TBird50 wrote:n7axw wrote:I don't believe that Sharley's rescue was botched or even that significant mistakes were made.
However it is also true that Merlin's role develops as the story progresses. I think the rescue was the first time Merlin was involved in what might be described as covert ops. It's certainly not unreasonable the role grows more sophisticated as time goes on.
However as a believer in Occum's razor (the kiss principle), I also think that one reason that things played out as they did was to give Merlin a plausible reason for spilling the truth to Sharleyan which he was wanting to do anyway.
Don
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Well, maybe the rescue itself wasn't botched, but the situation was nearly an un-mitigated disaster. Sharleyan & Seahamper were the only two survivors, and Tayso & Raiyz were killed inside the guest house with her, so it could easily have been her killed instead of them. I totally agree that Merlin used the situation to tell Sharleyan the truth, but I don't think he would have wanted to do it that way. For one thing, Seahamper would have to be told too; so that doubled the risk. I think he wasn't too worried about Sharleyan, but I don't think he would have thought that telling Seahamper would be an optimal outcome.
I find it quite refreshing (if that's the right word) that Merlin isn't immune to making mistakes and mis-judgements. It makes him more human IMO. It's also fun to see him develop strategies, tactics and alternatives as Jeff discussed just above.
I keep saying I'm done, but I find this section of the story so fascinating that it's hard to quit.
While the rescue wasn't botched, the whole thing could have been handled with less loss of life had Merlin gotten on top of the situation sooner, perhaps by nipping the plot in the bud before the attack.
However, at that point, he was the only one keeping track of the snarcs and the task had snowballed to the point where he wasn't keeping up with it. What happened at St Agathas led to broadening the inner circle and getting some help so that the snarcs could be more effectively monitored.
Don
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