(ii) Some of SM Stirling's Rangers meet some of Tolkien's Elves in Poul Anderson's Old Phoenix and learn that life in Middle Earth is not what they think it is.
(iii) Now that Aycharaych no longer has any reason to work for Merseia, and assuming that he survived the bombardment of Chereion, could he and Flandry become friends like Elliot S. Maggins' Superman and Luthor (see here) or is there too much bad blood after Aycharaych's subversion of Flandry's son and Flandry's destruction of Aycharaych's home planet? I would not feel safe befriending Aycharaych until I was sure that he had recanted his past actions.
(iv) Get this: imagine confessing to a telepathic priest.
(v) Some readers are now saying that I can keep these ideas to myself.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Your point (i): the hideous timeline of Stirling's Domination of the Draka would DESERVE to be deleted by Manse Everard. I mean TRULY deleted, not merely made inaccessible by the Time Patrol. Altho I hesitate at thus eliminating, snuffing out, untold billions of lives.
Your point (ii): I'm already convinced life could be as hard and risky in Tolkien's Middle Earth as on our Earth! For example, THE SILMARILLION shows how some of the Elves could be cruel, ruthless, amoral, treacherous. The Elves as we see them in THE HOBBIT AND LOTR were as they became after sorrow and suffering had purged and refined them.
Your point (iii): I would agree with you in being very wary of being friendly to Aycharaych, unless we were convinced of his repentance.
Your point (iv): an intriguing notion, if the Chereionites were NOT extinct, I can imagine some of them converting to Christianity, with some becoming priests.
Point (v): but I appreciate your notes and blog pieces, even if I don't always agree with them. It's so GRATIFYING to know a person who is so zealous a fan of Poul Anderson as you are!
Sean
Paul and Sean:
Suggestion (i) inspired a delicious "evil-vs.-evil" plotline in my nasty little mind:
Suppose it's not Manse Everard but Merau Varagan, especially accompanied by some of his kin, who stumbles upon the Draka? This would, of course, only be fun for readers if Exaltationists and Draka CAN'T bring themselves to join forces. Well, any readers I want to KNOW, anyway....
Kaor, David!
An amusing, if some what alarming concept, the Draka and Exaltationists allying. But COULD they? Even the Draka might balk a bit at the Exaltationists because the latter were pure nihilists caring for nothing except what they happened to be doing at the moment. They wanted to treat the entire cosmos like play dough, molding, remolding, reshaping, etc., as the fancy and whim took them. The Draka did believe in some kid of order and stability. Even tho expressed in revolting forms.
Sean
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