Intro Post and Discussion Offering

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Hi, I've been lurking here for over a year, ever since I found this site as I was reading the QT books.  It's great to find a community devoted to discussing these great characters, and includes book reccomendations. 

My favorite book is definetly The King of Attolia!  It makes me laugh through the entire book, even scenes that have no right to be funny, (like immediately following the assasination attempt!) 

I come bearing a discussion topic:  Who is the QT character that you absolutly love to hate?  (Sorry, Medes are excluded, we all know they are nothing more than slimy worms and don't even deserve the dignity of a comment in their honor!)

Comments

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

I'll start by saying the Magus, and not because he is a bad guy, I just think he should be more respectful to Gen, like remebering to call him Eugenides, and what does he think gives him the right to call Eddis, "Helen"????

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

I think the Magus is simply trying to show affection rather then be disrespectful. If you were called Eddis all the time when it's not your name, it might be a nice change to hear Helen ever now and then. It's also part of Megan's name-game. A character is their title when they are functioning in the title's role and being addressing as their position. The Magus is speaking directly to the person these characters are outside of their title, thus Gen and Helen. (Eugenides is a title, so Gen is the closest thing he has to a real name). Of course, you're very welcome to dislike him for it! ;P

Dah, I'm sorry! I see myself reasoning out everyones dislikes! I just can't seem to help myself with this series.

And welcome to Sounis!

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean about Helen, (I personally prefer calling her Helen, becasue it makes her seem more like a person then an entity) but I guess my frustration comes when the Magus uses Gen, even after he has been asked to use Eugenides. (I'm not sure Gen sees Eugenides as a title as much as Eddis is a title. He was given that name at birth, so to him, it's his name)

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

"Dah, I'm sorry! I see myself reasoning out everyones dislikes! I just can't seem to help myself with this series."


Don't worry about it! It makes for interesting and thought provoking discussions!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

It's his name and his title at the same time, and I think he sort of thinks of it as both. Gen also says that only the people he is very close to are allowed to call him Gen. The Magus sorta invited himself to the party, which is his way of showing affection in his usual slightly condescending manner. This amuses me more than offends me, because it's so the way they relate! :D

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, Lady Jane, especially this bit:
The Magus sorta invited himself to the party, which is his way of showing affection in his usual slightly condescending manner. This amuses me more than offends me

*Magus love*

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

I love the way the Magus shows affection, and I've made their funny way of relating a prominent point in my upcoming AU fic.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Aw, I love the Magus. He's always got to feel a little superior with Gen, don't you think? Maybe sometimes he calls Gen "Gen" out of affection and other times he calls him that to put him in his place. Loyal, intelligent, supercilious guy that he is. :)

And he calls Eddis Helen because he loves her. Isn't a shame that she never calls him by his name in return? Then we would know!

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

I think he got his nose out of joint when Gen stole Hamiatha's gift right off his neck, so even though he has a lot of respect and affection for Gen, he's never going to forget that he's annoyed at him. Make sure the little monster never forgets his place!

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

The Magus calling Helen by her name kind of bothers me too but only because he still has no other name than Magus. How did that conversation go?
Helen: You don't have to call me Your Majesty, you may call me Helen.
Magus: Thank you Helen, call me Magus.

I mean did he officially abandon his real name when I took on the title? Could his parents see the future and so just decided to name him Magus?

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Dahaahaa! Sometimes I wonder if the Magus is like Doctor Who, as soon as he tells someone his name he forgets it again! Magus? Magus Who? Keh... :)

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I think he's just in competition with the MoW about who can remain nameless longer ;)

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Maybe, since it's unlikely that Eddis is going to go to war with Attolia or Sounis, he'll retire from his position and have to give up his title. Than maybe he'll get his name back!

(Unfortunately, I don't think Sophos will ever let the Magus go into retirement, so we'll just have to hope he slips up and gives his name!)

