Gen's Siblings

[irenengen4ever.livejournal.com]

I looked in some old posts and found the approximate ages of Stenides and Temenus.  Here is my sort of family tree for Gen:

Minister of War = Gen's mom (aka Queen Thief)
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Stenides                  Temenus                               Eugenides

There are unnamed (so far) sisters in the middle, I think two.  I have a few questions about his siblings.  We know that Gen is an outcast because he became the Thief.  We also don't hear about his family (other than MoW and Eddis) visiting him.  I saw that it could have been because Eddis was at war.  I was wondering your opinions on where Sten and Temenus lived.  More specificaly, do you think they were at Court?  As far as his sisters, is it safe to assume they were married to barons?  Their grandfather was Eddis and their father was Minister of War, so they would be a fairly high marriage.  I was just wondering what everyone else imagined his brothers and sister being like and what they would do if Gen came back to Eddis (ya, gave away part of my storyline, I think it is almost done-I just have to get it on the computer now)). 

Comments

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling too lazy to go and try to find it on my own, but in which book do we learn Temenus's name? He's a soldier, right? I do remember that Gen talks about sisters in The Thief, but I don't remember ever hearing how many.

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

I thought that Gen's brothers were all killed in the war with Attolia? Or was that just his cousins? (books packed away so I can't check right now)

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Stenides is still alive--he makes the watches--uuuuum I don't think they die in the war? I think it's just the cousins. Well, Temenus might die. But Stenides makes watches, so he's not.

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

Irenengen4ever, this has nothing to do with your entry, but I can't message you back - I think it's your privacy setting. If you add me as a friend (Hi there!) it will probably work.

[irenengen4ever.livejournal.com]

I think I fixed it.

Some canon:

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

The Thief, pg. 81,UK paperback.

Gen: '"I even have brothers and sisters... with the same father"' - plural for both brothers and sisters.

(A lightning bolt has just struck my brain - for good or ill - Gen emphasises that his siblings have the same father because he's been accused of illegitimacy, but what about authorial reasons? Do we know that Gen's siblings have the same mother as he does?)

pg. 82: '"One of my brothers is a soldier, and the other brother is a watchmaker."...Stenides had made his first watch...'

This strongly suggests to me that there are only three brothers.

And further down: "My sisters are even married, and honest housewives..."
At least two sisters.

I can't remember anything about Temenus, but I suspected that he might have lost the soldier brother in QoA, too, although as far as I know only cousins are mentioned.

[annikah.livejournal.com]

It is somewhat odd that the siblings aren't mentioned more... especially in QoA when Eugenides was practically dying and then got married, of all things. Even if he was an outcast, I'd think more than his dad and his cousins would be upset.

Re: tearoha's comment. If you're on to something about Eugenides having a different mother (perhaps the MoW remarried when he married Gen's mom?), that might explain why we don't hear much of the other siblings, particularly if there's a somewhat large age-gap between them. I always assumed Stenides was the oldest, but if he's a watch-maker instead of a soldier, maybe not? I just checked the short story "Thief!" and it doesn't say, just that Sten is older than Gen, which we already knew.

[reader-marie.livejournal.com]

This is really fascinating! Gen's family is very interesting to me.

I think we hear about Temenus at the end of The Thief, right? He's the one who broke Eddis' nose with a practice sword. I don't have a copy of the book at hand, but does it maybe suggest that those two are the same age? I had always pictured Temenus as the oldest and Stenides next, but that's just me, I think.

And in QoA, Attolia is thinking about the position of Thief (discussing it with Nahuseresh, maybe?) and mentions something about that it could go to the child of one of Gen's sisters. So at least one sister has children. (Gen would be kind of a scary uncle, don't you think?) I've sort of assumed that his brothers are in the general vicinity (though if Temenus is a soldier he's not there all the time) of Eddis and her court, and the sisters are farther away, but that's probably just because they're not mentioned much.

And I never thought that they might have a different mother before--in a strange way, it might make sense. Do you think, though, that Gen would have made a bigger deal about having half-siblings? I mean, we know that he's related to everyone, but even so...On the other hand, considering Gen's mother's lively reputation at court, I've always wondered how she managed to steal everyone's jewels and hearts and be a court favorite and have five children, for pity's sake.

[irenengen4ever.livejournal.com]

The "Thief!" short story makes me think that they were all from the same mother because of Sten's reaction to their cousin's comment about how the MoW married so far beneath him. I know it could have been because it was still his father and the comments could be taken as the MoW taking the throne from Eddis, but Sten also says: "Gen, did grandfather teach you to do that?"

He didn't say your grandfather, just grandfather. He was referring to the King's Thief grandfather, obviously the previous Eddis (Helen and Gen's grandfather, who was already dead because the Eddis at the time of the story was Helen's father) wasn't going to teach his grandchildren to jump light wells. I hope that makes more sense.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Yes, Temenus is the one who broke Eddis's nose "with a practice sword when they were eleven..." (p 211 in my copy of Thief) so they are the same age.

[ballet2nite.livejournal.com]

I thought there was only one short story, Eddis. Where can I find the Thief short story?

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Here it is. (http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/199110.html)

[ballet2nite.livejournal.com]

Thanks!