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free -+AT+-yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 21:35:20 From: "Sorana Stargem" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Fantasy cats/Fire masters/char ages/forgetting/tylendel reference/MOC lifespan Message-ID: Heyla! Someone (deleted their name) mentioned a Fantasy panel where the authors said that cats were off limits as far as doing nasty things to them goes because they'd lose their audience right there. I'm wondering if what they meant was that it couldn't be done very often, not that it couldn't be done at all. I have seen books where something nasty happened to cat character. Rick Cook's _Mall_Purchase_Night_ had a cat (that we kind of got to know) get ripped in half. And just look at what happened to all those poor unnamed cats and Ghatti (cat-like beings), and what happened to Saam in the first book of Gayle Greeno's Ghatti's Tale trilogy. I know there are other examples out there, but I'm not remembering them. Perhaps what the authors menat was that you can't hurt a cat that's a main character, but it's more acceptable if it's a supporting or walk on char; 'cause, come to think of it, the main chars are usually quite safe -- even when the closet supporting chars are biting the dust (Diane Duane's _Book_of_Night_With_Moon_ for instance). OBMisty: There was a race of large Cat things that Urtho created that were kind of like the Kyree (in my mind). But they got sent through the Gate to that country with the big magical barrier around it to the north-east of Valdemar, and so nobody'd seen them for ages. We found out about them in the Mage Storms series. So there are more things out there than just the normal cats and Firecats. %-+AT+- Fire Rose/The Serpent's Shadow spoiler * * * * * * * * * * * * Amy said: "I've noticed mistakes too, for example: In the Fire Rose Jason Cameron goes out of his way to say and think that Fire Masters cannot stand to live in the same city or area together, to the point that it would be flat out war if they did. On the other hand in the Serpent's Shadow which is based in the same world with the same magic system not only do more than one Fire Master live in the same city, they are even married to each other. Its not that big of a thing really I guess but it does show inconsistancy in the world she has created. Also Mya's initiation into becoming an earth master seemed much simpler than Rose's, then again we are never shown any of the spell making like we were in Fire Rose...but that is getting a bit nit picky, lol I think it might just boil down to the fact that we read Misty's books alot more than she ever does and over the 15 or so years she's been writing she's probably forgotten and or decided to add on different elements to her universe." That may not have been as much of a mistake as we think. I remember that old chinese Earth Master in Fire Rose saying that the Masters in his country were taught differently than Jason was and so there wasn't as much need to avoid each other. IIRC, The Serpent's Shadow takes place in India and so the way they teach magic there may allow two Fire Masters to become close enough to get married. Likewise, the trial for earth may not have been quite as much of a trial. But, I should say that I haven't actually read Serpent's Shadow yet and I'm guessing based on the information from that old chinese guy. * * * * * * * * * * end spoiler %-+AT+- On the subject of whiney _teenagers_, Dax listed: "Mage Winds, Elspeth, Skiff and Darkwind were all whiney teenagers, the Gryph kids were NE, Nyara was NNA, Firesong....need I say more? *grin*" Just thought I'd mention that I'm really pretty certain that Darkwind and Skiff were at least 20 and so can't count as teenagers. Even if they did act like them. I do agree with what she said about our perceptions being colored by the fact that we can see what they're thinking most all the time. It really is important to see how they talk with people besides their Companions. %-+AT+- Matt said: "This is, I think, my biggest problem with Valdemar... they seem to forget stuff left and right. Especially the really useful stuff. Albeit that the companions had something to do with that for a while but still. If the Companions can subtly nudge people towards forgetting then why can't they also subtly nudge things towards something as simple as remembering to look up the already known information in a book. Elspeth had to force herself to go back and actually read stuff when she finally got around to it." It would make sense that the Companions should be able to nudge people to remember things. BUt as far as Elspeth's having to go back and read stuff, it's important to remember that every single person in