SotS Official Snippet #4

Nick wrote:

feyhunde wrote:
Or magic. She's half Hradani, and her mother is Noble (Old Kontovaran noblity even). The Sothoii nobles are descended from the Sword Brothers per http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/en ... essa/226/0 and they included cadet branches of the house of Ottovar. Thus Leeana has wizard blood. And, we've seen others of the Sothoii nobility with gifts.

The discussion of a half-Hradani wizard is a clear Chekhov's gun. I think our fair Gwynna's mage crisis and keeping her safe is going to be the plot of the book.

My personal theory on the Hradani/Human children, based on what Wencit said and how he said it, is that they are the ones with the potential to become Wild Wizards. Meaning that yes, I think Wencit is half Hradani. Certainly there's something special about them, and magic is definitely a part of it.

While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

It should end this debate but I'm sure that it'll start others.

runsforcelery wrote:

Nick wrote:

My personal theory on the Hradani/Human children, based on what Wencit said and how he said it, is that they are the ones with the potential to become Wild Wizards. Meaning that yes, I think Wencit is half Hradani. Certainly there's something special about them, and magic is definitely a part of it.

While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

Recall the blurb. Just who is that 11 year old girl that Wencit loves so dearly? I suspect that we will find out in the next two weeks.

RFC mentioned Wencit has never been half hradani. Perhaps he is quarter hradani and is the grandson of Leeana? I doubt Wencit is directly related to Leeana, but since we are all parsing RFC's comments I thought I would toss by two bits into the mix.

DrakBibliophile wrote:It should end this debate but I'm sure that it'll start others.

runsforcelery wrote:
While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

runsforcelery wrote:
While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

DrakBibliophile wrote:It should end this debate but I'm sure that it'll start others.

PeterZ wrote:Recall the blurb. Just who is that 11 year old girl that Wencit loves so dearly? I suspect that we will find out in the next two weeks.

RFC mentioned Wencit has never been half hradani. Perhaps he is quarter hradani and is the grandson of Leeana? I doubt Wencit is directly related to Leeana, but since we are all parsing RFC's comments I thought I would toss by two bits into the mix.

Interesting suggestion. Another point that just leapt out at me was the statement

runsforcelery wrote:In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard.

My bolding. Is this implying that there have been Kontovarian half-hradini wild wizards (before the fall of Kontovar?
Also the blurb doesn't indicate that the 11 year old girl is Leeana and Bahzell's. A heart of harp music sounds as if she has been touched by Chemirsa, which doesn't seem likely for a child of Bahzell and Leeana, but might well be a child of Brandark's - whom we haven't heard of so far - hard to believe he wouldn't be in a bar with Bahzell.

fallsfromtrees wrote:Interesting suggestion. Another point that just leapt out at me was the statement

runsforcelery wrote:In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard.

My bolding. Is this implying that there have been Kontovarian half-hradini wild wizards (before the fall of Kontovar?
Also the blurb doesn't indicate that the 11 year old girl is Leeana and Bahzell's. A heart of harp music sounds as if she has been touched by Chemirsa, which doesn't seem likely for a child of Bahzell and Leeana, but might well be a child of Brandark's - whom we haven't heard of so far - hard to believe he wouldn't be in a bar with Bahzell.

Orfressa is the name of the entire world. Norfressa is the continent this all takes place on, and Kontovar is the southern continent.

Now the use of "has been" could mean one is coming at some point. Don't marry the idea, mind you, but it's certainly possible.

But even if a potential one has now been born, without his or her "crisis" yet gone through he/she is not YET a "wild" wizard, and thus the statement remains technically true. Even if this child will become one in the future (assuming of course she survives long enough, though that's fairly likely), she is not one YET.

runsforcelery wrote:
While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

Well, this shorts out the theory that Wencit is time traveler child of Bazhell/Leena now in two ways.

feyhunde wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:
While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

Well, this shorts out the theory that Wencit is time traveler child of Bazhell/Leena now in two ways.

But doesn't rule out a quarter-hradani as Wencit (i.e. Bahzell's grandson. It would still explain his protection of Leeana - she's granny, and needs to be protected until she gives birth to either his mother or father. (Not that I think this is what MWW is doing - I think that it is something even more twisted).

runsforcelery wrote:

While it's been an entertaining debate, I suppose I should point out that Wencit is not and never has been half-hradani. In addition, there has never been an Orfressan half-hradani wild wizard. What Wencit specifically said was that humans are the carriers of wizardry and that all wizards have been human or a human-[insert other Race of Man here] hybrid. The original (and most powerful) wild wizard of all time was Ottovar the Great whose human descendants ruled his empire for about 10,000 years until the Fall of Kontovar.

Hope this clarifies all possible questions [he said innocently, walking away with hands in pockets and whistling tunelessly . . . .]

So much for that idea. Not that I mind having you shoot down my theories, RFC. Quite the opposite! I'd rather know I'm wrong and get to start over making new theories for you [s]confirm[/s] tear apart. Thanks!

Sorry, but the thing about human-hradani matings is that the children of such matings can't have children.

Thus there's no such thing as a "quarter-hradani".

fallsfromtrees wrote:

feyhunde wrote:Well, this shorts out the theory that Wencit is time traveler child of Bazhell/Leena now in two ways.

But doesn't rule out a quarter-hradani as Wencit (i.e. Bahzell's grandson. It would still explain his protection of Leeana - she's granny, and needs to be protected until she gives birth to either his mother or father. (Not that I think this is what MWW is doing - I think that it is something even more twisted).

Peter2 wrote:

PeterZ wrote:
[snip]

I am not yet convinced that this is indeed our Bahzell and Leeana. The direcat is too large an anomaly. I am guessing Gwynna to be about 10 years old as our stranger describes her as a child. That means our Bahzell or Leeana had to raise/befriend the direcat within 10 years of their wedding. While that's possible, how would that have happened given the events that ended WMC? Our two love birds would have been busier than one legged men in a butt kicking contest. Raising and training/familiarizing even intelligent animals into human society would require a huge devotion of time.

[snip]

I would agree with you completely but for one thing; we don't know how intelligent this direcat is, or whether or not somebody has been "interfering". You may well be right, but . . .

I think the odds of Blanchrach being *just* a direcat are diddley/squat.

I love it that:
1) a jet-black cat is named "white anger" (in rough translation). I guess deathly pale is what people go when they see him curled up under the dining room table for the first time, and calling it "Snowball" just wouldn't give the same nuance...
2) Leeana refers to the direcat as "my daughter's friend"- an interesting choice of words?

My guess is that the 'cat was a gift from Wencit to Gwynna at her birth, or shortly thereafter; the direcat is in some way magical, and possibly even emotionally/psychically linked to Gwynna. They obviously trust the direcat completely, and I just don't see that happening with one that was merely "tamed."