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

New crack-theory: The Magus is a fobwatched Time Lord (and of course the watch came from Stenides; don't know how; it just did). And if that's so, what's his TARDIS disguised as? An amphora? That definitely would be bigger on the inside! XD

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Fobwatched!Time Lord! THIS. I love this theory! Let's just hope it's not the Master again. I like the Magus too much for him to be evil and try to take over the world and build a huge statue of himself. Also, that means another Time Lord survived the Time War. Yay, for the Doctor!

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Helen: You don't have to call me Your Majesty, you may call me Helen.Magus: Thank you Helen, call me Magus.

That was sooooo funny!

De-lurking

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm new, I promise to intro post soon, but I had to answer this as follows:

A~R~I~S~T~O~G~I~T~O~N

Costis deserves better friends. If someone went around slandering Aris, Costis would stand up for him, right away, not long after the damage had been done. Just my opinion, anyone else agree??

Re: De-lurking

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Costis is more that personality - challenging people based on the principle of the matter. Keh... :P Aris thinks more about the consequences first. Also, I'm pretty sure you mean the part where everyone said that Costis had killed the assassins rather than the king. Aris believed the rumors at first too, which is more of a testament to Gen and his "bad king" image than Aris not wanting to stand up for Costis. Their personalities are different, but I still think Aris is a good friend! :D

PS: Also, it showcases that Aris was thinking about more what he would do. If he owed a man his life, he would lie for him. Costis would not on principle of the matter. It shows how they are different people and how Costis is a great foil for Gen!

Re: De-lurking

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to say...

Welcome to Sounis! And thank you for de-lurking. :D

Re: De-lurking

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I see your point, too. Costis thinks with his heart, he would do the thing that seemed most honorable without considering the consequences; whereas Aris thinks with his head, consequences before actions. I still think that Aris should have known Costis well enough to know that he wouldn't lie even in the worst of circumstances, that he could have at least stuck up for him a little more.

On a different note, I was so excited that someone responded to my comment! Thanks!

Re: De-lurking

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

I still think that Aris should have known Costis well enough to know that he wouldn't lie even in the worst of circumstances, that he could have at least stuck up for him a little more.

Oh, yes! I agree. Anyone who knows Costis well knows that he would never lie, which is something that Aris also pointed out (meaning he should know this or at least have asked Costis). It makes one wonder if Aris was projecting himself on Cosits and was still quite befuddled by almost being executed. Either way, I totally understand why you dislike him for it. It made me mad for awhile as well!

Your very welcoming. And I often respond to interesting points of discussion. :)

Re: De-lurking

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

I can see both points. Costis is certainly more "I'm going to stick up for my friend no matter the consequences" thanks to his honor as wide as a river. Aris, who thinks his position is more precarious, because he doesn't own any land, and is basically at the mercy of everybody, has learned to put the consequences ahead of anything else.

I think the whole getting thrown in prison deal might have had something to do with not standing up for Costis immediately, as well as the fact that Costis was exiled to the royal apartments after Aris got out of prison.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

It's a toss up between that darn red-bearded hooligan (Nahuseresh) and Hyacinth.

Nahurseresh - He just won't die already! And he keeps trying to kill/maim/dethrone some of my favorite characters of all time. He even sent an evil henchmen to mess up Gen and Sophos friendship! How evil can one get? I bet he wears a black hat all the time.

Hyacinth - How dare you betray Sophos! It Sophos! It's like kicking puppies and taking the LAST muffin. Very reprehensible in my book. Hyacinth seemed to be easily manipulated though, so that's makes him a little less evil than Nahurserfish. <---Term is intellectual property of tiegirl. <3 - :)

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your thoughts! I agree with you about Hyacinth! How could you be mean to Sophos AND his sisters who were always so good to him? (He's so easily manipulated, he was probably talked into thinking he was doing Sophos a favor!)

[theorangethief.livejournal.com]

"It's like kicking puppies and taking the LAST muffin."

Yes betraying Sophos is very much like kicking puppies!!! No you made me hate Hyacinth!!!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I... kind of want to see some decent Medes? And I expect we will, eventually?

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, a non-evil Mede would be interesting. Next book?

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

I think Kamet is pretty decent, actually. Or, at the least, ambiguous. But I agree--I'm super uncomfortable with the idea that any massive group of people (even fictional ones) can get described as 'slimy worms.'

