[ClintonF]

Hey all. First post for a new member.
I'm interested in Heboric's crimes. For me they are 4, but I'm interested to see how you see it.
1st crimes are the period when he was "light touch", 2nd being the "false" crime which saw his hands given to the Reve, 3rd being the criticisms of empire that saw him put to the chain in Unta, 4th (toward the end part of HoC) when he muses that it was his defiance against the games and ego of the gods which in fact led to him being falsely accused and loosing his hands.
Erikson does this cirular nature a lot, and Heboric has that whole revisionist/musing thing that comes with being a historian (which was what got him in trouble the 3rd time).
MODGOD NOTICE OF LATER BOOK SPOILER DELETED

I wonder if that 4th crime, his defiance against the god's games is actually the musing and reflection of an old man about how he was 'responsible in retrospect' for actions and omissions that led to his false accusation/crime? Retrospective 'what ifs', an old man harshly judging his performance as a young man?
Then there is the question of "if he was defiant against the gods, was he set up by one that took affront, leading to the power play in the priesthood that saw him loosing his hands?'

Sorry if I've been confusing and obtuse, but the nature of Erikson ' books require rereading, and I can end up over thinking it sometimes (a lot).
What do you think?

This post has been edited by Abyss: 10 September 2019 - 01:25 PM

[Abyss]

ClintonF, on 10 September 2019 - 11:50 AM, said:

Hey all. First post for a new member.
I'm interested in Heboric's crimes. For me they are 4, but I'm interested to see how you see it.
1st crimes are the period when he was "light touch", 2nd being the "false" crime which saw his hands given to the Reve, 3rd being the criticisms of empire that saw him put to the chain in Unta, 4th (toward the end part of HoC) when he muses that it was his defiance against the games and ego of the gods which in fact led to him being falsely accused and loosing his hands.
Erikson does this cirular nature a lot, and Heboric has that whole revisionist/musing thing that comes with being a historian (which was what got him in trouble the 3rd time).
MODGOD NOTICE OF LATER BOOK SPOILER DELETED

I wonder if that 4th crime, his defiance against the god's games is actually the musing and reflection of an old man about how he was 'responsible in retrospect' for actions and omissions that led to his false accusation/crime? Retrospective 'what ifs', an old man harshly judging his performance as a young man?
Then there is the question of "if he was defiant against the gods, was he set up by one that took affront, leading to the power play in the priesthood that saw him loosing his hands?'

Sorry if I've been confusing and obtuse, but the nature of Erikson ' books require rereading, and I can end up over thinking it sometimes (a lot).
What do you think?

Welcome!
Excuse the above edit but that's a spoiler for a way later book in the series.


You raise an interesting question, so how far are you into the books? ...because if you want a complete discussion i can move this to the General forum or the forum for whatever book you're up to.

[ClintonF]

Thanks for the help, I'm still figuring out what a spoiler is. I'll be more careful in the future.
I've read all of the Malazan series, and a lot of his other works, a few of Esselmont's works. I reread them a lot too, there is always something new to find. I've reread them so many times that the original paperbacks fell apart.

If you'd like to move it, feel free. I'd like to have a broader discussion about some of the themes in HoC, I think that there is a broader narrative in the character development that I'd like to tease out. I almost figured it out last night, didn't write it down and forgot overnight, sigh.

This post has been edited by ClintonF: 11 September 2019 - 03:09 AM