This is the May 2015 Open Thread for Merlinscribe.

[merlinscribe]

An open thread where people can ask questions and make comments. Now appearing quarterly for your record-keeping pleasure. It will run until I start a new one.

Comments

Re: Questions

[(Anonymous)]

To anon: I'll let Mr Mallory answer your questions, but a couple notes on High King: it appears that the titles in elvish are gender independent (except Ladyholder/Prince Consort ), but also that the commonfolk of the elves call her Great Queen in the outtake - so it may have been time distortion. Since there are far more commonfolk/landbonds, the dominant narrative could have become the Great Queen one. One thing I've found wonderful with this series and even with the Phoenix trilogy is that the authors account for the distortion of history with the passage of time. And a LOT of time has passed. Maybe someday she'll become Vielessar the Great. She certainly had a reign that deserves that title. (And Good Queen Pelashia since her reign allegedly was peaceful?)

But the more likely explanation that stuck in my mind is that the King of the Elves in the Obsidian trilogy and the Phoenix trilogy is Caerthalien. This implies that when if/when Vielle marries/takes her consort, she *co-rules* with Rune* (and he's her only equal in the tactical-political arena), OR far less likely, passes the title on to her life bonded mate OR that there is never a marriage and Rune (or his issue) is her Heir. Least likely of all, OR it's politically expedient to acknowledge the rulership/dominance at least one of the 4 great houses because Farcarinon is gone (though I would suspect not, because she appears to be conflicted about showing Caerthalion 'favor' despite the fact that it's made abundantly clear that no one can help or change the bond). Any of these answers would spoiler Blade/Book III.

It is clear that the line of elven kings is Caethalien's, and possibly hers. In which case, if you were explaining stuff in English as opposed to Elvish to a species (human) severely lacking in patience, you may be tempted to use the gender-appropriate translated term for the Monarch rather than the technically correct transliteration of a female High King. I suspect they kept War Prince Vielssar and High King Vielessar because I couldn't think of a single term for Ruler that actually sounded both gender appropriate and impressive. And the elvish gender independent inheritance laws (hmm, not primogeniture- last born has to have a different term, ya?) has been a feature of their society throughout. Certainly they dropped the lords part of the lords komen, and THAT in turn may be in line with the Great Equalization movement. So maybe a different kind of distortion?

The resolution of the Vielle/Rune* relationship, the acquisition and formation of the unicorn knights (presumably in time for the first war), the treaty with the other creatures of the light and the fact that she goes and wakes the dragons armed only with her power, her wits and her love, which could be three people: herself (or iardaliath), thurion, and runacalendalur [AND not to mention that the soul bond of the elves sounds suspiciously similar to the dragonbond] are three of the highlights I'm waiting to read about. So much tension! anticipation!

Anyway, if it wouldn't spoiler Blade or later, I would like to know the answers to your questions too. Especially with the maps. I tried to overwrite some of the geographical information from the other two series on the map we got with this book, and I *think* I'm able to map the journey but I also think there's a good chance that the geography has changed quite a bit. Over 15K years, some mountain ranges would be worn down, others will spring up, and clearly the north iced over between now and then to a greater extent. So yeah.

If it wouldn't take away time from writing to answer these questions that my anonymous friend posted, I would love to know the answers too. But I'm willing to wait until the books to find out some of those answers :)

Mr Mallory: congratulations on writing such a vivid, gripping, powerful tale. I have not had the best experience with expansions of existing series, and so far this Vielle's series has been better than the original.

In addition to question 4., I would like to know if Time-of-Three-Become-One elves also have the youngest, rather than the eldest, inherit?

- Nineran