Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests

Why didn't Janaki dodge?

"Hell's Gate" and "Hell Hath No Fury", by David, Linda Evans, and Joelle Presby, take the clash of science and magic to a whole new dimension...join us in a friendly discussion of this engrossing series!
Re: Why didn't Janaki dodge?
Post by jeremyr   » Mon Jun 08, 2015 11:15 pm

jeremyr
Lieutenant Commander

Posts: 149
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:33 pm
Location: Corinth, TX

bkwormlisa wrote:Thanks for the clarification RFC! You've answered my original question, and I always like it when something in a book happens for a better reason than "the author wanted it that way". Picky of me, I know, and I at least try to keep in mind that sometimes it's inevitable. And the sneak info on Erthain is greatly appreciated.



Ditto, thanks for the explanation!
Top
Re: Why didn't Janaki dodge?
Post by Jonathan_S   » Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:39 pm

Jonathan_S
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 8269
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:01 pm
Location: Virginia, USA

runsforcelery wrote:And you're right that one of the reasons the Caliraths are as highly regarded as they are is that even though the imperial family has never officially confirmed the way that Death Glimpses work (at least outside of those cleared for the Ternathian equivalent of Top Secret, Burn After Reading), people for several thousand years have known that they do glimpse "the future," and that time and again they have walked into the path of danger which presumably they saw coming before they exposed themselves to it.

Note, however, that this attitude towards the Caliraths is not universal, especially on the part of people like the Seneschal or Uromathians in general, because the anti-Calirath factions in Sharona have tended (over those same thousands of years) to deny that that's how it works.
Hmm, that "presumably" makes me assume that once their legend got going that any semi-heroic death of a Calirath was presumed to have been foreseen and deliberately accepted. Or even any significant loss or sacrifice one of them made for a noble end.

The very secrecy with which they hold the details of their talent probably predispose people, at least the ones that already feel favorably towards them, to overestimate its impact and consequently give 'credit' for even more nobility than a given Calirath might have actually been demonstrating.
Top
Re: Why didn't Janaki dodge?
Post by Astelon   » Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:53 pm

Astelon
Commander

Posts: 203
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2014 8:13 pm

Those who don't feel positively predisposed to the Calirath dynasty would use that same lack of information to dismiss the talent and any noble sacrifice.
Top

Return to Multiverse