Interesting stuff. I'll jump down to comment a bit.
On May 24, 2013, at 9:16 PM, [email protected] wrote: > * > * > * > S > P > O > I > L > E > R > S > * > * > * > > I'm certainly not Ray (and I look forward to his response to your interesting > questions), but I do have some thoughts about Martin Longbow's descendant > taking the throne. Ironically, Hal was only in position to become King > because of Lyam's act of nobility in recognizing Martin pre-coronation (when > Arutha thought he was crazy and irresponsible) and Martin's act of nobility > in renouncing the crown. First, had Lyam and Brucal buried the news of > Martin's paternity and legitimation, Martin likely never becomes Duke. End > of story. There's no noble conDoin's around to swoop out of the west to save > the day in the last saga. Alternatively, had Martin taken the Crown rather > than renounce in favor of Lyam, he would have married someone very different > and his conDoin descendants reared in the East would have been very different > from Hal. Something about Crydee (the rugged frontier, the distance from > Rillanon, the lack of distance between the nobility and the common people > they rule/serve) helps restore the vigor and nobility of the conDoin line. > Second, Henry the elder and Hal were both insulated from the political > turmoil in the Kingdom because the line had historically declined to seek > power in honor of Martin's famous words. That left Hal as a "pure" > compromise candidate all those not directly affiliated with Oliver could > accept. So, in the end, it was Lyam's old fashioned honor (in contrast to > Arutha's pragmatism) and Martin's self-abnegation that sowed the seeds of the > Kingdom's eventual salvation and renaissance generations later. Pretty cool. > It's also cool that Martin's line ended up with the crown because Edward did > the same thing Martin did! Everything came full circle. > > I have to say, I loved the civil war side of the narrative. As much as I > wanted to find out what was "really going on" and to see what ultimately > happened to Pug (and as dusty as it got in the room when I read about Pug and > Tomas saying good-bye), I found the civil war to be the most compelling part > of the entire last trilogy. I'm a sucker for those conDoin's! > > One slight disappointment -- I wanted to see what happened to Jim's protege > (and son?) Karrick, whom Jim sent to take his place as the Upright Man. > There were a lot of threads to tie up, so I understand not circling back to > him. But I felt like Jim's promise at the end of the second book to raise > the kid up off the dodgy path was a bit of a Checkov's gun that was never > fired. I wanted to go back to that, but the scene was just a "let's stop all forward momentum here," and one of my "lists of things to do" problems, i.e. sometimes you tear up the narrative if you spend too much time wrapping up minor details. It's my belief it's OK to leave the reader with questions as long as they are reasonable questions. I couldn't even figure out how to mention it in passing, given there were so few characters who would know of the changing of the guard in the Mockers. > > One question of my own for Ray. Were the Dread the real "Darkness" behind > Rogen's vision way back in Silverthorn and was their influence somehow > responsible for the Valheru losing their shite in the Chaos Wars? I felt > like the Darkness reaching through time and probability to attack Rogen, > which freaked everybody out in Silverthorn, was similar to how the Dreadking > thing reached out through the magic orb to lay the smack down on Pug et al. Yes, it was always the Dread, though because I had no idea this would carry on so many years and books, I used the red herring device of making the Valheru the vehicle for the first attack through the rift in Sethanon. > > Anyway, Ray, I first met Pug back in '86 or '87 or so as a young lad reading > the first set of split up Magician paperbacks, and I was hooked immediately. > I know you're not done writing, but you've already left behind a pretty > awesome legacy. Thanks for the memories. > > Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 12:04:23 -0700 > Subject: Questions about ME and Midkemia (SPOILERS Magician End and all books) > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > S > > P > > O > > I > > L > > E > > R > > S > > Magician and entire serie in fact. > > Hi Ray, > > First of all, that book was an excellent read, thank you very much. I enjoyed > all of it :) This one felt more like the original series than the most recent > ones, and I for myself like this style better. To each his own :) > > Now I was wondering a few things. Basically, a lot of significant characters > in the world from the past 30 books or so are dead, i.e Tomas, Pug, Dolgan, > Macros, Miranda, Nakor, Jimmy the hand, Arutha, etc. From the point of view > of your gaming days, which if I'm not mistaken, were occurring 200 years from > now in Midkemia, were these characters mythical Legends already, or you > created all of them from scratch as you went along the books? For example, > Calis is still alive, as well as Magnus, did you have materials saying that > these guys were sons of famous magician/warrior in the past? > > None of these characters existed before I wrote them with the exception of Praji and Vaja, who were characters created in the game by my friend Rich Spahl. I used them to get him to shut up about using them. <g> Otherwise, I created those stories out of whole cloth. In the game days it was stuff like, "And then the greater magic came through the rift. . . " without anyone knowing what that story was. The Battle of Sethanon was a backstory and no one knew who fought it or why, but only it left Sethanon a ghost city. Stuff like that. > Secondly, I was reflecting on the fact that Martin Longbow's son is now on > the throne. I remember at the end of Magician Martin was asking himself, > "what if I make a better king than Lyam..?". On the light of what happened in > family branches of the 3 brothers and the downfall of the ConDoin line, the > question is, in your writer's eye, was Martin a better choice? Obviously > historical questions like these are somewhat meaningless, but I always had > the impression that you implied so, especially when Pug makes his comment > about the downfall of the line starting with Borric (from Arutha). No. Martin would not have made as good a king as Lyam. Of the three, Arutha probably would have been the best choice, but life often doesn't give you the best choice. > > Lastly, I had the impression you introduced some "angel army" somewhere? I'm > trying to remember what happened with them, especially when they were > mentioned in ME at some point. Yes, the angles were waiting because they were blocked off from entering Midkemia to confront the demons. The important information wasn't there were angels out there, but rather someone had enough power to keep them from entering that realm. I've intentionally not explained every detail, preferring the reader draw some conclusions on his/her own. I could spell out exactly what the One is, and what that entities relationship is to those beings sent as guides, and what the exact role the dragons played, but to do that would have been at the expense of pace and what I hope proved a sense of wonder. Sometimes it's wise to ignore the man behind the curtain. > > Thanks again for an excellent read! Welcome. Best, R.E.F.
