[ansible]

(here be spoilers)

So I just finished reading Wolfe's The Wizard Knight. I loved it, though I can't say more than TBotNS. However, a line from The Knight is bothering me. This is from the scene where Able is walking alone towards Utgard, just before he encounters Bold Berthold for the first time since he disappeared.

The Knight, Tor TP, p.392 said:

I tried to think about who I would rather have with me than Gylf. Disiri, if she would love me. But what if she wouldn't? Disiri was wonderful, sure, but she was hard and dangerous, too. She would not be with me again until I found Eterne, and maybe not then. I thought that if she felt about me the way I felt about her, she would stick with me every second.

Garvaon would have been all right, but no Garvaon was better, because he was really Setr. Idnn would have been a terrible worry. Pouk would not have been bad. He would have wanted to talk, and I would have had to shut him up - but I knew how to do that.

Line in question is bolded. The rest just quoted for context.

So, what the hell? Later in The Wizard, Garvaon fights Setr in dragon form, wounds him, and is killed by him. The only other form we really see Setr take is that of Garsecg.

There are a few possibilities: a) Garvaon is Setr in human form, he is able to somehow split himself, and Setr the dragon had no intention of dying while fighting Svon and Garvaon/Setr but Vil surprised him with Parka's bowstring and so when Vil kills Setr, Garvaon dies too; b) Wolfe meant to write "Garsecg" when he wrote "Garvaon" and it's a typo; c) Able is confused at this point and is not telling the truth; d) I have no idea what the sentence means and it's something else entirely.

I've searched the Internet a bit but found no discussion of the quote. So, anyone?

[Defiance]

I'd assume it's a mistake/typo. I haven't read the book, though. I always check out book threads that other members post to see if anything catches my interest. Damn though, some of those names are atrocious.

[amphibian]

Defiance, on 30 August 2010 - 05:28 AM, said:

I'd assume it's a mistake/typo. I haven't read the book, though. I always check out book threads that other members post to see if anything catches my interest. Damn though, some of those names are atrocious.

These two books are incredible. Wolfe in general writes at such a high level that it blows away almost everybody else.

That's why I'm waiting until I get a chance to get over to the apartment (where my books are) and crack this one open to find the passage and give it my full perusal and attention.

One thing that always gets me about Wolfe is that he makes Able, who is one of the most likable characters he's ever written, look like a bit of a dick with the subtle way the Pouk comment is worded. Able really is a teenager in a man's body if he thinks that way.

[Salt-Man Z]

A quick Google Books search for "Idnn would have been a terrible worry" shows that the MMPB text has been corrected to read:

Quote

Garsecg would have been all right, but no Garsecg was better, because he was really Setr.

[ansible]

Salt-Man Z, on 30 August 2010 - 03:33 PM, said:

A quick Google Books search for "Idnn would have been a terrible worry" shows that the MMPB text has been corrected to read:

Quote

Garsecg would have been all right, but no Garsecg was better, because he was really Setr.

Man, thank you. I had been searching for the quote in question, so obviously it didn't show up... It's a wonder I didn't think to search for the rest of the passage.

Well, another mystery solved. My mind was pretty much going full speed on the ramifications of Garvaon being Setr, though. Hell of a typo.