Discussion Questions

[velvetrose09.livejournal.com]

I've been re-reading and I have some questions that I hope you wouldn't mind discussing with me! =]

In CoKs
Eddis tells the Magus that Gen's asked to bring Sophos to the training ground. The Magus asks her why Attolis doesn't tell Sounis himself, and then says nevermind he knows why. Did I miss something here? Why couldn't Gen just *tell* Sounis himself?

In CoKs
It seems that Attolis and Eddis are "plotting" both are feeling indefinitely guilty about *something* and this begs to question, was there a way Sophos could have kept his kingdom and prevent war, himself?

In CoKs
At the very end when Gen says "You shot the Ambassador" and Sophos says "you gave me the gun" they both laugh. I don't mean to sound thick but I think I missed the joke...

Comments

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Discussion is always a good thing!

For the first one, I interpreted what the magus said as "Oh, wait, I remember. Gen's being a stupid idiot and refusing to talk to Sophos, so he can't just say what he wants, because that would be too helpful." I don't think there's much beyond that.

For the second one, this is the most confusing part of the book, for me. I think that, under different circumstances, Sophos might have been content to make an alliance with Melenze, or accept his barons' demands and the Mede's advisors. He would have avoided the violence he had to instigate as well as the resulting Mede invasion, and if he'd acted compliant he might even have avoided the assassination he predicted a couple years down the line. But Attolis and Eddis couldn't let him do that. They needed him to rule Sounis, not as a vassal of Melenze, not as a puppet of the Medes, but as Attolis's vassal. To get him to expel the Medes from the country and convince all his barons to follow him, Sophos had to resort to intimidation tactics. He wouldn't have done it normally, but it was Attolis who made him feel like he had no choice, and it was Eddis who picked the numbers of soldiers to send him back with, which were small enough that he couldn't just use military might to win the day. So they feel guilty for forcing him onto the particular path he took. (My view of this is still smoky, so if anyone else can explain it better, I'd like to read it, too!)

As for the third, I think it has something to do with the earlier lines, before the oath-swearing ceremony.

Gen: "You shot the ambassador?"
Sophos: "You gave me the gun."
Gen: "I didn't mean for you to shoot an ambassador with it!"
The magus: "Oh, how our carefully laid plans go astray."
Gen: "You shut up!"

Basically, I think it comes down to the idea that Gen, despite all his cleverness and manipulation, couldn't predict what, exactly, Sophos was going to do with the gun. Even Sophos realizes that it's a really bad idea to shoot an ambassador, so surely Gen couldn't have been expecting him to do that---but he does it anyway, and when Gen says, "Why the heck did you do that?" Sophos just shrugs and says, "Hey, it's partly your fault, you know. You gave me the gun," and they laugh at the irony.

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

I don't see how Sophos could have done it himself, without Gen's help, but I do think that Gen pushed him into war when together they might have avoided that. And that's what Gen feels so guilty about - that he needs to use his friend as a pawn for the (for want of a better term) greater good.

I think you can see that last quote - "You shot the ambassador?" "You gave me the gun" exchange as a demonstration that Sophos couldn't have done it himself, yet Gen needed Sophos to keep the Mede out of their vicinity. (Without Sophos, there probably would have been an internal war, which would have been a great opportunity for the Medes.)

I think part of the funniness of that quote is the wry humor Gen has. I see it as part admiration, part what-were-you-thinking. To which Sophos says, of what else were you thinking when you gave me the gun?

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't understand the supposed other option Sophos could have had. Doesn't it say something about "if he had been more confident, he could have taken back Sounis with just his Father's men?" (extremely paraphrased...)?? That seems unsupported by the rest of the evidence in the book. I just don't get it.

But I'm in the middle of re-reading CoK right now, so maybe I'll get it when I'm done.

[stubefied-by-gd.livejournal.com]

I have one answer and one question.

I've been thinking that a big part of why Gen won't ask Sophos to come to the training ground is because he is afraid, terrified he'd say no.

My question I might post again elsewhere because this post is a week old now, but it has to do with the answer to #2. What is more at play for Eugenides and Eddis here: building a united front against the Mede, or giving the people of Eddis somewhere to go before the Sacred Mountain erupts? I've been thinking that part of why Eddis needs to swear oaths to Attolis is because it's been mentioned a few times that, while Sounis is hungry to expand, Attolia is a country left by plague with more land than population. I think Attolia is where the Eddisians will have to go.