How Rochefort Sees Holm

Poul Anderson clearly approves of the massive Avalonian defense operation masterminded and coordinated by Marchwardens Ferune of Mistwood and Daniel Holm in The People Of The Wind. And, as he is the omnipotent creator of both the Domain of Ythri and the Terran Empire, Anderson is able to ensure that the scale of the Terran attack is vast enough to warrant all that public expenditure on defensive measures.

However, Anderson also knows how to write a novel that expresses the complexities of political conflicts. Not everyone sees the issues the same way. If they did, then there would be no drive towards war in the first place. Philippe Rochefort, a young Terran Imperial officer, is bound to judge Avalonian intransigence from an antagonistic perspective:

"'...old Holm...and a few other old men and Ythrians, who don't care how many young die, as long as they're spared confessing their own stupid, senile willfulness -'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 603.

That almost hurts and is all too plausible! We have empathized with Holm and his cohorts so far and have not had too much trouble disagreeing with the dithering Avalonian Parliamentary President Vickery but here is Rochefort, a thoroughly good guy, an officer and a gentleman, starting a relationship with Tabitha Falkayn, wanting to move to Avalon after the war whatever the outcome, and he sees Daniel Holm as stupid and senile! Well, Holm Senior is intelligent, not stupid, but he is older... Might he be set in his ways, stubborn and intransigent?

These are the historical judgments that would have been made if the desperate strategy of luring the Terrans into a trap on the Avalonian surface had not paid off.