Lenard was treated well when he was a prisoner of the Dalesmen and he treats Dalesmen well when they are his prisoners. There is good reason for civilized conventions even in warfare. But Lenard's people do not accept parley. They killed a Dalesman who rode toward them with a white flag before a battle. Bad news.
Language outlives beliefs and world views. We say "Goodbye" which meant "God be with you." We are "bewildered," which meant "lost in the wilderness," even when living in cities. Carl, now believing only in "the great God," still thinks, "...by all the gods..." (p. 116)
The Lann have been prevented from using the knowledge in the time vault. Thus, Carl does not have to face the dilemma of whether to work with the Lann against the obscurantists.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure it was quite accurate of Poul Anderson having the Lann kill a herald approaching them under a flag of truce. Most barbarians in our real history usually did understand and accept the value of truce signs, of sending and receiving ambassadors, and accepting that their persons should be treated as sacred and not to be harmed, etc.
After all, the Lann were OUR kind of humans, not the alien hominids we see in THE WINTER OF THE WORLD, who had no real understanding of things like the laws and customs of war and diplomacy. The Rogaviki were guilty of such things as murdering prisoners and heralds. Not from malice, per se, but from sheer inability to undestand the laws of war and diplomacy.
Sean
Post a Comment