Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

Hi! Welcome!

It's so interesting that you're asking about the attendants, because a few weeks ago, when I reread ACoK, I was wondering about the sudden shift in the way they were described, and most of the smart people in the comments pointed out that it's POV - that KoA is from Costis's point of view, and here we don't have that benefit (unfortunately).

Here's a link to it if you want to read it (ha, it's ages back, you probably wouldn't have found it even if you had looked): http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/408528.html

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Oh OH and I checked out your profile and - you like Susan Cooper? You were referring to "by Pendragon's sword the Dark shall fall", right?

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I asked in chat if there had been any discussion of the multiple references in CoK to Gen's ill health, and was told yes (sand colic!) but that infertility hadn't been discussed. It was one of the first things I thought of, though. What does anyone else think?

They haven't been married all that long, have they? It's only been about three months in KoA (98 days to destroy the house of Erondites), and it still can't be more than 18 months in CoK, so that's a really short amount of time to be talking about infertility already. Remember that in KoA, a lot of the population of Attolia assumed that Attolia hated Gen and were pretty shocked when they kissed after the assassination attempt, so I would assume that as a political issue, infertility would take second place to a belief that Gen wasn't "man" enough to have sex with their queen, let alone knock her up.

I guess there's nothing there that rules infertility out, but I don't think there's much there to suggest it, either. Not that that would really rule anything out in this series, though.

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checkers65477.livejournal.com

Welcome! It was sad that the attendants weren't in the book much, but as you said, they just aren't part of Sophos' story. Love the part about Gen and his boots, though. Such a turnabout by the attendants who now seem to want the king's approval and trust.

I will have to read the Eddis story again...

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I also think it is a little early for them to be concerned about infertility. Not enough time has passed and if it was an issue history has shown us it would probably be assumed that it was Irene's problem, not Gen's. I'm also not entirely convinced Irene is not pregnant already.

I am a firm believer that Gen's illness is all obfuscation (this could just be my wishful thinking but I'm holding onto it). The stuff he's drinking could be part of the ruse. In QoA he had Galen leaving him larger and larger amounts of lethium while he was planning the attack on Sounis's navy and it has the effect he wants because Relius reports it to Irene. So Gen has a history of pretending to be worse off than he actually is.
OR
He could be building up an immunity to poison. It is obviously very much a threat as sand is still getting in his food.

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chubbyleng.livejournal.com

Remember that in KoA, a lot of the population of Attolia assumed that Attolia hated Gen and were pretty shocked when they kissed after the assassination attempt, so I would assume that as a political issue, infertility would take second place to a belief that Gen wasn't "man" enough to have sex with their queen, let alone knock her up.

XD Lol, that made me laugh so much!!

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You know it's true! I can just picture the image that most Attolians have in their heads of their marriage, especially with the whole arrangement with separate rooms.

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I'm also not entirely convinced Irene is not pregnant already.

Ooh, really? What makes you think that?

*imagines what Gen and Irene's child would be like*
*cowers in fear*

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I've never actually posted this here before because I think I might be nuts for reading it this way. So if everyone wants to tell me how crazy they think I am I won't be offended. The first time I read Conspiracy I read it out loud to my husband on an 8 hour car drive so that could account for it.

On p190 in the scene where the four monarchs are dining together it says this: "When Gen had complained earlier that evening that Petrus, the palace physician, should stop fussing over him like a worried old woman, Attolia had asked archly, 'And me as well?'

I actually stopped right there and thought, "WHAT???" Because I was thinking she meant "And do you want him to stop fussing over me as well." rather than "And do you want me to stop fussing over you as well." (Which is what the rest of the conversation implies she meant.) BUT it was Gen that gave that implication to her words with his line about the sleeping with two knives under his pillows. Reading what she actually said could be taken either way. And Gen coupled his rather dramatic statement with the equally dramatic action of falling to his knees before her which seems like it could be misdirection.

Try as I might I can't read it any other way now.

And yeah, Gen and Irene could certainly produce fear inspiring offspring. I will cower with you. :)

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1) Thank you for the link. What I was wondering was a little bit different - I'll have to rephrase. Clearly, Gen does not realize how loyal some of his attendants have grown, which we did see through Costis's eyes as well as through Sophos's. What surprised me was more of an author's choice thing - that in KoA I felt we were able to develop a lot of sympathy for Philologos, but then in CoK, her only mention of him is to have Gen specifically mention his disappointment, and instead she gives us a lot of insight into Ion, and a bit into Hilarion, too, I think. So now she's built up three different attendants, and kept the theme of his relationship with them going, and I sort of wonder where it's going to lead.

