Carl is surprisingly free to make a lot of impact on the fourth century.
(i) He never filed an account of his relationship with Jorith, believing that it was personal. Thus, it only came out in the enquiry. (p. 385)
(ii) He intervened in a war since it affected his mission and the outcome of the war was not recorded. (p. 386)
(iii) He gave the Goths presents which will rot, rust or be lost. (p. 387) (A lost artifact still exists, to be found later.)
(iv) He told them stories but claims that these will be forgotten and will not affect the material that he has gone there/then to study.
(v) He himself reappears for generations and is identified with an established god. He thinks that it does not matter that some of the stories about this god turn out to have been based on real events, his own visits. Nevertheless, Manse discovers that one of the key stories is directly based on action that Carl has yet to perform.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
These comments of yours makes me wonder if you discovered possible flaws in "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth." After all, we read elsewhere that Time Patrol agents are commanded to be as unobtrusive as possible in the eras they work in. But your list of Carl's activities shows him acting very freely indeed! I would have expected Carl to have been "reined in" far sooner than actually happened in the story.
Sean
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