(urth) The Sorcerer's House Questions (*Major Spoilers*)

[Gwern Branwen]

On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 9:25 PM, Thomas Bitterman <tom at bitterman.net> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 6:53 PM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> OK; I'll reiterate - how could Bax have planned the inheritance, the
>> various events that made George willing to come, George's offer, the
>> two pistols, Faerie, and the independent corroboration that makes the
>> final replacement at all possible (the psychic's letters, the letters
>> from his prison friends, the end note's asseveration that Bax really
>> did come into the wealth he claimed to've in his letters), all from
>> the very getgo as a starving ex-con who was breaking into houses and
>> construction sites?
>
> Nothing in the letters actually happened.  Bax knew Millie had a thing for
> him
> before he went to prison.  So did George - it accounts for his anger toward
> Bax, his meanness to Millie, and his desire to throw Bax in jail.
>
> While in jail, Bax decides to kill and replace his brother.  He befriends a
> forger
> (Lou) and a killer ("shotgun" Shel, which I just got) and learns some
> skills.
>
> When he gets out he starts writing these flowery letters, full of fairy tale
> monsters.
> He sends them to George, knowing that George will read them, and then
> Millie.
> Bax knows the effect this will have on George, and baits him to come to
> Medicine
> Man.  Bax kills him, forges a will, and gets the money and the girl.
>
> When it comes right down to it, we are presented with no evidence that any
> of the
> events described actually happened.  The Compiler makes no effort to check
> out
> title records, police logs or other documentation that would corroborate the
> story.  His removal of dates makes it that much harder for anybody
> interested
> to check, also.  Why would he do this?  Because Bax is the Compiler, and
> this
> book is him gloating over his big scam.

The hound of horror would be very checkable, especially if the
archives really do bristle with stories.

-- 
gwern