Things the Magus said...
Dec. 3rd, 2009 01:38 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
keestone.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
queensthiefOkay, this one I've been wondering about for a while, and perhaps those who have gotten their hands on a CoK ARC can give a non-spoilery nod as to whether there's more info regarding this there: I can't help but wonder if Sophos is the "friend" with an "interest in botany" that the magus was recording plant specimens for (QoA, p. 101 Greenwillow hardcover). It's exactly the kind of way I could see him keeping in contact with someone he holds in high regard and cares for when contact has been restricted (if by politics rather than ill health). Sophos did do well with the classification of plants during The Thief.
Also...
I always thought it very interesting how Gen takes the Magus's pep talk, "Gen, sitting in here isn't going to help anything. You can talk sense to Eddis. Maybe you aren't a Thief anymore, but you could still do something" (p.76), and runs with it in an entirely unexpected way by blowing up the Sounisian navy in its own harbor.
I just realized the other day, the Magus has another unexpected influence on Gen's actions... I'm not going to quote the whole post-nightmare conversation in Gen's library (pp. 140-41), but:
"Tell me why the king of Sounis wants to marry the queen of Eddis." [...] "I don't mean the political advantages. He wants more than that."
"Eddis is brilliant, Gen. She's very young, almost as young as yourself, and she's already a successful leader and a gifted ruler. Her legal reforms have changed Eddis more in seven years than anyone would have thought possible when she took the throne. And on a personal level she is quite . . . magnetic."
[...]
"He's not an entirely irredeemable character," the magus said, defending his king.
"I'm sure not," Eugenides said agreeably, "but he's caused a lot of bloodshed wanting a woman he can't have."
"Not a new thing in the history of the world," the magus said.
"No," Eugenides responded thoughtfully, "and maybe I should be more sympathetic, but I think I will just go back to bed."
.
.
.
And then the next morning, he requests Eddis' permission to "run away and hide," which means he's very much formulating his plan to "steal the Queen of Attolia." Which means . . . on the obvious level that conversation is about Sounis and Helen, but on another level it's all about Gen and Irene.
And can you imagine what the magus would think if he knew that?
Also...
I always thought it very interesting how Gen takes the Magus's pep talk, "Gen, sitting in here isn't going to help anything. You can talk sense to Eddis. Maybe you aren't a Thief anymore, but you could still do something" (p.76), and runs with it in an entirely unexpected way by blowing up the Sounisian navy in its own harbor.
I just realized the other day, the Magus has another unexpected influence on Gen's actions... I'm not going to quote the whole post-nightmare conversation in Gen's library (pp. 140-41), but:
"Tell me why the king of Sounis wants to marry the queen of Eddis." [...] "I don't mean the political advantages. He wants more than that."
"Eddis is brilliant, Gen. She's very young, almost as young as yourself, and she's already a successful leader and a gifted ruler. Her legal reforms have changed Eddis more in seven years than anyone would have thought possible when she took the throne. And on a personal level she is quite . . . magnetic."
[...]
"He's not an entirely irredeemable character," the magus said, defending his king.
"I'm sure not," Eugenides said agreeably, "but he's caused a lot of bloodshed wanting a woman he can't have."
"Not a new thing in the history of the world," the magus said.
"No," Eugenides responded thoughtfully, "and maybe I should be more sympathetic, but I think I will just go back to bed."
.
.
.
And then the next morning, he requests Eddis' permission to "run away and hide," which means he's very much formulating his plan to "steal the Queen of Attolia." Which means . . . on the obvious level that conversation is about Sounis and Helen, but on another level it's all about Gen and Irene.
And can you imagine what the magus would think if he knew that?
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