Valdemar was under Herald-Mage Vanyel's very powerful spell to forget about Magic as anything other than a fairytale. It took a lot just to remember to look up all the chronicles about magic much less read and retain the information. %-+AT+- Tamlin asked what everyone thought about this quote: "...and only once, in all the history of Valdemar, had one [Companion] ever made a mistake - and even then, it was not in whom she Chose, but that she did not help him when he needed her most, repudiating him in her anger at what he had done." Personally, I always thought that it meant that Gala should have been paying a bit more attention to her Chosen after his twin's suicide in the first place, and that there may have been another option open to her once Tylendel had called up the Wyrsa...but I don't know what it could have been. Basically, she could have done something to prevent the entire mess if she'd just been more on the ball. There _were_ more people at fault than just Tylendel (and Vanyel). I seem to recall Savil saying that she should have had Tylendel talk to a mindhealer after his twin died. %-+AT+- Tamlin also wanted to know about Rolan being 300 years old. To my understanding, and I think it says it in one of the books, the Monarch's Own Companion is immortal until he is killed. %-+AT+- Brightly Burning possible spoiler Meg said (inresponse to something else): "I don't agree. There was no indication that anyone except Lavan's companion could control his gift. None of the other Heralds had ever seen the gift before and had no idea how to teach him to control it. When she was killed by the Karsites, I think it was like a dam breaking. Not only that but I think he didn't have the complete training that Herald trainees received because of the war and the need for his gift. (Don't have the book at work). I don't remember any reference to more than one Winter Festival and I'm sure the trainees received more than 1 year of training." They do. It does depend somewhat on how old the trainee is and what they've already been taught, but the fastest I've ever seen anyone finish was two years, and they were rushed through the training with practically no vacations (see OwlKnight). I think some older Trainees have also finished in two years without the rush, but I'm not sure. Wish I could remember how long it took for them to shove Trevan into Whites... %-+AT+- Well, I think that covers everything I wanted to say today. Chocolate raspberry truffle sheep to everyone! :) Stars light your path, Sorana Stargem Herald-trainee, %-+AT+-"May God stand between you High Priestess to the Goddess%-+AT+-and all harm in all the of Unicorns, %-+AT+-empty places you must walk" Goddess of Flions, %-+AT+- -- Susan Ivanova Knight of Amber and Marigold,%-+AT+-"Don't dream it, be it." Knight of the OOUH %-+AT+- -- Dr. Frankenfurter http://www.angelfire.com/wa/mylagoon/index.html _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 22:02:46 From: "Layla Voll" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler Message-ID: All this stuff about Lavan's Firestarting Gift makes me think: While Elcarth praises Dirk's teaching (which is probably justified) and specifically points to his success teaching Griffon, I think that had an awful lot more to do with Griffon being such a solid, stable person. I like Griffon. I think the guy deserves more credit. Anyway, there's more comparing Lavan and Griffon below the Brightly Burning spoiler space: b r i g h t l y b u r n i n g s p a c e > >I don't agree. There was no indication that anyone except Lavan's >companion > >could control his gift. None of the other Heralds had ever seen the gift >before >and had no idea how to teach him to control it. > >They kept on saying that no one had seen Lavan's gift before, but his >*teacher* had fire-fetching or whatever you want to call it. More accurate >to say would be none of the heralds had the gift to such a *degree* >before..... > >-Lorna Sure, Dirk is a great guy, very patient, and a natural teacher. But so was Pol, wasn't he? And Pol actually had lots and lots of experience teaching Gifts, particularly in teaching strange Gifts that no one had ever seen before. I've honestly only skimmed Brightly Burning, for various reasons, but Pol *seemed* to be a good teacher. Or do people who actually read *all* the words have a different opinion? I think Griffon deserves a lot more credit than he usually gets for being a good, stable guy who manages to control a really freaky Gift *without* the benefit of being Lifebonded to his Companion, or, indeed, being Lifebonded to anyone. I mean, there's an idea that the Lifebonds are there to help support people who might need it, and one of the reasons cited for Lavan's needing that support