When other characters help Flandry, we need to know that their motivation is plausible and he needs to know what their motivation is for practical reasons. Can he continue to rely on them? Can he and they cooperate? Are their aims the same as his? Etc.
The question that he asks Luang is why she decided to rescue him. A related question that he does not ask explicitly is whether she has been won over to the cause of saving Unan Besar from the grip of Biocontrol. She does answer that second question:
"'Not for any of your damned causes!' she snarled. 'I don't care about a hundred million clods, any more than I ever did.'" (p. 119)
She is only opposing Biocontrol at the behest of the Ranauns. She continues:
"'It was only...to rescue you, we must have help in Ranau, and those oafs would only help as part of a plot to overthrow Biocontrol. That's all!'" (ibid.)
So she is opposing Biocontrol because that became necessary in order to rescue Flandry but she still has not said why she wanted to rescue Flandry. It seems that her reason is personal and that she is unable to articulate it. Finally, this seems plausible. Plot-wise, we would have been unable to accept any implausible reason for Flandry's rescue.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I say yes to what you said about characters and real people needing understandable and plausible motives for what they do. Yes, Luang did not much care about Biocontrol, however oppressive it was. Someone as smart and tough as her got by well enough. Yes, it's plain, however reluctantly on her part, that Luang was attracted to Flandry.
Ad astra! Sean
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