Whatever happened to...

So, in the first book, there's a great little scene where Merlin saves a boat full of kids from an attack by 3 kraken. The point of the scene is to establish Merlin's abilities, and ratchet up the tension in his relationship with Cayleb. But I've always wondered, what happened to those children afterwards?

It's several years, the war has been going on for a long time now. The older kids in the boat could be soldiers or sailors or clergy or working the manufactories. Heck, the younger kids in the boat could be cabin boys, or they could have worked the factories before the child labor laws took effect.

What sort of effect on a growing personality would a rescue like they experienced have? And they don't live in a vacuum - how did the rescue change how the kids were treated by their parents, their community?

It's always seemed a loose thread to me. It would be lovely to see that thread be picked up again later in the series.

NinaKatarina wrote:So, in the first book, there's a great little scene where Merlin saves a boat full of kids from an attack by 3 kraken. The point of the scene is to establish Merlin's abilities, and ratchet up the tension in his relationship with Cayleb. But I've always wondered, what happened to those children afterwards?

It's several years, the war has been going on for a long time now. The older kids in the boat could be soldiers or sailors or clergy or working the manufactories. Heck, the younger kids in the boat could be cabin boys, or they could have worked the factories before the child labor laws took effect.

What sort of effect on a growing personality would a rescue like they experienced have? And they don't live in a vacuum - how did the rescue change how the kids were treated by their parents, their community?

It's always seemed a loose thread to me. It would be lovely to see that thread be picked up again later in the series.

Oh, nice one! I hadn't thought about those kids for a long time. You're right, it would be interesting to see one of them pop up again.

SWM wrote:

NinaKatarina wrote:So, in the first book, there's a great little scene where Merlin saves a boat full of kids from an attack by 3 kraken. The point of the scene is to establish Merlin's abilities, and ratchet up the tension in his relationship with Cayleb. But I've always wondered, what happened to those children afterwards?

It's several years, the war has been going on for a long time now. The older kids in the boat could be soldiers or sailors or clergy or working the manufactories. Heck, the younger kids in the boat could be cabin boys, or they could have worked the factories before the child labor laws took effect.

What sort of effect on a growing personality would a rescue like they experienced have? And they don't live in a vacuum - how did the rescue change how the kids were treated by their parents, their community?

It's always seemed a loose thread to me. It would be lovely to see that thread be picked up again later in the series.

Oh, nice one! I hadn't thought about those kids for a long time. You're right, it would be interesting to see one of them pop up again.

As immediate witnesses to the demonic nature of the 'seijin' Merlin, they were eager Rakurai recruits - and among the youngest and least suspicious - for Rayno, and blew themselves and many innocent people to bits out of misguided zeal.

Yes, that's totally made up. But sometimes, things just end up badly.

Well, it's kind of early for snippet withdrawal syndrom...
I don't think that whatever happened to them would matter for the progress of the story.

It's always seemed a loose thread to me. It would be lovely to see that thread be picked up again later in the series.

Clearly those children should be dead. It would indeed be lovely- to use your term- to see what did happen to them. Wonderful things I'd hope.

anwi wrote:Well, it's kind of early for snippet withdrawal syndrom...
I don't think that whatever happened to them would matter for the progress of the story.

Probably not, but you never know. One of them might be a midshipman in the ICN and we know just how influential a midshipman can turn out to be.

And even if they make no directly significant difference in the overall conflict with the Church, a meeting with one of the kids, now living a good life, could cheer up Merlin during one of our favorite PICA's gloomy periods. It's the little differences one makes that often speak the loudest.

anwi wrote:Well, it's kind of early for snippet withdrawal syndrom...
I don't think that whatever happened to them would matter for the progress of the story.

It's never too early for that.

Keith_w wrote:

anwi wrote:Well, it's kind of early for snippet withdrawal syndrom...
I don't think that whatever happened to them would matter for the progress of the story.

It's never too early for that.

Well its only been 7 days, and he said it was probably going to be 10 or so days between snippets. Of course, with the exception of the Christmas present (only three days from the previous one), the shortest gap was 7 days (between 1 and 2 - the longest was 19 days between 10 and 11, caused by the Europe trip. The last three have been 13, 14, and 15 days respectively, and I would expect that to be the new trend. in fact the last six gaps have been in order, 10, 11, 3, 13, 14, 15. If you believe that the 3 was due to a Christmas spirit of generosity, and that it should have been 12, then there is a definite and disturbing (from the SDS point of view) trend. Of course, if Sharon is not better, then all bets ar eoff, and hopefully, RFC will ignore all of the sniveling about SDS to deal with a much more serious malady.

Mendicant wrote:Probably not, but you never know. One of them might be a midshipman in the ICN and we know just how influential a midshipman can turn out to be.

And even if they make no directly significant difference in the overall conflict with the Church, a meeting with one of the kids, now living a good life, could cheer up Merlin during one of our favorite PICA's gloomy periods. It's the little differences one makes that often speak the loudest.

Well, yes. But they were two boys down, probably the elder ones. With seven years passed, it might be enough for a boy to reach midshipman level. But then, you'd probably meet him in the story only if he'd e.g. be up to catching the bullet destined for Cayleb. Makes for better storytelling, I guess. As for the girls, prospects might be a bit better; they could turn up in the factories, either as apprentice supervisors or getting caught in transmission belts.
So, in the interest of these boys and girls, it's probably better if they don't get a name and reappear...
And yes, it's snippet withdrawal time.

Hi Anwi,

I think its only been about six years since the incident, so the young children are still too young to be working in factories or having any kind of career save as midshipmen, but IIRC, only the oldest boy survived, and he seemed more than 10-11 years old then.

Regardless, cheering up Merlin is worthwhile anytime and by any means.

L

anwi wrote:

Mendicant wrote:Probably not, but you never know. One of them might be a midshipman in the ICN and we know just how influential a midshipman can turn out to be.

And even if they make no directly significant difference in the overall conflict with the Church, a meeting with one of the kids, now living a good life, could cheer up Merlin during one of our favorite PICA's gloomy periods. It's the little differences one makes that often speak the loudest.

Well, yes. But they were two boys down, probably the elder ones. With seven years passed, it might be enough for a boy to reach midshipman level. But then, you'd probably meet him in the story only if he'd e.g. be up to catching the bullet destined for Cayleb. Makes for better storytelling, I guess. As for the girls, prospects might be a bit better; they could turn up in the factories, either as apprentice supervisors or getting caught in transmission belts.
So, in the interest of these boys and girls, it's probably better if they don't get a name and reappear...
And yes, it's snippet withdrawal time.