Thank you for these answers as my friends and I had the same. It's so awesome your so willing to answer our fans questions in this manner.
John Buttimer On May 25, 2013, at 11:45 AM, Raymond Feist/New ATT <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. > >
