James Ching...
...is a student and is answerable to his principal counsellor, Simon Snyder. Ching has a girlfriend who has a father but Ching's main role as a first person narrator is to introduce the series character, Adzel.
David Falkayn...
...is an apprentice, answerable to Master Polesotechnician Martin Schuster, but also interacts with other human beings and with Ivanhoans.
Juan Hernandez...
...is an apprentice, answerable to Master Trader Thomas Overbeck, but also interacts with other human beings and with Ivanhoans.
Emil Dalmady...
...was a factor for Solar Spice & Liquors and is answerable to Nicolas van Rijn! Dalmady describes his interactions with colleagues and with two alien species.
At last we work our way towards the great van Rijn. Adzel, Falkayn and van Rijn are introduced independently but converge eventually.
In "The Master Key," as previously outlined, character interactions are more complicated:
the narrator
the narrator's friend
the friend's son
the son's ensign
the son's and ensign's employer, Nicholas van Rijn
other human beings and enigmatic aliens
We usually, although not always, see van Rijn as others see him.
9 comments:
We see van Rijn as others see him... and how others see him is generally a carefully crafted act on his part.
That is certainly true.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Correct. I think we only see how things appears to van Rijn only once in these stories, in "Margin of Profit.
Merry Chistmas! Sean
Van Rijn's boisterous, bumptious act isn't -entirely- an act... but he uses it to make people underestimate him. Which is something they later regret deeply.
Flandry does something similar with his "upper-class twit of the year" act, until it doesn't work any more because nobody will believe it. The Scothians fell for it hook line and sinker, though!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely, in both cases. That upper class idiot act didn't work for Flandry in "A Message in Secret" because Bourtai forced Flandry to reveal his lethally real abilities. And "Message" happens to be the funniest of the Flandry stories, btw.
Merry Christmas! Sean
I think "A Message in Secret" was also the most fun for Flandry of Flandry's adventures.
Tho' as he notes at one point, "adventure" mostly means discomfort and danger...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Truly? That seems a bit surprising, when you recall how cold Altai was. Flandry was no fan of needless discomfort!
Happy New Year! Sean
Yes, but Flandry felt really at ease as far as his own actions were concerned.
He was uncomfortable -- but at peace with himself.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
When you put it like that I have to agree. And one thing I recall was how Flandry felt regret for the guards he killed as he and Bourtai were escaping Oleg Khan's palace. It was necessary for Flandry to sometimes kill, but he did not like it.
Happy New Year! Sean
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