Hell's Foundations Quiver Cover and Synopsis

That's not short hair, that's a pony tail. Hard to see because, unless you enlarge the cover and look closely, it does not show up well against her head.

Just read the so-called synopsis - not really a synopsis - very little real/new info - more like a book jacket flap teaser.
BTW - When did they change his name to Merlyn
Philip Stanley

http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1340975317l/13118201.jpg
The cover images are not of events that happen in the book

that _is_ a book-jacket flap teaser. that's all the stores get until the book is shipped. once upon a time, they got an actual copy of the cover, but that was back in the barbarian years of the 20th century.

and i think we can take the energy weapons with a block of salt - this is rather like the BHD cover that had people convinced that Merlin was pictured mounting a rescue of Gwyllym Manthyr.

Philip Stanley wrote:Just read the so-called synopsis - not really a synopsis - very little real/new info - more like a book jacket flap teaser.
BTW - When did they change his name to Merlyn
Philip Stanley

The back cover suggests some big things.

It’s been a long and bloody fight, but aided by a stream of inventions — breech-loading rifles, signal rockets, claymore mines, new approaches to manufacturing and supply — Charis and its few allies seem to have finally gained the upper hand. Now major realms have begun to consider switching sides.

To all these ends, Merlyn Athrawes has been everywhere, under multiple disguises and wielding hidden powers. The secret of who and what he is has been closely held. But a new player has arrived, one who knows many secrets — including Merlyn’s own.

The major realms would be harchong, desnair and dohlar as they were those most heavily aligned with the church. I serverly doubt that harchong would swith sides, but there will be trouble with them arming and training all those serfs to fight and then not letting them go home. Desnair has lost alot of people, so they could claim they are unable to provide any additional forces and have already paid a huge cost in the war. Dohlar is their real issue. They lost a huge armyy, at threat of invasion. They are going to really screw themselves with their own navy. this thing is if dohlar changes sides hw would the church get to them, dohlar has an epic navy, and they are too busy with the republic to get them by land.

The new player, while htat might be an enemy, say an awoken angels, but it could easily that high capable nun lady.

The history of covers over the course of the Safehold series has been rather hit or miss. For some reason, the skimmer appears on almost every cover, (except AMF and LaMA) and Merlin appears on every one of them except OAR, where he's presumably inside the skimmer.

The cover for HFQ clearly shows Nimue and Merlin on a ship, while the skimmer uses energy weapons on a nearby galleon. NOT GONNA HAPPEN! The discussion of using energy weapons has come up at least twice, first when discussing giving Gwylym Manthyr and his fellow Charisian POWS an easy death if they were taken to Zion by ship, where they would be tortured to death. The second was during the Great Canal Raid, when Merlin didn't want to murder the innocent crew of a semaphore tower and wished he could use the skimmer's energy weapons so he wouldn't have to get his hands bloody in person. In both cases he ruled out using them because of the danger of setting off the Rakurai.

In my opinion the artist should lose his artistic license for not depicting scenes true to the series! Sadly, I realize as RFC has stated that the purpose of cover art is to sell books, and fidelity to their contents isn't the artist's first priority.

So let's discuss the various covers and the errors of the art verses the text.

1. OAR - The skimmer flies over Tellesberg Palace during the day. This never happened, although it did fly to the Palace twice at night - once to pick up Merlin so he could find a nearby cave in which to hide it, and then to snatch him from his window via tractor beam and drop him on the roof of the Duke of Tirian's library to stop an assassination plot during a thunderstorm.

2. BSRA - The skimmer with Merlin inside it floats over the planet Safehold. Oddly enough, this scene actually occurred in the book as depicted!

3. BHD - Merlin emerges from the skimmer outside the abbey where a team of TL assassins are trying to kill Sharleyan. Note the absence of night or a thunderstorm!

4. AMF - Merlin watches a hologram of the Battle of the Tarot Strait. He probably saw it in his mind as the SNARCs beamed it to him, but otherwise it's accurate.

