Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests

When will the next one be?

Fans of Bahzell and Tomenack come on in! Let's talk about David's fantasy series and our favorite hradani!
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Jaxomfaux   » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:17 pm

Jaxomfaux
Ensign

Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:03 pm

I agree. Brandark won't be a mage. He'll be a wizard :P the major hints are:

we don't know about his mother, but we do know his father's had dealings with other nations and on good terms with them. plus has some "strange notions" since he let brandark grow up as he did.

Secondly Weber going out of his way to have Wincent explain it's good thing there hasn't been any Hradini-half bloods in forever, cuz only they and pure humans had the ability to be a wizard. And half-Hradini wizards would have massive magic and long lives but be sterile.

lastly, the dark gods in the first two books write off Brandark but the light gods keep saying he's as important as Bhazel. in the third book they say killing Brandark is almost as important as killing Bhazel. Something's going to happen soon with him, that gives him enough power to make the dark gods pause.

since he's not going to be a champion it's logical he becomes a wizard. which don't have "mage-crisis".
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Rook   » Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:08 pm

Rook
Commander

Posts: 151
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:10 pm

Jaxomfaux wrote:I agree. Brandark won't be a mage. He'll be a wizard :P the major hints are:

we don't know about his mother, but we do know his father's had dealings with other nations and on good terms with them. plus has some "strange notions" since he let brandark grow up as he did.


The only non-Hradani we know that was on good terms with Brandark Sr. was Kilthan. And that was shady trades to offload hradani loot from raids... possibly done on other human counties. It is most likely that Brandark Sr. was NOT on good terms with any of the neighboring human countries.

Let's look at what we do know about Brandark Sr:

1. He is a conservative Bloody Sword Noble who chose to live in Navahk and take part in the snake pit politics of Churnazh's court.

2. Brandark Brandarkson was his fully acknowledged and accepted heir.

3. He very quickly took steps to disown his son when he found out his heir helped Bazhell escape.

Brandark Sr. was part of a conservative association of Bloody Sword nobles that were mutually supporting each other to keep Churnazh from killing them and taking over their lands. I get the impression that they formed a sort of 'Loyal Opposition' that supported Churnazh so long as he didn't mess with them. Since we know that Churnazh didn't like opposition, loyal or otherwise, I imagine he was looking for any excuse to off them and replace them with one of his lackeys.

Anyone who was actively supporting this association in Churnazh's Court would have had to be a 'perfect' Bloody Sword with an impeccable history and reputation. If Brandark Sr. had a half-human son, would he have enjoyed the support of his fellow conservative nobles? Would he have survived the deadly politics of Churnazh's court (which is well known to be exceptionally xenophobic, even for Hradani)? I don't think so. It is very unlikely Brandark Sr. would have even survived Churnazh's bloody ascent to the throne if he had a half-blood human for a son.

Then there's the fact that Brandark was his father's heir. MWW doesn't say anything about Hradani inheritance laws and customs for nobility, but I would be very surprised if it didn't require some sort of acceptance from his conservative, noble peers. It may have been possible for Brandark Sr. to politically arm twist enough of his peers into allowing his son to be his heir, but it would probably have cost him all of his political support to do it. Since his father did have the support of his fellow nobles in the years that Churnazh ruled, it is again very unlikely that Brandark Jr was anything but a full blooded Hradani.

Finally, there's the fact that Brandark's father quickly disowned him for what amounted to a short term political advantage. Everyone knew that Churnazh was going to be defeated by Bahnak when they finally started fighting again. If Brandark was a halfblood, then his father would have had to devote most of his political efforts to keeping his son as his heir. It would have had to be one of the major goals in his life. Knowing that and knowing that Churnazh would soon be defeated by Bahnak, he would have continued to fight to keep Brandark as his heir, not immediately disowned him as he did. This tells me that there was never a long term fight in keeping Brandark as his heir, so it was never a major priority for him.

Brandark is a full blooded Hradani. Simply saying 'we don't know anything about his mother, so she must have been human' is a very poor argument.



Jaxomfaux wrote:Secondly Weber going out of his way to have Wincent explain it's good thing there hasn't been any Hradini-half bloods in forever, cuz only they and pure humans had the ability to be a wizard. And half-Hradini wizards would have massive magic and long lives but be sterile.


I saw this as nothing more than MWW taking the opportunity to put in an info dump on the rules of his world. It may be that the offspring of one of his characters will end up a half-hradani wizard, or he may later introduce a half-blooded hradani wizard character. However, I see nothing in the books to indicate anything in this was particularly directed at Brandark.

Jaxomfaux wrote:lastly, the dark gods in the first two books write off Brandark but the light gods keep saying he's as important as Bhazel. in the third book they say killing Brandark is almost as important as killing Bhazel. Something's going to happen soon with him, that gives him enough power to make the dark gods pause.

since he's not going to be a champion it's logical he becomes a wizard. which don't have "mage-crisis".


