The Sorcerer's House Questions (Major Spoilers)

Thomas Bitterman · 29 Mar 2010, 23:08 · from 2010-March.txt.gz

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From: tom at bitterman.net (Thomas Bitterman)
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:08:23 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Sorcerer's House Questions (*Major Spoilers*)
In-Reply-To: <4BB0ACB4.9090208 at gmail.com>
References: <37bfbeb61003270821p3add8a5ew581ecec8bbe10f65 at mail.gmail.com>
	<4BB0ACB4.9090208 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <e11bddb61003291608k6eed67afradcf691cc7efebf at mail.gmail.com>

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 9:35 AM, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com> wrote:

> I agree that making the compiler Bax, so that all the supporting evidence
> can be lies (the storage cabinet and the description of the Japanese sword
> by Mrs. Dunn that is good enough for an expert, for example) is cheating,
> taking away the suspension of disbelief to an extreme extent. Push this too
> far, and you arrive at the true but uninteresting conclusion that this is a
> work of fiction and none of the characters are real.
>

Then it should not be pushed too far.

> The independent evidence of the letters from others, especially the
> challenge letter by George on pp. 261-262, shows that what Bax says about
> the supernatural world is essentially true. Is that letter supposedly forged
> by Bax?
>

It is a strange letter.  At the time it was written (which is a bit hazy),
George is
apparently lost in the house.  Why would he write a letter from inside the
house?
How would it get delivered?  Why not just talk to Bax directly, especially
when
George is planning a duel (certainly illegal, and likely to void any will)?
Why duel
instead of just killing Bax and, as the sole surviving relative, inherit the
place
outright?

So either George is wandering lost in the house and writing letters that go
against
his own interests, or is wandering around town frantically looking for Bax
when he
knows exactly where Bax lives.  Or Bax wrote it to make George look bad.

One question for me is the identity of the "wonderful girl who really knows
> her way around that place."  I suspect it is Doris, who might have thought
> George was the winning side. She does know more of the supernatural than
> first appears, given her connection to her ghost-husband Ted. It could
> possibly be Lupine, but it's doubtful because she's all about Emlyn.

I'll admit to liking this theory, even if it is (somewhat) inconsistent with
my own.
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