The Sorcerer's House Questions (Major Spoilers)

Mr Thalassocrat · 23 Mar 2010, 20:31 · from 2010-March.txt.gz

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From: thalassocrat08 at gmail.com (Mr Thalassocrat)
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:01:22 +1030
Subject: (urth) The Sorcerer's House Questions (*Major Spoilers*)
In-Reply-To: <cbf55b101003230601q4e16f289qbd590f7295bd9db7 at mail.gmail.com>
References: <44fb53d11003191442y48191c3ataaac84d798b8b983 at mail.gmail.com>
	<b12d82081003222138q4670afa3m4f2b34e187c18198 at mail.gmail.com>
	<cbf55b101003230601q4e16f289qbd590f7295bd9db7 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <b12d82081003231331o2b7b812ft75ea33e771445c9c at mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 11:31 PM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:

>  On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 12:38 AM, Mr Thalassocrat
> <thalassocrat08 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 8:12 AM, Matthew Keeley <
> matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Just finished reading the new book; it seems a lot clearer than AEG,
> but,
> >> being Wolfe, there are quite a few unasked questions raised by my first
> >> reading. But first I should insert spoiler space, as I will be
> discussing
> >> the ending, etc.
> >> -
> >> -
> >> -
> >> -
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> >> -
> >> -
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> >> -
> >> -
> >> -
> >> -
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> >> -
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> >> -
> >> -
> >> (spoilers commence)
> >> <snippety>
> >
> >
> >>
> >> 3. I think we can all agree that George didn't really write the last
> >> letter and that Bax is going to take his place. Winker follows "George",
> for
> >> one thing. And "George" seems to know a lot about Victorian fiction, the
> >> subject of one of Bax's degrees. So why is the real George absent? Did
> Bax
> >> kill him? Or did George run off to faerie to try and take command, as he
> >> said he would do in an earlier letter?
> >
> >
> >
> > Maybe Bax's intention from the first was to lure George to Medicine Hat,
> > kill him & take over his non-ex-felon life (and money). Bax is a "revenge
> > served cold" sort of guy. He screwed George out of his share of the
> aunt's
> > inheritance because George hit him, back in the day. Later, George had
> him
> > imprisoned. Now Bax is aiming for bigger payback.
> >
> > In his first letter to his con-buddy he presents George as a possible
> source
> > of funds - that's what he sees in George; money. Bax is very interested
> in
> > money. He cultivates George's bubble-headed wife to ensure a smooth
> > transition. For 7 years he enjoys George's assets and wife (while still
> > having access to the face-fox's charms).
> >
> > After 7 years, "Bax" is legally dead & he can reclaim the house and bank
> > accounts via "Bax's" will. Perhaps George's wife's charms are fading.
> Time
> > to disappear, go back to the house and start a life in Faery ...
>
> Re-reading it, the last letter becomes ever more obvious: the style is
> like Bax, the few hours in faerie he mentions is like Bax, the signoff
> is like Bax, the sudden turn-around in affections is like Bax, the
> proposed trip to just Greece is like Bax (and in the vein of his
> second PhD, like the readings at the library are in the vein of the
> first). Wolfe has really made this replacement easy to identify.
>
> However, I don't think Bax planned the duel from the start. He
> originally just wants money from George, with no mention of George
> coming over and doing something bizarre like signing his will over to
> Bax. George is not yet angry enough, until the butler and trial, to
> want to kill Bax - suffering as a poor ex-con is enough for him.
> Without Faerie, Bax has no plausible explanation for Millie of where
> George went. And so on. The replacement only works after a great deal
> has happened.


But it's Bax who makes a will in favour of George, and Bax who "disappears".
Everything about the replacement is under Bax's control, really, if he can
get George to come to him, set George up to be killed, dispose of the body &
get Millie to accept him (Bax) as "George". Faerie isn't an essential
element for this scheme.
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