(urth) Urth Digest, Vol 43, Issue 2

[stoneox17 at aol.com]

Dan <autarch at vippn.com> wrote


> At 09:00 PM 3/10/2008, you wrote:

>> Some questions, which I think answer each other.
>> Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I don't
>> remember it.
>
>> Who killed Valentin?
>> The obvious suspect is Lesage, who seems to be the only
>> person who really hated him.
>
>> But how did Lesage know where to find him?  And, in a
>> related vein, what did Ignacio do to win Lesage's trust?
>
>> If the answers are what I think they are, this is really chilling.
>
>> Peter

> The buccaneers were laughing at Chris when he asked if they'd seen
> Valentin, because Lesage had recently offered them a reward for 
Valentin
> and they thought that was why Chris was looking for him too. It's 
clear
> Lesage found him first.

> Lesage seemed to have the uncanny knack of being able to be in the 
right
> place at the right time, show up when it was profitable and be 
delayed when
> things went awry. In fact, the characters even discussed this at one 
point
> and were at a loss to figure it out. In a story where time travel is
> possible, this rises above the point of coincidence and is evidence 
that
> someone has pre-knowledge of events. Chris seems very wary of Lesage 
but
> says little about him, almost as if he doesn't have to or doesn't 
want to.
> I believe that Lesage was the visitor at the beginning, for whom 
Chris
> wrote the book. Chris was very paranoid about not messing with the 
timeline
> as Ignacio and realized that for things to turn out right for him, 
Lesage
> would have to go back as well. With Chris' manuscript, he would know 
what
> to do and where and when to show up or stay away.

Exactly.  Lesage seems to know too much for him not to have had inside
information from the future.  My assumption (and it wasn't my idea) is 
that
Ignacio has been feeding him this information.  Why?  So that 
everything can
happen exactly as it did before.

> Perhaps Lesage is Chris' son, doing the time travel thing to make 
sure
> things turn out the same to make sure he'll be born! That includes 
killing
> Valentin and betraying everyone at the end.


>> Good questions; I'd love to hear your answers.
>>
>> Re: Ignacio and Lesage: What evidence is there to suggest that 
Lesage ever
>> met "Ignacio?"

>  I don't believe there is any, other than what I speculated on above.


>> As for Valentin - I don't know - I wonder if he killed himself? Chris
>> suggests that possibility... Or perhaps Lesage revealed himself to 
Valentin
>> as Chris and Valentin, seeing the truth, tried to kill his old 
tormentor?
> >And then Chris kills Valentin in self-defense?

> I don't think there was a large seperation in age between Chris and 
Lesage
> not to see a resemblence.

>> Also - do we have any more thoughts on what caused Chris to go back 
in time
>> in the first place?

> At the point when the students become novices, they begin to travel 
back in
> time. I think this was a property of the Monastery. If you recall, 
other
> people also left abruptly, so they may have been doing the same thing.

Now, that is an interesting idea.  I had assumed it was a one-time 
miracle.

>> And what about that "Angel of Death" that Chr says he sees above one 
of
>> the boats?
>> -Matt

> I believe that was after his second raping when he suffered severe 
head
> trauma and was wishing death on his tormentors. An homage to Latro, 
maybe?

I don't have any explanation for this.

--Peter

_______________________________________________
Urth Mailing List
To post, write urth at urth.net
Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net