This is the moment when Sir Roger most reminds me of Nicholas van Rijn:
"'We're a very peaceful race ourselves...' Sir Roger folded his hands and rolled his eyes upward. 'Indeed,' he said, 'one of our most basic commandments is, 'Thou shalt not kill.' Yet it seemed a greater sin, to let so cruel and dangerous a power as Wersgorixan continue to ravage helpless folk.'" (p. 111)
We recognize an act. Sir Roger appeals either to love of peace or to greed for plunder depending on his audience.
"Van Rijn admitted what [Chee Lan] had suspected, that Adzel had been recruited by a shameless appeal to his sense of duty."
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), I, p. 37.
Van Rijn knows how to motivate.
For van Rijn rolling his eyes piously upward, see T'Kelan Psychology.
For van Rijn crossing himself piously, see Souls And Piety.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Ha! That was an amusing bit you quoted from THE HIGH CRUSADE! What saves Sir Roger and Old Nick from accusations of hypocrisy was that, in their rough and ready ways, they were quite sincerely pious.
Sean
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