A QoA question that has tormented me for months

[jennifer19l.livejournal.com]

 ...and it occurs to me you all might have a satisfactory answer.  I did look in the archives anywhere I thought this question might have been posed, to no avail.  
Ok, here goes:
On pg 254 (paperback) Attolia and Eugenides get to the top of the long staircase and are greeted by various ministers and the Queen's chamberlain.  The chamberlain makes introductions and falters once: "looking over his shoulder.  'He said he wouldn't be here,' one of the ministers said in a carrying whisper"...

Is this in referral to the MoW, who apparently is there in disguise?  If not, could someone please enlighten me?  It's the one line that I keep going back to, wondering *who* does she mean?!?!

Thank you!!!

Comments

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I always interpreted that as a reference to the Minister of War. Obviously his presence would be a bit awkward, given that he was about to meet the woman who had cut off his son's hand!

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

He's not exactly tractable in his future meetings with her, either. The one where he's the most pleasant is probably the one where he's just been kicked in the head by the Attolian guard. You know, when he's concussed.

[jennifer19l.livejournal.com]

Phew! Validation, finally! It's the one scene I just *had* to know exactly how it was all going down.

One of my favorite parts is when he helps her off her horse. And it's oddly reassuring to see him treat her like a pariah the whole time they're in negotiations. It shows his love for Gen. It always broke my heart how he tried to kill his own son to save him from her.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Before I was completely won over to Gen/Irene, the fact that his father was a big old bear about the whole situation made it a lot more tolerable for me. I just really enjoyed that his father appeared to think he was as crazy as I did. :P

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

I agree with the things being said --- that, yes, it was MoW. But I don't think he's in disguise so much as that he was just dressed simply (unlike someone tends to, ahem ahem) and Attolia took awhile to recognize him. Because he wasn't introduced and she didn't see him until they'd arrived at the camp where he helps her off her horse.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I think everyone thought he was crazy, including Attolia! :P

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Not everybody was quite so blatant about it as Gen's father, though! Who appears to not have a name, now that I think about it.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Nor does the Magus. And Megan won't tell us the names of either of them... perhaps in one of the next books...?

There was a theory awhile back on what the Magus's name might be, but I'm not sure where it is. Something about "Steal me peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time" and Irene meaning "peace", so maybe the Magus's name means "time"...

Not sure where to find the original location of the theory. *isn't helpful*

[puppeteergirl.livejournal.com]

I don't think the Magus should ever have a name. Its like the Janitor on scrubs. If we knew his name, we'd still call him Janitor. And knowing the name would make it less fun. Plus, any other name just wouldn't fit in my head after knowing this character what...6 years?

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

Chronos? XD Imagine that being his name.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. How heavy would it be to be named after one of the gods who created the universe? No. Pressure.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

The magus? I think his name is Alan. Just saying.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I think his name is Tim.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's Tiberius (http://utalk.att.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/373i161B796A57EE8FFB/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1).

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

How frightening is it that I immediately thought "James Tiberius Kirk" had a startling image of William Shatner as the Magus...

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

Ew! Will never recover!

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

Thank you for asking this--it has been bothering me too.

[jennifer19l.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it wasn't just me! Maybe it's because we don't have any sign of him even being there until two pages later when he "helps" her off the horse. There's no glance in any particular direction or anything. It ended up being process of elimination for me, but I still wondered if I'd missed something that would have given me a clearer answer.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Hahaha

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

And maybe his last name rhymes with Thickpen...

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

She (Eddis) needed to know how close Attolia was with the Medes. When Eddis is (finally) telling Gen everything that he should have been told but didn't want to hear in QoA, she says so.

I think.

My copy is lent out.

I may need to take a leaf out of in_my_niteshirts book and get myself another set--one to lend out, and one to keep HERE FOR MYSELF.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

It just might.

[helle-d.livejournal.com]

I always thought he was spying for Eddis and finding out hidden information, or maybe seeing how much she's following Mede habits/ has Mede advisors/ generally seems to be making a treaty with them.

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

"She has reached the end of her resources. She invited the Mede to a treaty. You know that's why I sent you to Attolia. If she takes help from the Mede, if they land on this coast, they will eat us alive: Attolia, Sounis, and Eddis. I sent you because I needed to know how close her contacts with the Mede had become, because Sounis *will not* stop his attempts to unseat Attolia." (QoK, hardcover, p. 69)

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

(There's more but I couldn't quote page after page of it).

[teenareena.livejournal.com]

Same reaction here. *shuddered*

[seachild930.livejournal.com]

That's funny, I've always interpreted it to mean they were talking about Gen--as in, he thought she would kill him, like he offers to let her do, but she says she won't because she believes that his guards are at waiting at the top of the cliff and they'll kill her if he's not with her. I guess reading it as the MoW makes a lot more sense, though. I'll have to go re-read it with him in mind.

[seachild930.livejournal.com]

That's funny. Going back to the main issue at hand, I've always interpreted it to mean they were talking about Gen--as in, he thought she would kill him, like he offers to let her do, but she says she won't because she believes that his guards are at waiting at the top of the cliff and they'll kill her if he's not with her. So he assumed she'd kill him, so he wouldn't be there, but he didn't leave orders for them to kill her if that happened because he loved her and didn't want her to get killed. Anyway. I guess reading it as the MoW makes a lot of sense, though. I'll have to go re-read it with him in mind.

[seachild930.livejournal.com]

Oops, I didn't mean to post twice...livejournal fail.

[jennifer19l.livejournal.com]

That was one of the options I wondered. As if people had been taking bets as to whether he'd actually show up there with her or not. Especially since we don't even have an inkling that the MoW is there until a couple pages later. Really, I still think it's an awkward comment to be about the MoW, though perhaps no more so than for Gen. This is why it drove me so crazy. I can't tell you how many times I read the whole passage, trying to find one other little reference to point me in one direction over another.

[aislings.livejournal.com]

Same here. I thought it was a comment about Gen expecting to have been killed by Attolia when he offered her the chance, but I was never all that sure. The Minister of War makes some sense, but on the other hand it doesn't seem like the MoW being there would be very last minute or surprising to the chamberlain, unless he joined them at the meeting spot right as Gen arrived.

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that was me talking about the Magus' name being Chronos. But I think Philia or Peggy suggested it a few years before I ever thought of it, too. Ehhh, too lazy to find either post now, though!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I always assumed it was the MoW--that he told everyone he would NOT greet the woman who cut off his son's hand. But he was there, blending in with the crowd of Eddisian soldiers, helping run things and playing his part in the battle with the Medes.