5. HFaF - Merlin crouches by the skimmer and watches the Battle of Iythria. Never happened...

6. MTaT - The skimmer flies over the either the First Battle of Thesmar where the Dohlarans met the Hanth and the ICM for the first time, or BGV driving the AoSG northward up the Slymahn Gap. Both battles actually occurred, but the skimmer was never there! Neither was Merlin, although he's depicted waving his katana and charging forward with the troops. Hanth didn't have any field artillery until the Dohlarans generously "donated" quite a lot after the battle, (though he did have naval guns that he didn't use) while BGV had at least 80 field guns. His troops didn't engage in headlong charges as depicted on the cover though - it wasn't possible in the narrow, flooded confines of the Gap, and ICA military doctrine requires its soldiers to slither forward on their stomachs, using their breech-loading Mahndrayns to maximum effect. So my best guess, based on the field artillery is that the cover depicts the Battle of Serabor, ignoring the fact that the gap is flooded and the only way through it is by taking the high road, even though the action depicted better mimics the Battle of Thesmar, (minus field artillery) since Hanth's troops did move forward along a wide front when the Dohlarans panicked and ran. Hanth's troops never charged though, and neither did BGV's troops, so whichever battle it is, we're seeing a lot of artistic license.

7. LaMA - Merlin and Nimue gaze a the blueprints of an ironclad, probably a Rottweiler, shown in 3d in Nimue's cave. This scene never happened, but did lead to one of my few correct predictions in the entire series when I said the girl would be a PICA named Nimue!

8. HFQ - Merlin and Nimue gaze on at an impossible scene of the skimmer using energy weapons on a nearby galleon. This scene won't happen, but it might be a hint that Thirsk's fleet will be in serious trouble!

There you have it. All 8 books, with an explanation of the cover art, and how much (if any) artistic license was used. Only one of the seven covers has been true to the text. Wanna make a bet that the cover art for HFQ is accurate? I'll give you really long odds!

SYED wrote:The back cover suggests some big things.

It’s been a long and bloody fight, but aided by a stream of inventions — breech-loading rifles, signal rockets, claymore mines, new approaches to manufacturing and supply — Charis and its few allies seem to have finally gained the upper hand. Now major realms have begun to consider switching sides.

To all these ends, Merlyn Athrawes has been everywhere, under multiple disguises and wielding hidden powers. The secret of who and what he is has been closely held. But a new player has arrived, one who knows many secrets — including Merlyn’s own.

The major realms would be harchong, desnair and dohlar as they were those most heavily aligned with the church. I serverly doubt that harchong would swith sides, but there will be trouble with them arming and training all those serfs to fight and then not letting them go home. Desnair has lost alot of people, so they could claim they are unable to provide any additional forces and have already paid a huge cost in the war. Dohlar is their real issue. They lost a huge armyy, at threat of invasion. They are going to really screw themselves with their own navy. this thing is if dohlar changes sides hw would the church get to them, dohlar has an epic navy, and they are too busy with the republic to get them by land.

The new player, while htat might be an enemy, say an awoken angels, but it could easily that high capable nun lady.

Mmmm - I'm going to go with the Angels awaking, and they are the ones using the skimmer to attack Charisian ships...... (That's how they've avoid activating Rakuri.)


Similarly, you'll notice that the blurb states "Now major realms have begun to consider switching sides."

Well, the way the war has been going - that's hardly surprising isn't it!

They don't seem to be concerned with the battle.

McGuiness wrote:8. HFQ - Merlin and Nimue gaze on at an impossible scene of the skimmer using energy weapons on a nearby galleon. This scene won't happen, but it might be a hint that Thirsk's fleet will be in serious trouble!:

Unlikely, but not impossible. We know the archangels had skimmers. But no idea what happened to them. Why would they both be on the same galleon in the middle of a battle with Thirsk?

MWadwell wrote:

Mmmm - I'm going to go with the Angels awaking, and they are the ones using the skimmer to attack Charisian ships...... (That's how they've avoid activating Rakuri.)


Similarly, you'll notice that the blurb states "Now major realms have begun to consider switching sides."

Well, the way the war has been going - that's hardly surprising isn't it!

Does anyone have a link to a rendering of the EoC Flag that would fly on all ships? My thought towards your suggestion that it is the awakened angels is to try and look at the flag of the ship being fired upon, and determine the nationality of it.