Bloodsport

James Wynn · 26 May 2011, 22:43 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 17:43:16 -0500
Subject: (urth) Bloodsport
In-Reply-To: <69872.764cf964.3b101ed1 at aol.com>
References: <69872.764cf964.3b101ed1 at aol.com>
Message-ID: <4DDED784.9090304 at gmail.com>


> SPOILERS
>
> * Is there significance to the names of the main characters, Valorius 
> the Knight (surely connected to "valor") and Lurn the pawn (surely an 
> allusion to Lune, the moon)?

Valorius is fine name for a knight. I can't find any likely reference to 
"lurn" in any language. It bothers me.


> She reminds V, at one point, of "the maid no man has bussed," which is 
> probably Diana, right?

I think we're talking about Persephone (the Maiden). But it is possible 
that he is talking about Caissa the dryad who is the muse of Chess.

> * What is the game they're playing early in the story?  It sounds like 
> chess with human pieces, but the names of the pieces aren't all the 
> same as in our game of chess.  We don't have bowmen or slingers, etc.  
> Is that difference significant?

The game, I think, is _like_ chess, but not exactly like chess. It has 
certain variations such that an attacker does not always win.  In some 
countries, the bishop was an archer.

> In the larger game that they're playing, Lurn makes it to the far side 
> of the board, as it were, and becomes a queen, which is what happens 
> in chess. At the same time, however, Valorius makes it to the far side 
> of the board, as it were, and he becomes able to defeat Lurn, which 
> suggests that he has become a king, which is what happens in checkers.

No. Any queen can be taken by a knight or anything else.

> * When V meets Lurn again, immediately after this dream, he is 
> initially afraid that she will want to engage in combat (p. 84).  
> Doing so, he says, "would be but folly *as the world stands today*" 
> (p. 84).  At first read, that could be taken this way: "We're both 
> trying to escape from the Hunas, so it would be foolish for us to 
> fight each other."

I take it to mean, "The is no game. So there is no benefit in us fighting."
It is possible that you are over-thinking the phrase "as the world 
stands today".

But I think you are right. Valorius and Lurn live on the moon of another 
planet. For them, the planet is their 'moon'.

> Is that what has happened at the end of the story?  Or is Lurn 
> mistaken (or deliberately trying to keep V from killing her)?

See my comment to Marc regarding this.

> * Okay, the last paragraph, with its Christ-like allusions, I'm not 
> sure about.  V has inherited the kingdom, presumably, but at this 
> point, there's still a lot of darkness, there are tyrants, etc.  But 
> not forever.

Again, I think he endeavors to put an end to tyrants.


> That much I understand.  But what do the various elements of this 
> paragraph mean?
> - "Should our folk require a sword, I am the sword that springs to 
> their hands"
> - "Asked to heal, I cure their sick -- when I can": He isn't Christ, 
> but he is a Christian figure.
> - "If they bring food, I eat it.  If they do not, I fast or find my 
> own": An allusion to Jesus' instruction to his disciples when he sent 
> them out to make their living from preaching the gospel?

As I see it, he is the ideal of the knight errant. He serves but does 
not demand service.

I'll think about the rest of your questions.

J.
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