Favorite Bit Character in HFQ (spoilers)

Henry Brown wrote:

PeterZ wrote:That's two votes for darling Stefyny.

Yeah, but she's a kid. I mean everybody loves a cute kid. She needs a handicap or something just to make the voting fair for all the other bit characters.

Why do I suspect she'll end up the Princess of Corisande?

[/quote]

Yeah, but she's a kid. I mean everybody loves a cute kid. She needs a handicap or something just to make the voting fair for all the other bit characters. [/quote]

Why do I suspect she'll end up the Princess of Corisande?[/quote]

Very interesting idea.

PeterZ wrote:Why do I suspect she'll end up the Princess of Corisande?

Actually I had a different thought. Stefyny and her family need to be hidden. And Thirsk's family needs to be hidden also. I wonder if both families will be hidden together?

Henry Brown wrote:

PeterZ wrote:Why do I suspect she'll end up the Princess of Corisande?

Actually I had a different thought. Stefyny and her family need to be hidden. And Thirsk's family needs to be hidden also. I wonder if both families will be hidden together?

Stefyny and her family are going to the Archbishop's Palace in Tellesburg, where her father will be a woodworker, by way of Manchyr. It's not so much that they need to be hidden, it's more that they need to not mention how they got away and to Manchyr - it is, after all, highly unlikely that they'd be recognized, and even if they were, I suspect it's more likely that their being listed as dead will be attributed to some kind of a clerical error or a deliberate coverup of gross negligence for allowing them to have escaped/been rescued.

Thirsk's family ... that's a tough one. On the one hand, you've got them in the hands of the ICN, ala Irys, Daivyn, and Coris, for their getaway and deliverance to the Empire/friendly territory, and the Church is already claiming Charis took out the galleon they were on - and the sailors that are crewing the ship or ships they take to wherever they wind up staying are probably going to talk, which means rumors of their having escaped will get back to the Inquisition eventually.
I'm not sure keeping their survival secret is really viable for any real length of time. Plus, them being alive when the Church is claiming they were murdered is prime propaganda fodder. On the other hand, once they're openly in Charis (or a friendly/neutral country), Thirsk is probably in serious trouble ... although he already kind of is in trouble anyways, so I'm not sure what practical difference it would make. That might be part of why Merlin is paying Thirsk a visit - giving him a heads up that his family is alive and on their way to safety in Charis (probably the same kind of deal that Irys, Daivyn, and Coris went to Charis, and were under the protection of Archbishop Staynair), and that it's only a matter of time before the Inquisition finds out and openly and actively goes after him.

Aristocracy and commoners thrown together by circumstance. Lots of story potential there!

Plans change. I am sure Irys needs a good woodworker around Manchyr.
Daivyn needs another perspective besides spoiled aristocratic kids. That is besides the Hanth boys.

Kytheros wrote:Stefyny and her family are going to the Archbishop's Palace in Tellesburg, where her father will be a woodworker, by way of Manchyr. It's not so much that they need to be hidden, it's more that they need to not mention how they got away and to Manchyr - it is, after all, highly unlikely that they'd be recognized, and even if they were, I suspect it's more likely that their being listed as dead will be attributed to some kind of a clerical error or a deliberate coverup of gross negligence for allowing them to have escaped/been rescued.

Thirsk's family ... that's a tough one. On the one hand, you've got them in the hands of the ICN, ala Irys, Daivyn, and Coris, for their getaway and deliverance to the Empire/friendly territory, and the Church is already claiming Charis took out the galleon they were on - and the sailors that are crewing the ship or ships they take to wherever they wind up staying are probably going to talk, which means rumors of their having escaped will get back to the Inquisition eventually.
I'm not sure keeping their survival secret is really viable for any real length of time. Plus, them being alive when the Church is claiming they were murdered is prime propaganda fodder. On the other hand, once they're openly in Charis (or a friendly/neutral country), Thirsk is probably in serious trouble ... although he already kind of is in trouble anyways, so I'm not sure what practical difference it would make. That might be part of why Merlin is paying Thirsk a visit - giving him a heads up that his family is alive and on their way to safety in Charis (probably the same kind of deal that Irys, Daivyn, and Coris went to Charis, and were under the protection of Archbishop Staynair), and that it's only a matter of time before the Inquisition finds out and openly and actively goes after him.

Stefyny is capable of great things. She may grow up to be remarkable and influential.

Expert snuggler wrote:Stefyny is capable of great things. She may grow up to be remarkable and influential.

I hope she does, it would be great to have more commoner perspectives and she does seem like a character with a lot of potential.

Stefyny was my favorite bit player as well due to her incredible courage - and the fact that showing us how she got to the point that she no longer cared if she lived or died but how much she desperately wanted to save her father showed us just how viciously cruel life in the internment camps was for their victims - who keep in mind hadn't actually been tortured into confessing that they were heretics yet! We also know that she and her family were completely innocent, since they came from Sarkyn.

Her character made me hate the Inquisition more than I've hated any villain or institution that's appeared in any the thousands of books I've read. (It's worse than Voldemort! Yes, I said it!)

Stefyny gave us a vulnerable face with which to associate the suffering and evil we'd only heard about in passing, and brought it into sharp focus. The fact that the priest who followed the Writ and helped an innocent child and her sick father was then subjected to the Punishment of Schueler for his kindness was gut-wrenching, and I cheered when Dialydd Mab appeared to shoot the leering, evil inquisitors and to spare the one priest who showed a smidgen of humanity from suffering death by being burned alive.

For those who would like to see her adopted by the royal family so Cayleb and Sharley can marry her off to Daivyn someday, not gonna happen. Her family needs to keep a low profile, since their accents will give them away as coming from the Border states, but mostly because they simply cannot talk about Nimue's cave to others.

It's a shame that modifying memories isn't easy or ethical for OWL or Merlin to do. She's a smart girl and I'm sure that she'll do her best to stick to the official story of how her family ended up in Tellesberg once they finally get there.

What happens after that? She may disappear from the narrative, never to be heard from again once the voyage to Tellesberg is over, although anyone who gets that much screen time usually ends up becoming more than a bit player. If so, it would most likely occur because Staynair takes her under his wing and sees the potential for her to be useful. So perhaps she'll end up in the Royal College. The Big Reveal certainly won't be a problem for her!

At that point she could be adopted by the royals, but under a new name. The Inquisition might check its records regarding who was sent to internment camps because of the Sarkyn explosion, and we'd hate to see her become their target again if she became a public figure. (So lose the accent kiddo!)

RFC did a wonderful job with her character, although I'll concede that rescuing her family felt a bit contrived - which is why I expect we'll see her again. Obviously she's needed for the plot later on, or we wouldn't have seen Merlin use TF tech to save her family when he's never saved any prisoners before, let alone using TF tech to make it possible.

She has the guts and motivation to be a Helm Cleaver agent in another decade.

There'd be value in making her the public face of the concentration camp story but it would be wrong to paste a target on her back by doing that.

Oh. Make a cause celebre out of the priest who rescued her. His picture everywhere, under the oft-repeated slogan "I am Kuhnymychu". Add the verses from the Writ he followed in smaller type. Wait for a windy day and release airborne leaflets upwind of the Temple at a safe distance.

He deserves to be remembered.