Who says that Brandark isn't going to be a champion? I have not read that anywhere. The only thing for certain is that he is not going to commit to Tomanak. In fact, in the next sentence, he indicated there may be a god he could follow. We don't know who god that is, but I think that it is quite likely Brandark will be a champion of some sort.

As to the dark gods not knowing that Brandark was not important until the third book, I don't find that terribly remarkable. The dark gods didn't know Bahzell was important until about halfway through the first book when Tomanak began to openly recruit him.
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Jaxomfaux   » Wed May 04, 2011 5:47 pm

Jaxomfaux
Ensign

Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:03 pm

Rook wrote:
Jaxomfaux wrote:I agree. Brandark won't be a mage. He'll be a wizard :P the major hints are:

we don't know about his mother, but we do know his father's had dealings with other nations and on good terms with them. plus has some "strange notions" since he let brandark grow up as he did.


The only non-Hradani we know that was on good terms with Brandark Sr. was Kilthan. And that was shady trades to offload hradani loot from raids... possibly done on other human counties. It is most likely that Brandark Sr. was NOT on good terms with any of the neighboring human countries.

Let's look at what we do know about Brandark Sr:

1. He is a conservative Bloody Sword Noble who chose to live in Navahk and take part in the snake pit politics of Churnazh's court.

2. Brandark Brandarkson was his fully acknowledged and accepted heir.

3. He very quickly took steps to disown his son when he found out his heir helped Bazhell escape.

Brandark Sr. was part of a conservative association of Bloody Sword nobles that were mutually supporting each other to keep Churnazh from killing them and taking over their lands. I get the impression that they formed a sort of 'Loyal Opposition' that supported Churnazh so long as he didn't mess with them. Since we know that Churnazh didn't like opposition, loyal or otherwise, I imagine he was looking for any excuse to off them and replace them with one of his lackeys.

Anyone who was actively supporting this association in Churnazh's Court would have had to be a 'perfect' Bloody Sword with an impeccable history and reputation. If Brandark Sr. had a half-human son, would he have enjoyed the support of his fellow conservative nobles? Would he have survived the deadly politics of Churnazh's court (which is well known to be exceptionally xenophobic, even for Hradani)? I don't think so. It is very unlikely Brandark Sr. would have even survived Churnazh's bloody ascent to the throne if he had a half-blood human for a son.

Then there's the fact that Brandark was his father's heir. MWW doesn't say anything about Hradani inheritance laws and customs for nobility, but I would be very surprised if it didn't require some sort of acceptance from his conservative, noble peers. It may have been possible for Brandark Sr. to politically arm twist enough of his peers into allowing his son to be his heir, but it would probably have cost him all of his political support to do it. Since his father did have the support of his fellow nobles in the years that Churnazh ruled, it is again very unlikely that Brandark Jr was anything but a full blooded Hradani.

Finally, there's the fact that Brandark's father quickly disowned him for what amounted to a short term political advantage. Everyone knew that Churnazh was going to be defeated by Bahnak when they finally started fighting again. If Brandark was a halfblood, then his father would have had to devote most of his political efforts to keeping his son as his heir. It would have had to be one of the major goals in his life. Knowing that and knowing that Churnazh would soon be defeated by Bahnak, he would have continued to fight to keep Brandark as his heir, not immediately disowned him as he did. This tells me that there was never a long term fight in keeping Brandark as his heir, so it was never a major priority for him.

Brandark is a full blooded Hradani. Simply saying 'we don't know anything about his mother, so she must have been human' is a very poor argument.



Jaxomfaux wrote:Secondly Weber going out of his way to have Wincent explain it's good thing there hasn't been any Hradini-half bloods in forever, cuz only they and pure humans had the ability to be a wizard. And half-Hradini wizards would have massive magic and long lives but be sterile.


I saw this as nothing more than MWW taking the opportunity to put in an info dump on the rules of his world. It may be that the offspring of one of his characters will end up a half-hradani wizard, or he may later introduce a half-blooded hradani wizard character. However, I see nothing in the books to indicate anything in this was particularly directed at Brandark.

Jaxomfaux wrote:lastly, the dark gods in the first two books write off Brandark but the light gods keep saying he's as important as Bhazel. in the third book they say killing Brandark is almost as important as killing Bhazel. Something's going to happen soon with him, that gives him enough power to make the dark gods pause.

since he's not going to be a champion it's logical he becomes a wizard. which don't have "mage-crisis".


Who says that Brandark isn't going to be a champion? I have not read that anywhere. The only thing for certain is that he is not going to commit to Tomanak. In fact, in the next sentence, he indicated there may be a god he could follow. We don't know who god that is, but I think that it is quite likely Brandark will be a champion of some sort.

