Honor

transentient · 01 Dec 2005, 03:53 · from 2005-November.txt.gz

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From: transentient at gmail.com (transentient)
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:53:26 -0500
Subject: (urth) Honor
In-Reply-To: <000c01c5f61d$5cf5bc20$0301a8c0 at wdw.disney.com>
References: <BAY102-F35113EBF44E0A5BB18128A864A0 at phx.gbl>
	<000c01c5f61d$5cf5bc20$0301a8c0 at wdw.disney.com>
Message-ID: <0948E357-72E7-4E47-97B8-9953FBDDD727 at gmail.com>

>> But... the other passage you quoted [that he would make Pouk clean
>> his vomit and kill him if he didn't] really calls into question  
>> whether
>> that's what he really believed
>
> This struck me as an outburst made by an immature person to an  
> "employee"
> who he knows be a truely dependable friend. He's lashing out  
> because he's
> sick and embarrassed and he knows he can lash out like that because  
> the
> employee is a loyal friend. It's not right, but I know people who  
> never grow
> out of that behavior.
>
> Speaking of which, Pouk never seems to take Able's words to heart. He
> continuously affirms that he is willing to work for Able for  
> nothing. In
> fact, he only takes payment (when Able has it) as a token of his  
> employment.
>
> It is interesting that you compare TWK to the Latro books. Pouk  
> seems to see
> something in Able that Able does not. That reminds me of the gods'  
> reaction
> to Latro.

The passage about killing Pouk reminded me of Latro writing about -  
ack, lent my copy to my dad - "killing the man with the wooden leg."  
He said something like "I vow to kill him as soon as I get the  
chance" with a disturbing, casual bluntness. Latro, of course, was  
charmed by a sorcerer. Thinking about this passage in comparison to  
Latro brings to mind the fact that Able was under a geas also.  
Granted, by the end of _Wizard_ he has seen Disiri while wearing the  
helm and he knows she is just a bunch of mud and reeds, but that  
doesn't change his feelings for her, so we know he was honestly and  
willfully in love with her. (Which we know from the very beginning  
actually, since Parka says that is how it is going to be.)

But still, Able goes through the story with a clouded mind - he  
doesn't remember what happened to him in Aelfrice before he awoke in  
Parka's cave. He is an idiot-savant carrying a message from the Aelfs  
to the king of the "true" humans. And in the middle of the story, he  
spends 20 years with even more of his memory taken away.

When he first boards the _Western Trader_ he is a 6th grade kid who  
was suddenly put into an overgrown adult's body, seduced by a girl  
who had been his best friend for years of his life that been taken  
from him, then told he has a big and nebulous task he has to  
accomplish. Which is maybe a parable for adolescence in general, but  
I am not trying to argue that. What I am trying to say is that maybe  
Able's heroism is a journey and he had a rough start.

I mean, at the end, he breaks an oath to the Valfather and it seems  
to be for the right reasons. The Valfather seems to be, if not proud,  
at least accepting of him.

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