Dietrich:
plain of face;
middle-aged;
stout, becoming corpulent;
had worked with Flandry during the civil war.
Gerhart:
"imperially drunk" (A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, p. 264) with cronies;
sullen as usual.
Adjectival information is added at the end of the audience. Dietrich is dull and Gerhart is scheming whereas dead Otto would have been trustworthy.
When Gerhart is Emperor, he is suspected of having assassinated Dietrich and even Hans although the latter would have been too shrewd for that.
There is still more to post about Emperors but other activities call.
4 comments:
I think this is a replay of an episode in Roman history, which is unfortunate.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: It was Gerhart, not Dietrich who was suspected of murdering his brother and even his father.
Mr. Stirling: Too reminiscent of how the sons of the usurper Septimius Severus, Caracalla and Geta, quarreled so badly the former murdered the latter?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Yes, that's it. Patterns like that do recur, but it depends on precise personality types.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, it was at least possible Caracalla and Geta might not have quarreled so badly.
I was reminded of how it was the custom of the Ottoman sultans, down to about 1600, to murder all their brothers/half-brothers on becoming sultan.
Ad astra! Sean
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