As to the dark gods not knowing that Brandark was not important until the third book, I don't find that terribly remarkable. The dark gods didn't know Bahzell was important until about halfway through the first book when Tomanak began to openly recruit him.


while i'll agree to disagree on info-dumps and champion status, I will actively disagree on brandarks father.

in hradini law inheritance is basically tribal. this is my son. done. he inherits.

the book says he has connections outside of hradini territory, the only one it names is kilthan.

yes he is "old blood" navahk nobility and hangs out with conservatives but i think that is a matter of forming a counter-balance to churnak. Obviously he had no problem letting brandark carry on as he had. A dandy poet in navahk? brandark's father didn't care even though it offended almost everyone.

yes he immediately disowned brandark.... and sent the pursuit in the wrong direction after fully supplying his son with food, equipment and horses.... a wily move to protect himself from accusations and starting a navahk civil war. he was confident his son could manage and what purpose is a navahk noble title when his son isn't going to be in navahk?

who says navahk's are obsessed with purity? and who says brandark was born in navahk? or that someone so obviously wily couldn't just cover it all up?

in the end this is all my opinion based on the text of the book. if you really want me to dig through pages i can. i freely admit to not having read the series in a while but i usually have an accurate memory.
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Skia   » Thu May 05, 2011 2:55 pm

Skia
Captain (Junior Grade)

Posts: 268
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:15 pm

Honestly I don't see Brandark as a half-human, but that is more because we haven't seen any real evidence in the books.

I've not really seen much concern for racial purity in the hradini though. Really the only hostility to interracial relations has generally been from the other side. When Bahzell came back home to Hurgrum with Kaeritha we see differently.

Prince Bahnak had been able to quench the worst of their xenophobia, but Durghazh remained distrustful of all outsiders, and the fact that Kaeritha was not only a stranger but a woman and a trained warrior had been hard for Hûralk to deal with. Only the fact that she was also Bahzell's companion (and he knew some of the Broken Spears suspected—very privately; they wanted to keep their teeth—that she was a bit more than that) had won her anything like acceptance, and Hûralk's younger warriors continued to regard her as a distinctly unnatural being.


Also as Bahzell tells Leena being illegitimate isn't a huge problem among the hradini.

I agree with Jaxomfaux points in that regard, I just don't see it because of the lack of evidence presented so far.
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Jaxomfaux   » Fri May 06, 2011 12:23 pm

Jaxomfaux
Ensign

Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:03 pm

yes, i'm probably jumping the gun and if i'm wrong (which is possible) i'll apologize for my wild accusations. if i'm right i reserve the right to say "told you so." :P
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by richardinor   » Sat May 21, 2011 6:21 pm

richardinor
Commander

Posts: 235
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:23 am
Location: Oregon

Mr. Weber is working on it now, but it looks like he had to start over. Here is what he said on Twitter:

"Sometimes you have to scrap an idea and go back to square 1. So here I am, back at square 1 with Bahzell and co. Guess #am writing it over.
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Jaxomfaux   » Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:14 am

Jaxomfaux
Ensign

Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:03 pm

If that means he's scrapping the sword brother idea I'm happy. Was an interesting thought, but I really want Weber to keep this series fantasy and not sci-fi it.
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by Rook   » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:04 pm

Rook
Commander

Posts: 151
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:10 pm

Apparently, DW is working on the fourth book right now. It should be published sometime next year.

swapnil147 wrote:I read nearly all books of "war God" all are my favorite...
This books always suprises me because I love the honor books. I really like to know if he is working on a new novel in the series and when it will be published.....
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by darkhorse   » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:23 am

darkhorse
Ensign

Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:01 am

While I cringe at being a nag, it has been a little while since we have heard anything on this front. I was just wondering if anyone knows how the next book progresses...?
Top
Re: When will the next one be?
Post by FriarBob   » Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:51 pm

FriarBob
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1061
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2011 8:29 pm

darkhorse wrote:While I cringe at being a nag, it has been a little while since we have heard anything on this front. I was just wondering if anyone knows how the next book progresses...?


Best place to look for Weber updates (besides here, of course) is his Twitter feed. To be honest, I rather dislike Twitter. I dislike how so many people use it to prove the veracity of the old saw about "better to keep silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt". But for keeping up with Weber, it has its uses.

Latest two tweets from him that appear to be related to Bahzell:

davidweber1 wrote:I may actually have an official title for Bahzell's Revenge...I'm thinking "Warmaid's Choice." I leave you to discuss among yourselves.

30 Aug via web


davidweber1 wrote:@thomasthecat Wandering around in Norfressa right now, but will be back to the Honorverse in a few weeks. <G> Have a great birthday, Thomas!

30 Aug via web


I think that it's fairly safe to say that he's still working on this next book but that's he's getting fairly close to completion. Probably sometime this month or MAYBE next he'll have the submission draft off to Baen for the copy-editors to mangle... I mean clean up...
Top

Return to War God