[MTS]

Now, Heboric: man on a mission. What's that mission, you say? Justice, apparently. He's a not-so-regular Batman. 'Behold, my friends, I am justice.' Despite that being a massively cool line, it raises a few questions as to where he's going, what he's doing, blah blah blah...

Here are a few choice quotes from Heboric, from page 126 onwards:
'I am readying myself...to wield a most formidable weapon. They thought to hide it from me. They failed. Weapons must be tempered and tempered well, of course. They even thought to kill it. As if such a thing is remotely possible' - he paused - 'then again, perhaps it is. They key to everything, you see, is to cut clean, down the middle. A clean cut - that's what I dream of.'
...
'The secret lies in the tempering,' he said. 'That is a worthwhile thing to tell you. Your weapon must be well tempered. Soundly forged, ingeniously annealed, the edges honed with surety. The finger [Jade finger] points straight towards them, you see - well, if this were a proper sky, you'd see.'
...
'It is a flaw', he continued, 'to view mortals and gods as if they were on opposite sides. A flaw. An error most fundamental. Because then, when the blade comes down, why, they are for ever lost to each other. Now, does she understand? Possibly, but if so, then she terrifies me - for such wisdom seems almost...inhuman.' He shook himself and leaned back, withdrawing his arms from the sand.
She stared, curious and wondering at the weapons he held - only to find he had none. And that his hands, the hue of rust, gleamed as if polished.
He held them up. 'Expected green, did you? Green jade, yes, and glowing. But not this time, not for this, oh no. Are they ready? Ready to grasp that most deadly weapon? I think not.'
...
'It ever appears dead, spiked so cruelly and no, you will see no motion, not a twitch. Even the blood does not drip. Do not be deceived. She will be freed. She must. It is necessary.'

Heboric's visions in the prologue consist of the Nah'Ruk and the dragon, the Wolves 'guarded, uneasy, as if measuring a rival', dolmens of some sort (with cowls and tails, too...), and the suns. There's also something about ground of crushed glass and diamonds that made me think of Icarias or whatever that city is called.

Now one from Kalyth:
'Twin suns blazed to life, blinding her. Searing heat washed over her, building, and she screamed as she withered in the firestorm - but it was too late -'

All of this makes me think Heboric is the one who will 'wield' the OD when she is freed. Whatever that means. It would seem that he will be the one to control and direct her efforts. Reasonable, no? It also affirms his stance in all this - it seems he's firmly in the camp of the FA and the Liosan.

We all know the vaunted association of the FA with justice. That's well established, and we know where they're at. I think, though, this puts the Liosan more firmly in cahoots with the FA. This is mainly from the quote from Kalyth. The suns blazing and all that. We see it on the Road to Gallan, where the Liosan try to oust the Shake. We also find a FA there, with five Liosan. Telling, perhaps, of their allegiance. Don't bring up the Just Wars by the way - just because two races war doesn't mean they won't be allies in future.

Tavore also says that their enemy is justice, and Heboric is justice, so it looks like it's Heboric vs. the BH now...

Any thoughts on the implications of this? I think it's fairly huge. The cutting part seems to signify a massive paradigm shift in the very workings of sorcery and the pantheon, which is interesting, as ST and Cot are said to be aiming towards that. Still not sure on the god of war stuff, but I assume it must have something to do with the injustice of war...

This post has been edited by Mappo's Travelling Sack: 11 September 2009 - 04:11 PM

[Illuyankas]

I could see Heboric flying in on Korabas to harass the Bonehunters, and during a pass shout "HEY TAVORE, HOW'S YOUR SISTER DOING? OH THAT'S RIGHT, YOU STABBED HER IN THE CHEST IN SEVEN CITIES! MY BAD!" then fly off laughing like the colossal asshole he could be.

[HoosierDaddy]

I actually think Heboric is on the Bonehunters side, and is preparing to save the world from the Jade Statues (again) summoned by the FA (an ungodly amount of blood used to form the gate, and here's the left over souls). The "finger pointing" is towards the Jade Statues coming 'round, and it would make sense of the "you aim ahead of your target" statement because it seems as though the Jade Statues are not on a collision course at the moment.

Quote

'I am readying myself...to wield a most formidable weapon. They thought to hide it from me. They failed. Weapons must be tempered and tempered well, of course. They even thought to kill it. As if such a thing is remotely possible' - he paused - 'then again, perhaps it is. They key to everything, you see, is to cut clean, down the middle. A clean cut - that's what I dream of.'
...
'The secret lies in the tempering,' he said. 'That is a worthwhile thing to tell you. Your weapon must be well tempered. Soundly forged, ingeniously annealed, the edges honed with surety. The finger [Jade finger] points straight towards them, you see - well, if this were a proper sky, you'd see.'
...
'It is a flaw', he continued, 'to view mortals and gods as if they were on opposite sides. A flaw. An error most fundamental. Because then, when the blade comes down, why, they are for ever lost to each other. Now, does she understand? Possibly, but if so, then she terrifies me - for such wisdom seems almost...inhuman.' He shook himself and leaned back, withdrawing his arms from the sand.

This entire statement is a viewpoint into Tavore's mind. She realizes that simply killing or draining Kaminsod into non-existence is far more dangerous than the gods know. Who in the series would understand better the loss of a God to his followers than Heboric?

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: 11 September 2009 - 09:14 PM

[Pig Iron]

Tavore talks several times about the legacy you leave or how history sees you. And about mercy. I think she intend to free the CG to end the present order and because it is the "right" thing to do, well knowing that she will be hated for ages to come. The Jade statues might be holding a LOT of CG believers. I take what Heboric says about there being little difference between gods and humans as referring to another theme that keeps popping up: that the power of the gods come from their believers. So the jade giants might represent a major influx of power. The "she" Heboric talks about in "does she understand" I take as Tavore.