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queensthiefSo, I've been re-reading The Thief and have just reached the part where Gen is talking about tools. As the Magus tells Gen "No one would mistake you for anything but a tool" (57). Gen then gets all annoyed and touchy. But really, Gen is a tool, and not just to the Magus. He is a tool of the gods, who are keeping him around and protecting him for some over-reaching purpose that has something to do with defeating the Medes, or so I presume. This leads to the second half of the quote: "If a sword is well made, does the credit go to the blacksmith or to his hammer?" (57). But since the gods are controlling Gen, and many people no longer believe in those gods, the tool will get the credit.
I think this is what Gen is trying to forget in the wall scene in King of Attolia, where Gen is a philosophic drunk. He is the gods' tool, and he does not want to be. It has relatively little to do with him being king, especially considering that he is king because of the gods intervention. You get the impression that Gen tells you what he is trying to forget when he is chatting to Costis, but I want to bet it is deeper than just Gen not wanting the gods' gifts. Overall, it is not gifts that are the problem, but catching the gods attention and having them realize that you might be useful to them...which is what happens to Gen...and Sophos...and Eddis...and others who have not come to light yet.
Thoughts?
And this is more a random aside that I've always wondered about: does anyone know if MWT has any sort of background in geology? In her stories it seems like the world has been created with a mind to geological processes and there is a greater variety of rock types than one usually finds in fictional books., which indicates, at the very least, Geology 101.
I think this is what Gen is trying to forget in the wall scene in King of Attolia, where Gen is a philosophic drunk. He is the gods' tool, and he does not want to be. It has relatively little to do with him being king, especially considering that he is king because of the gods intervention. You get the impression that Gen tells you what he is trying to forget when he is chatting to Costis, but I want to bet it is deeper than just Gen not wanting the gods' gifts. Overall, it is not gifts that are the problem, but catching the gods attention and having them realize that you might be useful to them...which is what happens to Gen...and Sophos...and Eddis...and others who have not come to light yet.
Thoughts?
And this is more a random aside that I've always wondered about: does anyone know if MWT has any sort of background in geology? In her stories it seems like the world has been created with a mind to geological processes and there is a greater variety of rock types than one usually finds in fictional books., which indicates, at the very least, Geology 101.
