On rereading a series, we appreciate our rediscovery of the earliest mention of a character who will be important later.
Hauksberg and his wife:
"'You know I still hunt women. Preferably beautiful women, such as you.'
"'Or Persis d'Io.'" (p. 6)
Persis d'Io! She will be the heroine of this novel and, several volumes later, we will learn that she has become the mother of Dominic Flandry's son, Dominic Hazeltine, who will work for Aycharaych and against the Terran Empire during the Dennitzan crisis. Names to conjure with!
Poul Anderson knew no more of Dominic Hazeltine when he wrote Ensign Flandry than did his readers. Series, and particularly future history series, grow organically and unpredictably like real history.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I have been wondering if Persis was of Persian/Iranian/Parsee origins. And, after leaving Lord Hauksberg, she settled on Sassania, which I thought an evocative name. The Sassanian Dynasty of Shahs were the non-Muslim rulers of Iran before the Arab conquest. That caused me to wonder if Sassania had been colonized by non-Muslims/ex-Muslims of Persian origins.* And, centuries later, during the Long Night after the Empire fell, Sassania plays a role in "A Tragedy of Errors."
Ad astra! Sean
*If so, these colonists could have been harking back to the pre-Islamic past of Iran, and wanted to found a Persian society which had not become Muslim.
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