MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 2640 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) choosing to be a herald by "Morrigan Moon" 2) But I don't WANT to be a Herald... by "Molly McAllister" 3) Re: But I don't WANT to be a Herald... by Silvershadow 4) Re: Gwena's return by Eleonora Scoseria 5) Re: choosing to be a herald by Sarah Scrivano ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 17:58:22 -0000 From: "Morrigan Moon" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: choosing to be a herald Message-ID: > >Personally I'VE been wondering what would happen if > >someone who was Chosen decided they didn't WANT to be > >a Herald. >I don't think a companion wouldn't choose some who wouldn't want to be a >herald. In the owl books about darian, the healer that darian ends up together with (can't remember her name and am far to lazy to walk next door and look in the book....Ermmm...I've lost my train of thought, I'll start again. Keisha (that's it! I remembered) is in the street when a riderless companion walks towards her, and she effectively tells it not to pick her, it then picks her sister. You don't really find out if it wasn't going to pick her anyway, but this does sort of reinforce the idea that the companion wouldn't pick someone who didn't want to be a herald. Also, at the beginning of Brightly Burning .....(not really a spoiler but I'll leave some space anyway) ...when elenor is talking to lavan she says "You've been Chosen, that makes you a Heraldic trainee. I'm afraid you don't have much choice!" "It's not a job you can volunteer for or decline, it seems!" More on brightly burning: I started reading it yesterday, and am 3/4 of the way through at the moment and am thoroughly enjoying it. Keep smiling Clair _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 19:09:22 -0000 From: "Molly McAllister" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: But I don't WANT to be a Herald... Message-ID: Heyla everyone, I just thought that I would put in my two cents on this little debate. Silvershadow said: >Personally I'VE been wondering what would happen if >someone who was Chosen decided they didn't WANT to be >a Herald. From what i've read I get the impression >that if someone was Chosen they don't HAVE to become a >Herald... Just curious what would happen if that did >happen. In Arrows of the Queen, when Talia first arrives at the palace the Queen asks her if she wants to be a Herald/ Queens Own. Selenay says that is something that they have to ask every newly chosen. When Talia says that she DOES want to become a herald, Selenay says to something to the effect of (sorry, my book is lent out, so I don't have the exact quote) Once again, the Companions have chosen rightly. Or something like that. I always thought that that meant that Companions have never chosen someone who wasn't Herald material, and one assumes that one of the neccesities for being Herald material, is to WANT to be a herald. If not right away, at least once you get all your thoughts together. Sure, Vanyel didn't want to be a Herald at first, but he wasn't exactly in great shape for making such a life decision. He also new that Yfandes was worth it, and his bond to her convinced him that that was what he wanted, even if the price of that bond was becoming a herald. Just my two cents on the matter. Fluffy (extremely flammable ;-) ) sheep for all, Starshadow* Royal Defender of the Brat She'enedra to Lightsong _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 18:43:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Silvershadow To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: But I don't WANT to be a Herald... Message-ID: <20010715014346.25979.qmail-+AT+-web4503.mail.yahoo.com> --- Molly McAllister wrote: > Heyla everyone, > I just thought that I would put in my two cents > on this little debate. > > Silvershadow said: > >Personally I'VE been wondering what would happen if > >someone who was Chosen decided they didn't WANT to > be > >a Herald. From what i've read I get the impression > >that if someone was Chosen they don't HAVE to > become a > >Herald... Just curious what would happen if that > did > >happen. > > In Arrows of the Queen, when Talia first arrives at > the palace the Queen > asks her if she wants to be a Herald/ Queens Own. > Selenay says that is > something that they have to ask every newly chosen. > When Talia says that > she DOES want to become a herald, Selenay says to > something to the effect of > (sorry, my book is lent out, so I don't have the > exact quote) Once again, > the Companions have chosen rightly. Or something > like that. I always > thought that that meant that Companions have never > chosen someone who wasn't > Herald material, and one assumes that