2)Yes, I love Susan Cooper, her Dark Is Rising books especially. And, yes, I named my LJ for it, even though I joined in the throes of Harry Potter fandom. I always admired Cooper as a writer more, and her world and her characters. I am so, so pleased that somebody got the reference. :)

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I don't think it was the Attolians who were worried. I had always assumed that they consummated on their wedding night, and plenty in secret afterwards. If that were true, then 18 months without a pregnancy would be cause for concern for Gen and Irene. Not panic, but concern.

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Yes, the part about the boots was sad. I was actually surprised how often Gen's relationship with his attendants did come up from Sopho's POV, which is why I started to wonder where it was going, story-wise. And why mwt chose to shift from showing us insights about/from Philologos to Ion. I feel like it must be going somewhere.

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That is a really interesting interpretation. I can't say I'm convinced, but only because the pattern so far has been to resolve double-meaning things like that within the book where we find them, not later books.

I guess as a newly-wed with an antsy mother I am the only one who sees 18 months with no hint of pregnancy as a remotely possible cause for concern. Okay. :)

Actually, your point about them looking into the problem being on her end is swaying me a lot away from the infertility theory. I think 18 months is plenty of time to start looking for reasons, but that they would probably not be focused on him yet.

AND I think the trying to build up an immunity to poison is a great idea. That might be the real reason the doctors were both mad at him - more than professional jealousy.

Now I need to get my hands on a copy of CoK to look for evidence for and against that. I did really get the impression that the doctors were fretting about something, and Attolia was fretting too. And Gen was keeping them happy, but I hadn't decided yet if he was humoring them or had accepted that there was something to worry about. I need to go over the evidence a bit more.

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I have to say I agree with you - whether I'm choosing to interpret it like that because I don't want Gen to be sick or whether it's based on text, I'm still not sure :)

I think I really read it like that, though - I remember when I first started reading Sounis, the first thing I noticed was that people were worried about sand in his food. Other than him going hungry (and I assumed that he could always steal into the kitchen when he needed to), I'd never even thought of poison.

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Yup, more people need to read Susan Cooper :)

Or maybe they do and just don't discuss her. Which is a pity.

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amolegere.livejournal.com

Hey! We met in chatzy and I just wanted to say welcome again! I haven't got much to add in the knowledge department other than that maybe we don't see Philologos as much because Sophos was narrating instead of Costis, who spent more time with more of the attendants.

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katecoombs.livejournal.com

The thing about Gen's health is that he pretty recently survived near-evisceration, and that takes time to heal! I think sometimes modern medicine gives us the mistaken idea that major injuries heal really quickly, but that kind of serious wound would take months to heal even today. So I think he's getting better (by the time frame of CofK), but hasn't healed all the way quite yet.

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Well, a pretty good chunk of that 18 months would involve Gen having a stomach wound, which doesn't really facilitate having sex. I know doctors say to wait at least six to eight weeks post abdominal surgery before doing things that put strain on abdominal muscles, but a lot of people aren't comfortable doing stuff for a while longer than that. Since Gen sort of involuntarily had outpatient abdominal surgery, he has about 2-3 months there where he'd be out of commission.

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Also, one of the side effects of opiates is impotence, and since lethium is a poppy-derivative and Gen keeps having people force it on him, the people who would worry about it might have their explanation right there.

Now, I have apparently spent WAY too much time thinking about this, so I think I will stop now.

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jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com

DID YOU SEE THE POST WHERE I TALKED ABOUT READING HER i don't remember if you did or not

also no I just don't think people really read her much these days. All I knew was Dark is Rising was Newberry; I didn't know there was a reason to read it.

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That is fascinating. That never even entered my mind when I read that scene, and I've re-read it a couple times. Maybe it's because I re-read KoA way more often, so Irene holding a bowl for Gen to puke in is burnt into my brain. I guess you could call that fussing.

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philia-fan.livejournal.com

So true. Even in modern times it takes way more time to recover than is generally depicted on TV (get shot in the chest, back chasing bad guys next week), so our perceptions have been warped.

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YES HA HA but you were the only person before this profile! No one really talks about her :( and The Grey King, for example, is one of the best children's fantasy books. Ever, in my opinion.

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Usually double-meanings have been resolved in the books they were in but I sort of see Conspiracy as a different sort of book from the others. Almost a break away from the main story to tell Sophos's in more detail so it would make sense that things concerning Gen might be resolved completely in the book. Particularly as Megan has said that the second half of KoA is what she is writing now.

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