is the nature of his Gift. I also get the sense that Griffon's Gift is just as strong as Lavan's was, and, while Lavan needed his Companion to control it, Griffon seems to be able to use it with or without linking to his Companion. Layla _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 17:24:23 -0700 From: "Devin Alicia Harris" To: Subject: Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler Message-ID: <001701c10a69$020af180$22811c0c-+AT+-computer> ----- Original Message ----- From: Layla Voll To: Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 4:10 PM Subject: Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler > b > r > i > g > h > t > l > y > b > u > r > n > i > n > g > s > p > a > c > e > > > Sure, Dirk is a great guy, very patient, and a natural teacher. But so was > Pol, wasn't he? Yes, he was. He did a good job with Lavan. It's theorized several times in the book that, had Lavan's Gift not been "forced" fully open by emotional trauma, if it had developed slowly and properly, Lavan would have had control without Kalira's intervention. At least, that was my interpretation. > I think Griffon deserves a lot more credit than he usually gets for being a > good, stable guy who manages to control a really freaky Gift *without* the > benefit of being Lifebonded to his Companion, or, indeed, being Lifebonded > to anyone. I mean, there's an idea that the Lifebonds are there to help > support people who might need it, and one of the reasons cited for Lavan's > needing that support is the nature of his Gift. I also get the sense that > Griffon's Gift is just as strong as Lavan's was, and, while Lavan needed his > Companion to control it, Griffon seems to be able to use it with or without > linking to his Companion. The good, stable, "normal" people never get the attention they deserve by virtue of their normalacy. Easy to overlook good ol' Griffon until he's actually flaming enemy encampments miles away. Dev http://www.greendragonpress.net/openzines.htm ***** "Cat Lassie will save me!" _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free -+AT+-yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 00:49:36 From: "Sorana Stargem" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler Message-ID: Heyla again! addendum to my previous post on the subject of Velgarth cats. The species I was thinking of resides in Iftel, and they're called the Ratha. In Storm Breaking, page 362 it says. "Ratha...are to mountain cats what kyree are to wolves." (Thank havens the book wasn't packed yet.) saw this from Layla when I finally got back to my email: >b >r >i >g >h >t >l >y >b >u >r >n >i >n >g >s >p >a >c >e > >Sure, Dirk is a great guy, very patient, and a natural teacher. But so was >Pol, wasn't he? And Pol actually had lots and lots of experience teaching >Gifts, particularly in teaching strange Gifts that no one had ever seen >before. I've honestly only skimmed Brightly Burning, for various reasons, >but Pol *seemed* to be a good teacher. Or do people who actually read >*all* >the words have a different opinion? Yes, Pol was a good teacher. At least, I thought so and I did read every word. > I also get the sense that >Griffon's Gift is just as strong as Lavan's was, and, while Lavan needed >his >Companion to control it, Griffon seems to be able to use it with or without >linking to his Companion. While I do agree that Griffon should be better appreciated for being a well-balanced Herald with a wild Gift, there are a couple of other differences between Lavan and Griffon. For one thing, Griffon had the benefit of full training instead of being shoved into Whites after one year. Griffon had a lot more time to work on control than Lavan did. Another thing is that it sounds like Lavan's Gift was much closer to full power when it appeared than Griffon's was. _And_ Griffon's wasn't triggered by some form of a disasterous event to our knowledge, so his control has no ties to his state of mind and emotional well-being. So there were reasons why Lavan needed the added help and stability of his Companion that Griffon didn't. BTW, if I've misremembered something, please let me know...I welcome corrections. :) Stars light your path, Sorana Stargem Herald-trainee, %-+AT+-"May God stand between you High Priestess to the Goddess%-+AT+-and all harm in all the of Unicorns, %-+AT+-empty places you must walk" Goddess of Flions, %-+AT+- -- Susan Ivanova Knight of Amber and Marigold,%-+AT+-"Don't dream it, be it." Knight of the OOUH %-+AT+- -- Dr. Frankenfurter http://www.angelfire.com/wa/mylagoon/index.html _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 02:11:40 From: "Rebecca McAllister" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Griffon and Lavan Brightly Burning spoiler