[TheHoundsCall]

Man oh man. Just when I thought it couldn’t get better Erikson leaves me with my jaw dropped and thoughts racing. This was my favorite installment so far. I was honestly very confused starting this book. The first chapter where feather witch reads the tiles left me with a WTF feeling, but I kept reading and I found that if I embraced this novel as a new beginning for the series, it became a way less frustrating experience.
The ending was quite shakespereian (throne room scene) which I loved. I loved the relationship with Rhulad and Udinass and Tehol and Bugg. They correlate each other pretty well(servants wisdom exceeding the master and the friendship that exists in both senarios) I don’t have many questions but...

1. About Rhulads sword... am I supposed to recognize the “black elongated knives” that were used to infuse the sword with their shards? If not do we hear more about them?

2. What was the purpose of Menadore or what ever her name is raping Udinass. The whole scene with the T’lan Imass and Udinass kid seemed like it was just there to confuse and served no plot point. Will this be explained?

I just bought Night of Knives at my local B&N so I’ll be reading that next as you all have suggested. Thanks!

[HoosierDaddy]

TheHoundsCall, on 31 October 2017 - 05:44 PM, said:

Man oh man. Just when I thought it couldn't get better Erikson leaves me with my jaw dropped and thoughts racing. This was my favorite installment so far. I was honestly very confused starting this book. The first chapter where feather witch reads the tiles left me with a WTF feeling, but I kept reading and I found that if I embraced this novel as a new beginning for the series, it became a way less frustrating experience.
The ending was quite shakespereian (throne room scene) which I loved. I loved the relationship with Rhulad and Udinass and Tehol and Bugg. They correlate each other pretty well(servants wisdom exceeding the master and the friendship that exists in both senarios) I don't have many questions but...

1. About Rhulads sword... am I supposed to recognize the "black elongated knives" that were used to infuse the sword with their shards? If not do we hear more about them?

2. What was the purpose of Menadore or what ever her name is raping Udinass. The whole scene with the T'lan Imass and Udinass kid seemed like it was just there to confuse and served no plot point. Will this be explained?

I just bought Night of Knives at my local B&N so I'll be reading that next as you all have suggested. Thanks!

1. Hmmm, been a while but I recognized them as either otataral or blackwood that have special properties.

2. Aaaaaaaannnnndddddddd, read and find out. Sorry.

[Puck]

1. Kind of. They're the remain of Silchas' swords, which he lost during/just prior to the prologue. There's a scene in MT proper where Silchas, as a ghost, is seen in the forest looking for them.

[TheHoundsCall]

Forgot to post my last question... I went back and read the HoC prologue and I was wondering if it will be explained why Trulls brothers performed the “shorning” on him. ?

[worry]

I think between that prologue and MT you probably already have the information you need to suss it out.

I suppose if you want a very specific straw that broke the camel's back type answer:

Spoiler

No, you don't get one.

[Slow Ben]

It does get fleshed out some in Reapers Gale. When Trull is thinking back about the shorning.

This post has been edited by Slow Ben: 01 November 2017 - 02:51 AM

[Haplo]

Hello,
I don´t want to start a separate thread since the thing I want to ask is discussed here. So, if I understand correctly, we will not be given a specific situation/reason because of which Trull will get expelled to Nascent and shorned (shorn?) - okay then, but do you have any opinion on why this happened? Because even though Trull was questioning the whole campaing both verbally and internally (and he got some nasty feedback along the way) there was no indication about him being punished so severely (indications that I have been looking for really carefully since I have been waiting for this since the beginning of the book). Even when Rhulad was lying hopelessly on the throne room floor and both Fear and Trull refused to kill him/bring him back, it didnt look like he is holding any special grudge against his brothers.

So, what is your opininon on what actually happened? Do you really think that the whole shorning was an expected outcome of Trulls nature (and actions originating from his nature)? I find it kind of hard to believe (like, not having a concrete reason)...or maybe was that action driven solely by CG´s wish, since Trull was criticizing the power behing Rhulad that Edur people were tapping onto?

Thanks for any reaction:)

[Gintokian]

Haplo, on 20 May 2018 - 08:42 PM, said:

Hello,
I don´t want to start a separate thread since the thing I want to ask is discussed here. So, if I understand correctly, we will not be given a specific situation/reason because of which Trull will get expelled to Nascent and shorned (shorn?) - okay then, but do you have any opinion on why this happened? Because even though Trull was questioning the whole campaing both verbally and internally (and he got some nasty feedback along the way) there was no indication about him being punished so severely (indications that I have been looking for really carefully since I have been waiting for this since the beginning of the book). Even when Rhulad was lying hopelessly on the throne room floor and both Fear and Trull refused to kill him/bring him back, it didnt look like he is holding any special grudge against his brothers.

So, what is your opininon on what actually happened? Do you really think that the whole shorning was an expected outcome of Trulls nature (and actions originating from his nature)? I find it kind of hard to believe (like, not having a concrete reason)...or maybe was that action driven solely by CG´s wish, since Trull was criticizing the power behing Rhulad that Edur people were tapping onto?

Thanks for any reaction:)

It's been a few years since I read the books but if I had to say I think it was caused by a number of things. First, Rhulad's becoming more and more insane each time he dies. He's also being influenced by the CG to make him even crazier and now he's the emperor. As we all know insanity and leadership are not a good combination so what I imagine happened was that he got super paranoid (as insane rulers are wont to do) and hearing Trull's constant criticism of his power and their conquest mixed with the CG influence over him was what made him do the shorning. There may have been other events after MT that could have caused it as well.
There may be more in Reaper's Gale or other books that explain it more but I can't remember.

[Gorefest]

I don't think it was ever clearly explained why it happened, but I would agree that that is the logical conclusion to draw. Trull constantly critisises an increasingly insane emperor and eventually Rhulad snaps and gets him shorn. This will have been sometime between the end of MT and the start of House of Chains, which is a time span of around 2 years I think.

[HoosierDaddy]

I'm of the opinion that Trull's willingness to stand there and watch Rhulad suffer and not end it pushed him over the edge when he came back. Without Fear, Rhulad was left with lackeys who also hated Trull.

[worry]

I like to think, in addition to what's been mentioned, Udinaas abandoning Rhulad was the crowbar that really opened wide the crack in his sanity caused by the Crippled God.

[Gintokian]

Luv2B_Sassy, on 24 May 2018 - 11:44 PM, said:

I like to think, in addition to what's been mentioned, Udinaas abandoning Rhulad was the crowbar that really opened wide the crack in his sanity caused by the Crippled God.

Yes, I totally forgot about that. Without Udinaas he had no one to rely on and I'm sure the abandonment would be terrible for him in his insane state. All he's left with is the selfish Letherii, Hannan Mosag, and a bunch of miserable TE all sucking up to him.