one of the > neccesities for being > Herald material, is to WANT to be a herald. If not > right away, at least > once you get all your thoughts together. Sure, > Vanyel didn't want to be a > Herald at first, but he wasn't exactly in great > shape for making such a life > decision. He also new that Yfandes was worth it, > and his bond to her > convinced him that that was what he wanted, even if > the price of that bond > was becoming a herald. Oddly enough I've just poked my nose up out of 'arrows of the queen' and you quoted rightly. Talia DID get asked by Selenay if she wanted to be a Herald PLUS in their Oreintation class they were once again asked and when they asked what would happen if they didn't want to be a hearld basicly they were told that they would be 'unchosen' and the Companion would go out and chose someone else. hmm, seems to me almost like blackmail. 'if you become a herald you get all this boundless love and devotion BUT if you don't do it, well you can kiss it all g'bye'. ===== Zhai'hellava ~Silvershadow~ Chocobo of Legend Wielder of the Sacred SPOON __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 23:13:11 -0300 From: Eleonora Scoseria To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Gwena's return Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20010714230528.02548770-+AT+-infodynamics.com.uy> Hi, all :) /me pokes her head up from lurkdom to add her .02 :) At 05:35 a.m. 14/07/2001 +0100, Christi wrote: >This was mentioned in the LHM books (Promise) when Vanyel & Shavri & >Yfandes are talking about Jisa being the presumptive next Monarch's Own; >something to the effect of Jisa being Chosen soon if she "needs the >training" but it being an "unbonded Choosing" until such time as her mother >dies and Taver will bond with her then. Supposedly she's the Presumptive >Kings Own because her Gifts are MindHealing, Mindspeech, and Empathy, along >with Mage-potential. (Just looked all this up, it's chapter 2 of Promise, >page 336 in the book club 3in1 edition). *snip* >So I guess it's like a stand-in Companion; they'd be close, but not totally >bonded. I wish there were more books about Vanyel's era. That makes sense. However, it doesn't explain one of the things I have always wondered about: Van mentioning that he had half-expected Taver to choose HIM as the next MO. If there is one Choosing in Valdemar that seems bonded AND fated to me, that's Yfandes's choosing of Van. Actually, we have gone over this all on the list some time ago and have failed to come to a conclusion. So I guess unless Misty's secretary pipes up and adds some wisdom from Misty's own lips, we'll be kept wondering :-) On the wanting to be a herald or not, Starshadow wrote about Selenay explaining to Talia that she didn't HAVE to be QO. I don't have the book handy either but I think that Selenay also says something about sending Rolan out again for someone else if she hadn't wanted to be QO. Huggable sheep to all, Ele Lady Ele High Priestess of Karma Councilor of Mist ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2001 23:06:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Sarah Scrivano To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: choosing to be a herald Message-ID: <20010715060613.56875.qmail-+AT+-web11004.mail.yahoo.com> Clair says --- Morrigan Moon wrote: > In the owl books about darian, the healer that > darian ends up together with .....Keisha > (that's it! I remembered) is in the street when a > riderless companion walks > towards her, and she effectively tells it not to > pick her, it then picks her > sister. You don't really find out if it wasn't > going to pick her anyway, > but this does sort of reinforce the idea that the > companion wouldn't pick > someone who didn't want to be a herald. Keisha caught a bit of amusement from the Companion, which foreshadowed (at least to me) that it definitly wasn't there for her. My opinion is pretty much in style with the majority: I feel that the Companions might actually pass someone by if they don't want to be a Herald. Most Heralds (in fact all I've ever seen in the series) have this overwhelming urge to give back to the Kingdom, to help no matter the cost to themselves. Granted this trait may be encouraged by the Companions, but I think that they would have to have it (in some degree) in their basic character. Minor spoiler from a short story in Fire & Ice for those who are obsessive follows. In fact, there's a short story in Fire & Ice about a woman who desperatly wants to be a Herald, she cultivates all the traits she sees in the Heralds around her, but she has to find out why she was never Chosen herself. Until tomorrow, Sarah S. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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