Message-ID: Layla said: > >All this stuff about Lavan's Firestarting Gift makes me think: >While Elcarth praises Dirk's teaching (which is probably justified) and >specifically points to his success teaching Griffon, I think that had an >awful lot more to do with Griffon being such a solid, stable person. It also has to do with the fact that Dirk was able to teach him him his gift without freaking him out and making him afraid of it. That is why Dirk gets praise. Often times no matter how solid and stable a person is, they can still be freaked out by potentially dangerous things. Especially the ones that are life threatening. dirk did a good job of making his gift seem totally controllable. I like >Griffon. I think the guy deserves more credit. Yeah, I agree, maybe we should start a Griffon fan club. He was so cool, and never gets enough credit. He did save Valdemar in the fisrt battle. If it hadn't been for him Hardorn would have won, and Valdemar wouldn't be there anymore. He should be a hero! Anyway, there's more >comparing Lavan and Griffon below the Brightly Burning spoiler space: > >b >r >i >g >h >t >l >y >b >u >r >n >i >n >g >s >p >a >c >e > > > > None of the other Heralds had ever seen the gift > >before >and had no idea how to teach him to control it. > > > >They kept on saying that no one had seen Lavan's gift before, but his > >*teacher* had fire-fetching or whatever you want to call it. >Sure, Dirk is a great guy, very patient, and a natural teacher. But so was >Pol, wasn't he? Yeah Pol was a great teacher. This was becuase he had a little bit of every gift. So he could teach any gift. Including Firestarting. > I've honestly only skimmed Brightly Burning, for various reasons, Just Curious, but what reasons? Becca -Lady of all titleless entities (see, now I have a title) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jul 2001 03:12:39 -0000 From: "~*~ Ciara ~*~" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler Message-ID: <20010712031239.18072.qmail-+AT+-whitfield.chek.com> > >> b >> r >> i >> g >> h >> t >> l >> y >> b >> u >> r >> n >> i >> n >> g >> s >> p >> a >> c >> e >> >> >> Sure, Dirk is a great guy, very patient, and a natural teacher. But so >was >> Pol, wasn't he? > >Yes, he was. He did a good job with Lavan. It's theorized several times in >the book that, had Lavan's Gift not been "forced" fully open by emotional >trauma, if it had developed slowly and properly, Lavan would have had >control without Kalira's intervention. At least, that was my interpretation. ~*~ Just a quick note, but it's kinda funny how 'alike' Van and Lavan are, I mean both came into their powers because of emotional distress, Both are kinda distant from other people. . . And also both have female Companions :) ~*~ About Misty's new book, does anyone think their will be more about Skif and Nayria in it (sorry 'bout the spelling) ? I liked both Characters well enough, but I kinda hope Misty will start on some new characters :) what does everyone think? ~*~ Ciara ~*~ ________________________________________________________________ Get Free Anime Email, News, Links, Forums and Shopping at http://www.AnimeNation.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 20:31:26 -0700 From: "Roxanne Nolan" To: Subject: Serpent's Shadow ?spoiler? Message-ID: <000a01c10a83$27afa2e0$df3427d0-+AT+-unicorn> I just finished reading SS and I have to say that I loved the book! I didn't think I would like it because I wasn't able to get into her other fairy tale retellings (although I did like the Fire Rose) but this book had me enthralled. I really like the concept of elemental magic (speaking of which anyone want to recommend some good books with elemental magic in them?). I can see some of the resemblances to Snow White, although frankly I *never* would have connected it if I didn't know about it in advance. The apple seller, the kiss that wakes the sleeping princess, the seven helping friends...who aren't much like dwarves , and the huntsman going for the heart. IMO though, I think Maya has a great deal more spirit than Snow White did, lol. One of the things I liked about the book was that it made me think about the liberties that we now enjoy, like being able to be assured of justice even if the man is rich (at least for the most part), and the liberty and freedom to vote. I vaguely realized that it was a real battle, but I did not realize that it was ever as brutal as ML showed it was. I want to go and do some research on the whole thing now. I realize I had a vague notion of suffragettes being happy and excited about the cause but nothing really bad ever comes of it my opinion being vaguely formed from Mary Poppins. Hmmm...talk about naive. Now my one criticism of the book and I