*SPOILERS* in TFT, Has anyone considered the following....

What run of bad luck, like Siddirmark's Pro-Charis leader dying
Earl Thirsk
Robert Duchairn
And somehow a secretive plot erupting in Siddirmark without the SNARCS picking it up
Etc etc

Could it be the Archangels really HAVE returned as in, Chihiro somehow or other, maybe doing his own bit of "Merlin" type skullduggery?

Are the Inner Circle even looking for another stealthed network, hm?

Of course, it could all be coincidence, but where money and power are concerned, paranoia is not always wrong!

Our inestimable author is capable of such Evil Deeds (tm) as we have seen in one of his other series.....
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Woot, first post, even though this is my fave series
So many books, so many years...will author or reader still be around to see the Gbaba get Merlin-smacked?!

I was struck by that as well. So many sudden deaths from heart attacks. I think that everyone, including the characters, assumes that if the Archangels returned that they would immediately show themselves. I assume that they would want to spend a bit of time getting up to speed on everything that has changed. Especially the recent very rapid change.

Well, the book does cover a 15 year period, so a number of deaths of people who are getting on in years is only to be expected.

More likely I think is that RFC is "clearing the decks" of characters who use is time expired so that he can introduce plot variations that do not require reactions from some of the principal characters which are consistent with previous books

Spoz wrote:Well, the book does cover a 15 year period, so a number of deaths of people who are getting on in years is only to be expected.

More likely I think is that RFC is "clearing the decks" of characters who use is time expired so that he can introduce plot variations that do not require reactions from some of the principal characters which are consistent with previous books

I'm sure that's his narrative purpose. We're still entitled to wonder about what's up in-story though.

But really, it's nothing much. You've got sudden deaths among about four figures - Thirsk, Stohnar, Duchairn, and Rainbow Waters - who had just been through nine-plus years of intense stress late in their lives, who then conked out over several years after that. That's just life.

As to the plot in Siddarmark sneaking up on them - it didn't sneak too much up on the Inner Circle. The conditions for it and many of the corrupt figures were well known to them, but they didn't have the means to pin it on the guilty parties sufficient for a good, decisive resolution in Siddarmark's courts and politics. They may not have had some details, but there aren't quite infinite SNARC's or processing time. Or, if they did have those last details but still didn't have a usable smoking gun to present, it could easily be something RFC didn't underline for us when it wouldn't make a difference. It's big enough a book as it is to make my tablet feel heavier reading it electronically.

And we're left with very little word on entire countries over fifteen years in there, so if the details on who knew what when about bad things being done that they couldn't DO anything about, well, they're in plenty of company.

SilverbladeTE wrote:What run of bad luck, like Siddirmark's Pro-Charis leader dying
Earl Thirsk
Robert Duchairn
And somehow a secretive plot erupting in Siddirmark without the SNARCS picking it up
Etc etc

Could it be the Archangels really HAVE returned as in, Chihiro somehow or other, maybe doing his own bit of "Merlin" type skullduggery?

One of my theories is that a VR personality might have awoken under the temple on the 1000th anniversary of the day of creation after all... And that this personality has simply chosen to remain hidden and secretive for the time being.

Presumably, if that DID happen, we could then blame said personality for arranging the scene with the Lost Testimony of Schueler...

I didn't like that whole sequence in Siddermark, imho. It seemed to be a bit force and felt too much like a huge plot device. Of course, if RFC is looking to turn Safehold into a 20-30 book series, he will need to chart a course from now until the visitation.

Krenn wrote:
One of my theories is that a VR personality might have awoken under the temple on the 1000th anniversary of the day of creation after all... And that this personality has simply chosen to remain hidden and secretive for the time being.

Presumably, if that DID happen, we could then blame said personality for arranging the scene with the Lost Testimony of Schueler...

Yup! And his Dastardly Sneakiness, RFC, has done a surprise in another of his series, very different though, but still sneaky

Hiruu wrote:I didn't like that whole sequence in Siddermark, imho. It seemed to be a bit force and felt too much like a huge plot device. Of course, if RFC is looking to turn Safehold into a 20-30 book series, he will need to chart a course from now until the visitation.

From what's been said I THINK that this will be a 3 or 5 book arc, and Gbaba 1 or 3
Others may recall precisely

JeffEngel wrote:

Spoz wrote:Well, the book does cover a 15 year period, so a number of deaths of people who are getting on in years is only to be expected.

More likely I think is that RFC is "clearing the decks" of characters who use is time expired so that he can introduce plot variations that do not require reactions from some of the principal characters which are consistent with previous books

I'm sure that's his narrative purpose. We're still entitled to wonder about what's up in-story though.

But really, it's nothing much. You've got sudden deaths among about four figures - Thirsk, Stohnar, Duchairn, and Rainbow Waters - who had just been through nine-plus years of intense stress late in their lives, who then conked out over several years after that. That's just life.

As to the plot in Siddarmark sneaking up on them - it didn't sneak too much up on the Inner Circle. The conditions for it and many of the corrupt figures were well known to them, but they didn't have the means to pin it on the guilty parties sufficient for a good, decisive resolution in Siddarmark's courts and politics. They may not have had some details, but there aren't quite infinite SNARC's or processing time. Or, if they did have those last details but still didn't have a usable smoking gun to present, it could easily be something RFC didn't underline for us when it wouldn't make a difference. It's big enough a book as it is to make my tablet feel heavier reading it electronically.

And we're left with very little word on entire countries over fifteen years in there, so if the details on who knew what when about bad things being done that they couldn't DO anything about, well, they're in plenty of company.

Thirsk and Rainbow Waters were old enough for natural deaths, given that the stress they were under during the war had to take at least ten years off their natural span. Duchairn was in his fifties, which is the 'danger period' for heart attacks. All of these people clearly had succession plans in place, and their plans worked.

Stonahr is really the only death that's narratively convenient, and RFC both hints at his ill health, and informs us that assassination is happening to major Siddarmark figures - one of the Quentyns - and it's adding to the chaos. In fact, what happens to the House of Qwentyn is almost a dress rehearsal for what happens to the Protectorship. A natural death is followed by an assassination, and it destroys the 'succession plan'. Then a bunch of unscrupulous vultures fight over the corpse.

I'd also add that we were effectively told via Staynair that God ( in the person of the author) has retired Duchairn on a high note. After all his struggles to redeem the COGA, after he's managed to turn it back into 'Mother Church', it would have been heartbreaking to watch his character discover that the church he fought so hard to bring back to God - was always based on a lie.

So Duchairn 's off to whatever reward awaits fictional characters Tymythy Rhobair (the name's a bit of a clue) takes on his role.