Acts/ Dictates/ Mandates/ Mantle - Amy's Thread (Page 66 of 77)

Kha might not DESERVE Horse's loyalty (which is very rare among horses) and he may not know what to do with it ... but it comes at a critical moment.  If Horse dies, Kha should feel it in spite of himself, if only for helping him save Sil--or, if she will survive death, his own life in which he may enjoy Sil.  (This may provide some of the changes in Kha that spook Anver.  Kat might understand better.)  And Sil might have something to tell Kha about gratitude to Horse.  It might even echo what Airen--and even Marion--tell Kha.

What would Airen be like mimicking her mother?  How would she react afterwords?

You're not wrong, but I think there's more to it than that.  Unfortuneately, I need sleep right now.  Two Q's to start: what are Anver's flaws? How has resurrecton changed Jaylene?

what are Anver's flaws?
Anver had no standout flaws that I recall

Meh. Anver doesn't need flaws to keep himself interesting because he's surrounded on all sides by enemies & strife. Basic Rocky / K1mberly formula - Keep the MC's back to the wall. Make sure he's fighting desperately against overwhelming odds with zero chance of success and knows at best he might pick up his own broken pieces from the field. He wins by thinking outside the box - or by daring what little he has left... or by sheer determination. This kind of hero need no extra rendering.

Anver has flaws.  He doesn't want Kha's job.  He doesn't want more power.  He's stuck with a staff with a mind of it's own.  And he's vulnerable to Katerine.

That's not a flaw.  That's an obstacle.   A flaw leads to misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or wrong decision.

The Greeks showed us that the best flaws are strengths in the wrong place and time or out of proportion.

Jaylene is a Cold War leader.   Now open war looms.

Her handling of Tazar's imprisonment involves all the right choices.  Maybe she should make a mistake, corrected by someone else?  Maybe her mistake drives her final desperation in the prison?

Ramifications from Sulder's death may include anger and doubt, exposing character issues and creating doubt.

This is why I think letting Anver know about how Alina killed his friend before he commits to the duel is a mistake.  It's too much outer reason and not enough Anver

... Egads! I'm in agreement with njc. Note if Amy will agree the universe could cease to exist

It's been too long since I read Acts. Why did Anver agree to the duel? He's not really the dueling type.

In Acts, Anver agreed to the duel because she challenged him. (She initially tried to challenge Kha, but that was blocked by the Guildhouse vow, so she went after Anver so she could hurt Kha. Anver agreed because of the murdered twin, and because he realized that Alina had taken his friend's hair as a trophy and was weaving it into her own hair to taunt him.)

Anver's flaws:
Inexperience
Too nice in a world that rewards cruelty
An obsession for knowledge, no matter what the cost. He reads books on necromancy even though the text makes him nauseous.  He ignores riches but saves books. He could have used Kha's seal to withdraw the money in the account and lived off the profit as a rich man. Instead, he stayed at the school and did the work of two for a pittance.
Loyalty to Kha despite poor treatment.
Doesn't know when to draw the line and say, "No."

I don't need to add flaws to Anver. He has so much happening around him, that I need a 'straight man' to deal with the craziness. I think that the combination works in that book. When I rewrite Acts, I'm going to have much more Alina added so that the villain will be clear.

However, adding a flaw to Jaylene...that is an interesting thought. Some sort of disadvantage. Like maybe she needs to be near Alda to rejuvenate otherwise she will start to decay? Or she becomes terribly afraid of heights (it would complicate the prison rescue as well as the sandtrap). Or she feels that she should have died and is constantly fighting the urge to finish the deed for once and for all. Or she is able to see her ghosts, just as Kha did in the first chapter of Mandates. If she started talking to herself, that would mess with the trust level of her troops. The problem I have is that I need a 'straight man' again as a foil for Alda's shenanigans (NJC and I agreed a while ago that Tazar/Jaylene/ Alda interact like the Three Stooges)

I like the thought of the ressurection changing Jaylene. Got to think about it.

Have I ever said that I think you guys are amazing?  Well, I do.

FYI, I'm embroiled in finishing a Powerpoint presentation. I give the talk this coming Thursday, and I'm hoping to be a more frequent presence on the website after that. So far, I've put about 15 hours into it. (How to read CT Scans).  Figure there is about another 10 hours and I should be done.

Thanks for keeping my plot in your thoughts. I'll see if I can return the favor (the Plot Wrecker Flies Again!)

But it's not a flaw; it's an obstacle.

Look at the flaws you've listed for Anver.  How could Jaylene fall into that sort of flaw, either by deficiency or excess?  Does her devotion to Tazar almost get someone killed?  Require apologies to the Great Houses?  Cause her to miss something important developing at the Temple?

BTW, Anver putting his studies ahead of stolen wealth might not be a flaw  .

A Horror is piece of the Defiler, and a remnant of the Sundering (where the Defiler got blowed apart.)

It is considered to be a courtesy to have clips on all the chairs at the Academy. They are everywhere else, but not at Alina's school, because she wants to inconvenience anyone who doesn't have a wand.

Katerin would add the clips once the absence was pointed out to her. She doesn't use them, so never noticed the deficit before.

What chapter are you asking about? Because I'm not sure with the mention of Saundon and what magic will become...are we talking about my rewrite of Acts where I'm adding more about the twins?

Will there be magic when this is all done? Not sure, though I find that unlikely. I like magic, so it hasn't become a finite resource during this age. I'd like a HEA option to my main characters.

Happy Ever After, distinct from HFN.