wonder what others think...I feel the ending of Shivani was a little too pat. After all, up until that point we had no hint that Kali Dugga was displeased with her servant, so why all of a sudden does she decide to end her life? It seemed a little too anticlimactic for me. Now for something totally off topic, I love the names that ML comes up with (in fact when my twins are born sometime in the next 8 weeks I am using names from ML, Tarma Roxanne and Kethry Lynn). I especially loved the names in this book, Shivani and Surya and Maya. Anyone know how she comes up with her names? Boy, my little note turned into a novel, so I guess I'll sign off for now Roxanne-with no sheep to offer at the present moment ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 20:43:02 -0700 From: "Roxanne Nolan" To: Subject: Re: Cat people Message-ID: <003101c10a85$6e8dcf00$df3427d0-+AT+-unicorn> My personal opinion is that cats seem to have more of an air of mystery around them than dogs. Dogs are loyal and committed to mankind but I have never heard of them portrayed as secretive or mysterious. I think the mystique of them is what draws writers to the cats. As for dog stories, you are absolutely correct in Terry Pratchett (heaven forbid that his computer crashes) writing about dogs, after all, who could forget Gaspode the Wonder Dog and Good Dog Laddie, not to mention Scrapps. There are a few other stories out there with dogs in them, but the dogs almost always seem to be in a guardian role. Speaking of dogs, was Warrl supposed to be more dog like or cat like? I know something was mentioned about grass cats and retractable claws but wasn't he always portrayed to look like a wolf? Roxanne-who know is curious to see how many dog stories I can find! > As I thought more about it I remembered that Terry Pratchett (may his > computer never crash) has written about dogs successfully. Well mostly > werewolves but some dogs (re: THE TRUTH) I very much enjoyed them. > > > --- Doreen Glynn > --- timedancer0624-+AT+-earthlink.net > Live long and may the force be wit > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 20:04:39 +1200 (NZST) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Sheridan=20Hoy?= To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lavan vs Vanyel, Brightly Burning spoiler Message-ID: <20010712080439.31252.qmail-+AT+-web11004.mail.yahoo.com> Heyla listsibs Thanks to all those who reminded me about King's (and Queen's)Own Companions. My Arrows books are safely packed away in New Zealand - I am currently in the UK. I was VERY tempted to bring all my Misty books with me, but decided I would have to survive with what the library has - unfortunately that isn't much! However, that gives me the excuse of buying the Mage Storm and Winds books :) BRIGHTLY BURNING S P O I L E R S I definitely agree with Dax I think it was, that because we are party to the innermost thoughts of characters like Vanyel and Lavan, we get to see all the irritating foibles that we have come to know and love - like whining :) However, if they hadn't had the potential to cope with everything that might be thrown at them, I wonder whether the Companions would have Chosen them? I mean, on top of having a Gift and particular personality traits - honesty, loyalty, altruism - I know there are a few listed in Arrows, I just can't remember them - they would have to be able to cope with so much. Question. Would they also have to be reasonably stable? I mean Vanyel wasn't when he was Chosen, losing his lifebonded, and neither was Lavan, although he gained not only a Companion but also a lifebonded. I don't know if I could go through half of what Talia or Vanyel did and keep my sanity and the importance of the mission in mind. I suppose it depends on how strong you are, and I suppose a Companion would help there. Sorry, rambling on a bit there. BTW, I like Griffon too, but I think he had an advantage in that his Gift didn't come on all at once, and he didn't see it going rogue with such destructive results. Re more Herald books. I wonder what Takes a Thief will be like. I would like more books about the inner workings of the Collegium, I think that is why I enjoyed the Arrows trilogy so much, they followed Talia all the way through her training and beyond. Did anyone hear the rumour about an Albrich book? I heard there was one in the pipeline? Bright the Day, tamlin _____________________________________________________________________________ http://messenger.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Messenger - Voice chat, mail alerts, stock quotes and favourite news and lots more! ------------------------------ End of MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 2637 **********************************