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

I agree about Kamet, though how much of that comes from his personal position is an interesting question.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Totally! I'm hoping a future book gives us more about him, because there was such tantalizing stuff about what sort of person he might be if he was apart from Nahuseresh.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

This, yes.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, yes--basically, I agree with what everyone above me has said about non-evil Medes and the desire to read about them.

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

YES. The two ambassadors were pretty similar.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Totally agree. So far i'm hoping their similarities in personality are cultural, too, cause many of the Medes we've met have seemed a bit interchangeable. Again, that's probably because of the cultural point of view we're seeing them through! But yeah. A nice mede would be cool!

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

YOu're probably right about the cultural view of them, but the Ambassaodrs we've met haven't done anything to endear themselves to Sounis or Attolia. They're too busy looking down their noses. (Probably becasue they are so wealthy) If they ever go to war with the Mede, I could see Gen slipping into Medea and meeting a variety of different Medes. And Gen can play sweat when he wants to, so I'm sure there will be some to be nice to him.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

Not that it's necessary, but adding my voice to the chorus of agreement with this comment. :)

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I should have said we all know Mede Ambassadors are slimy worms, I feel sorry for the regular Medes who have to live with a government that is not always on the up and up. (Besides, I think we can make an exception for Kamet, he was Mede under duress!)

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

I have a weird soft spot for Sejanus after my last re-read of KoA. I mean, I don't think he was RIGHT, or anything, but the fact remains that he was mostly acting to help his brother. And the fact that Attolia's court is so treacherous that he and Dite had to pretend they hated each other--eeeek.

However! I think my real answer is the second Ion from CofK. I find myself super fascinated by him and want to know what happens!

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

The second Ion... I didn't know quite what to make of him. Especially his name. What do you think was meant by giving them both the same name? Especially given most peoples' names in this series are so important. Maybe the name kind of disarmed Sophos towards him, leading Sophos to trust where he shouldn't?

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

That's a really good point!! I never thought of it taht way, and just the other day my sister and I were trying to figure out why there were 2 Ions. You just solved a mystery!

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Sejanus is definetly one you can love to hate! I know it's easy to want to strangle Gen sometimes, but Gen wasn't even doing anything to annoy Sejanus. It was more the fact that he was alive! And I definetly feel sorry for the both brothers, maybe they would have turned out differently if they had a different father, one who wasn't so strong or spiteful.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Sounis!

(Fun typing that --we should set up some stone lions for people to ride through when they join).

What a good question! When I was reading The Thief, I definitely loved hating the Magus. He's so darn smug and condescending, especially when talking about Gen's mother falling out of a window!

However, he got his comeuppance and more, and since that scene where Eugenides STEALS him in QoA I've MORE than forgiven the poor man... <3

The "problem" is that most of these characters, except the medes, are sort of impossible to hate for long. I can hate their actions, but not them. I mean, I definitely didn't like Attolia for, you know, the space of certain chapters, at a certain time. But I soon changed...

I CAN say I don't like the prison guard in KoA who Gen almost has ganched. And I don't like Sophos's father for letting him grow up with such poor self-esteem and keeping him ignorant of his love for Sophos's mother. Not that that was totally his fault. And I still like him overall.

You see? Difficult.

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (I don't mind stone lions!)

I completely agree about Attolia. When my sister read QoA for the first time, she came bursting into my room to tell me "Attolia is evil!" Now, Irene is her favorite character.

You know who else I don't like? Attolia's incompetants. Everywhere you turn in Attolia, there is always somone incompetant messing things up. (Like not checking Gen's other wounds, or assuming Gen wasn't included among the prisoners to be released. How about in TT, when they left everything form Gen's pockets sitting on the table next to him, including his lock picks!! I wonder if they suffered any consequences??)

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

No wonder Attolia has to be so tough!! It's not her barons she's keeping in line, it's the people who work for her ;)

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha so true! However I feel rather sorry for them if there WERE consequences. I don't think I'd like to work for Attolia much. No wonder Gen didn't want to in the thief.