The Magus's Botanist-Friend
May. 19th, 2010 07:58 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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queensthiefOkay, I have some thoughts on this infamous, much-discussed scene from QoA, the discussion Eddis, Gen, and the Magus have during their picnic in the valley:
So, like most of you, my first thought was that he was referring to Sophos. Sophos is smart, Sophos was shoved off on that island at the time, Sophos likes botanical classification. Sure! That works. But, when reading ACoK, I didn't see any reference that would definitively solve the question for us in this direction, and when I reread QoA this time, I was struck by a new thought:
What if his correspondent is the Emperor of the Medes? Sorry, his name is escaping me at the moment, but hey: he is (apart from Eugenides) the only character that we know of who has been mentioned prominently as being persistently ill throughout the books - he of the Tethys' Lesions. He lives far enough away that the samples and drawings have to be sent to him, not brought personally by the magus. We already know that national loyalties don't mean a whole lot to the magus - he cultivates friends and allies from many different countries. We don't know much about the Emperor personally, we don't know if he's of a scholarly bent, but... it's a thought. Of course, the ramifications are immense, and I'm inclined to look askance at my beloved Magus and his political alignment because of this.
Any thoughts?
(And if anyone's already theorised on this before, sorry, not trying to steal your thunder! I looked through all the relevant tags and didn't see it in any of the discussions on the topic. Just want to know what you guys think!)
"Yes, I didn't know you had an interest in botany," said Eddis.
"I don't really. I have a friend who does. He isn't well enough to travel and relies on acquaintances to send him samples and drawings. And how is your war progressing?" he asked, declining to be sidetracked by scholarly inquiry.
So, like most of you, my first thought was that he was referring to Sophos. Sophos is smart, Sophos was shoved off on that island at the time, Sophos likes botanical classification. Sure! That works. But, when reading ACoK, I didn't see any reference that would definitively solve the question for us in this direction, and when I reread QoA this time, I was struck by a new thought:
What if his correspondent is the Emperor of the Medes? Sorry, his name is escaping me at the moment, but hey: he is (apart from Eugenides) the only character that we know of who has been mentioned prominently as being persistently ill throughout the books - he of the Tethys' Lesions. He lives far enough away that the samples and drawings have to be sent to him, not brought personally by the magus. We already know that national loyalties don't mean a whole lot to the magus - he cultivates friends and allies from many different countries. We don't know much about the Emperor personally, we don't know if he's of a scholarly bent, but... it's a thought. Of course, the ramifications are immense, and I'm inclined to look askance at my beloved Magus and his political alignment because of this.
Any thoughts?
(And if anyone's already theorised on this before, sorry, not trying to steal your thunder! I looked through all the relevant tags and didn't see it in any of the discussions on the topic. Just want to know what you guys think!)
