Conscious Instruments

Contending powers use conscious beings as instruments:

SMERSH sends Tatiana Romanova to entice James Bond;
the Alori send Ilaloa to entice Peregrine Thorkild Sean.

(We would say "Sean Thorkild of the Peregrine.")

Both change sides, which was always a risk for their controllers. Tatiana is one of the Bond heroines who disappears from sight as soon as her particular episode is completed whereas we do know what becomes of Ilaloa, caught in an unresolvable conflict. She helps the Nomads to escape from an Alorian planet, then jumps from the ascending space boat.

It is a remarkable achievement to create a fictional series with characters and settings recognized and valued by readers. I say this because I have just bought a new Inspector Montalbano novel with the routine opening of Salvo waking in his apartment. But, of course, the first two detective series were Dupin and Holmes. Poul Anderson, with his many fictional series, was a major successor of Conan Doyle.