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.
3 comments:
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
The barbarians might respect a herald, but there are historical tales of civilized states killing heralds bringing demands to surrender that the leaders of the state considered too outrageous.
E.g.: some Greek city states response to Xerxes demands, or some of the states Genghis Khan destroyed in response to such a rejection of a demand.
Kaor, Jim!
I agree, both civilized states and barbarians have not always treated ambassadors and heralds with respect.
I'm reminded of how, when the Spartans murdered the heralds of Xerxes, omens they believed were from their gods convinced them the Olympians were enraged at their violation of the laws and customs of war. So the Spartans sent two or three high ranking aristocrats who volunteered, as heralds to be punished by the Persians any way they wished in atonement. The historian Herodotus wrote with admiration how King Xerxes refused to treat the Spartans as they had done his heralds. The king feasted them royally and sent them back home unharmed.
Ad astra! Sean
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