Well, this is months late, but I had fun reading this discussion and I have something to add. I puzzled over this when I read the thief... and this is what i thought:
As I remember, when we find out that the stone doesn't work if it's stolen, it's in the context of someone who stole it directly from the previous king. And I think they stole it in order to become king themselves --but then they died, so the stone's power hadn't worked on them. At that point in the book we don't know about the gods involvement so it's not mentioned.
But it turns out when the king's thief steals it, he's stealing it from the gods, not the previous king directly (It mentions the gift must have been hidden in the temple with each successive generation for centuries), and it's only ever removed "with the permission of the gods".
I think what matters is that you stole it from the gods, because that really means the gods have let you steal it from them. And they did give Gen permission (the god Eugenides does explicitly --a good task for the god of thieves, giving the thief permission to steal from them!). Gen was someone the gods trusted to take the gift, and I don't think that trust would go away just because the Magus had it for a short time. So its power worked on him, and on other people he decided to give it to voluntarily. If someone had stolen it from Gen, it wouldn't have worked on them.
What really matters is the god's involvement/permission. It gives the gods a say in who will be the next ruler of eddis, every generation, because only a thief they trust would be able to take it from the temple, and only someone he trusts could become the next ruler.
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Date: 10/29/09 09:46 pm (UTC)As I remember, when we find out that the stone doesn't work if it's stolen, it's in the context of someone who stole it directly from the previous king. And I think they stole it in order to become king themselves --but then they died, so the stone's power hadn't worked on them. At that point in the book we don't know about the gods involvement so it's not mentioned.
But it turns out when the king's thief steals it, he's stealing it from the gods, not the previous king directly (It mentions the gift must have been hidden in the temple with each successive generation for centuries), and it's only ever removed "with the permission of the gods".
I think what matters is that you stole it from the gods, because that really means the gods have let you steal it from them. And they did give Gen permission (the god Eugenides does explicitly --a good task for the god of thieves, giving the thief permission to steal from them!). Gen was someone the gods trusted to take the gift, and I don't think that trust would go away just because the Magus had it for a short time. So its power worked on him, and on other people he decided to give it to voluntarily. If someone had stolen it from Gen, it wouldn't have worked on them.
What really matters is the god's involvement/permission. It gives the gods a say in who will be the next ruler of eddis, every generation, because only a thief they trust would be able to take it from the temple, and only someone he trusts could become the next ruler.
:)
thanks for indulging my nerd-enthusiasm!