[Keysi]

So I've read or heard somewhere that this book is the cipher for the whole series. Can someone please expand on this or linknow me to something that expands in this, as I'm not gonna lie, I don't have a clue what that really means. Obviously I get that it's some sort of decoding expalation, but I need more.

Danke.

[Zerv]

Here's an exchange from the SE Q&A of the TOR TtH re-read
(the second paragraph being SE's response).

Quote

Steven, Thanks for your time – I've thoroughly enjoyed the series on all 3 of my reads (so far!). No other book or series has had me even a tenth as emotionally invested. Expanding on what thomstel said in the first question, regarding your reference to TTH as the series' cipher. I've always taken that to be in reference to Kruppe's often hyperbolic and frequently unreliable narration of the book. One of the recurring elements of the series seems to be that a great deal of the major players know only fragments of what's happened – or is happening – at any one time (and you've extended this to the reader more than once). History is passed down and always blurred. I've felt since my second read of TTH (at which point I had read your comment about it being the cipher) that Kruppe is to the narration as you are to the series as a whole: what we read may not be precise, it may even be an outright fabrication, but it makes for the better story. Am I completely off target here? It's a theory I've regarded as ridiculous more than once, but now that I have the chance to ask you I'm happy to open myself to public ridicule Again, thanks. Dan

Danau: You see, isn't this just the nature of public ridicule? All those nay-sayers with their mocking commentary, well, who's looking ridiculous now? You read it true. I've always held that one can be subtle with metafiction (just as one can be subtle with magic realism): it needs no hammer, or someone in the crowd hopping up and down holding a huge sign screaming 'HERE I AM!' Even more curious, why not metafiction that hides in plain sight? Hmm, where can I do that best? Oh, how about Epic Fantasy – when everything's invented to begin with! I mean, can any Fantasy author really say, with stern visage, that they're writing only what's real? Well, maybe a few can, if they have something sharp and prickly shoved up their own arses. No. It's all invented. All right, then (should come the obvious follow-up question), what can I do with that? What can I say and how can I say it in different ways? How can I actually be serious while inside this utterly invented world, with its utterly invented story-lines and its utterly invented characters? Well, for me, the answer was: I can't always be serious, because we all know that nothing in these books ever happened. Thus, the occasional wink. The sly nod. But mostly, the shared smile. Because what is epic fantasy all about, anyway? I'd suggest, that part of it is about 'what would be cool,' and 'what would really send a shiver through you/me,' and 'how would it feel if something like that actually happened?' and all of these notions and the feelings they engender, why, they are real. And for the writer of this stuff, those notions and feelings are not to be mocked, not to be denigrated, not to be abused. And that's where responsibility comes in, for the writer. Well, for this writer, anyway. Whether I succeed or not, according to your judgement, I hereby promise to never abuse your excitement. More to the point, through my writing, I will endeavor to share it. Fair enough for a compact between you and me? I hope so.

This post has been edited by Zerv: 28 March 2020 - 12:50 PM