Timewaster's Guide Archive

I don't see what you mean by Vivenna lacking purpose; it is basically all there has been to her the entire book.  First she is being prepared to become the God King's wife, then she is going to attempt to cripple Hallandren, but she does not have much personality.  I liked the scenes where she was escaping Vasher and Denth quite a bit, and it seems to me that her character is good for action but not for personality, if you know what I mean.

She has been spending her entire time in T'Telir 'standing up and doing something about it.'  Again, 'do' seems to be the only thing she does since leaving Idris, more machinery than actual personality.

I don't think Vivenna has been that pathetic for most of the book, only the last bit.  She was trying quite hard to hamper Hallandren's armies (even if she was being manipulated by Denth) and was plainly not 'just accepting everything'.  It is only the last bit where she was brought low, I think because she was supposed to learn that not everything was perfectly black and white.  Brandon merely got rather over-zealous with that bit.

I also don't think she is supposed to be a likable character; she is shown as being rather prissy and self-righteous, then learns that she was wrong.

In regards to the many complaints about the term 'BioCroma':

I think it is supposed to sound more advanced.  I get the idea that in Hallandren society, there is a lot of research into BioCroma (comments about 'modern commands' and Hallandren being 'the center of BioCromatic research' come to mind) but otherwise they haven't really advanced beyond the middle ages;  it would make sense because those with the leisure and wealth to conduct research would also have Breaths, and be able to extend their powers by researching that field.  BioCroma looks anachronistic because it is so far ahead of everything else.

About Vivenna's education:

Many seem to be surprised that the perfect little child who grew up in a near theocracy (religion controls seemingly every action in Idris, from how you dress to when you're allowed to have emotions) would have difficulty adjusting to a 'heretical' society.  Her tutors very likely were monks, as (at least in our middle ages) monks were responsible for much of the teaching and learning.

She would have been prepared to marry Susebron and deal with political maneuvering, but that does not quite cover organizing terrorist attacks (and these WERE terrorist; Denth organized them to spread fear and incite a war), surviving on the streets (why would the future queen of Hallandren ever need to know what to do when she had nothing?).  Denth and Tonk Fah are both extremely skilled and experienced professionals, and should easily be able to manipulate a complete stranger to T'Telir.

Though I will say that the thing with the prostitutes was laying it on a bit thick...

Regarding Vasher:

Of course we all want him to be a good guy!  People are naturally inclined to hope for the best in others, even if they don't expect it.  That is a lot of how Denth and Tonk Fah were able to take in Vivenna (as well as all us readers, I might add).  Still, we can say that Vasher is no friend of Denth, or of scheming priests; that definitely speaks for him not being a completely rotten apple.  Good thing is, we're sure to be seeing more of him now.

Official predictions of Master Bombadil (for what they're worth):

Vasher teaches Vivenna to use her Breaths.

At least one of Siri's political maneuverings will blow up in her face.

Lightsong, Blushweaver and Llahrimar enter the tunnels together, when they finally do.

Lightsong dies.

I don't think it's OOC for Lightsong to stop pestering Llahrimar about his past.  He's distracted by his investigation of the murder and realizes that pestering Llahrimar will not help uncover his past; the main reason he asked about his past before was because he wanted to complain about not knowing.  Now he is discovering some things on his own and is excited about his investigation.

As for Blushweaver...SOMETHING has to be going on with her, otherwise Brandon has wasted a lot of pages.  I'm fairly sure she was lying when she claimed that she refused the tunnel connection to her palace because she didn't want noise; she may have had the connection built, but I think it's more likely she refused out of paranoia.  She also may have had something to do with following Vasher, but I doubt she did it herself, because it just doesn't seem in character for her to do it herself, not to mention how conspicuous her aura would be.  She'd kill herself if she tried to hide it in something.

Now, here's another possibility: what if the person who killed the servant was a priest who left the tunnel after Vasher entered, and killed the servant because he was seen.  I know it's a little far-fetched, but...I don't like priests much.  How loyal are they to their gods, anyway?  It seems they are religiously devoted, even if they are plotting against their own gods.