Predictions (MAJOR progressive spoilers on all books)

[Nuytsia]

It's out of character but, as it is, I am solidly turning my back on lots of other tasks which are vying for my attention..selfish, really ! My daughter is also very ill so I've found it's been easier to maintain my vigil by reading until I fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning rather than trying to get by with on-going broken sleep (which only makes me feel worse!).

I'm sure those 'other tasks' can wait - you look after yourself
(and your daughter) if you're ill !!!! (hmm wanted to put a sternly wagging finger but there's no emoticon for that)
Ok have a grouphug instead to get better :


Sorry I can't contribute to this thread as my memories of this trilogy are too vague and I think I had no idea what was going on re the complexities of magic etc a lot of the time!

[Farseer]

Ah, shucks, thanks Nuytsia. I am feeling much better today. Though I didn't get a lot read last night (dozed off mid-way through Chapter Sixteen ), I DID manage a restful and much-needed sleep!

Now, the patterns on the external walls and internal floors of Kinrove's shelter made me sit up and prick my ears...sounds very like something related to Orandula to me, though I don't know why exactly...the mention of red and black with a touch of ochre? Though croaker birds have white, not ochre, colouring so that is not a particularly well-supported theory on my part !

I just can't decide which way I think Nevare will go with this one life or death he must offer to balance the life of the bird he took from Orandula!!! Though Orandula has recently said that he will take Likari, I had sort of expected Nevare to sacrifice his 'Nevare' aspect of himself, and thus 'choose life', just as he chose life with Tree Woman/Lisana. I thought he'd consider that a better option than to 'die' by losing his awareness in Soldier's Boy?

At the same time, I also expect him to unite with Soldier's Boy as it will only be when they are whole that they will be powerful enough in their magic and knowledge to find the solution? Still, these seem far too obvious for a Hobb climax and finish!

Maybe Nevare will even go back to his Kidona training at some point? The Kidona have as much right to the land as the Gernians and the Specks so I would like to see that they are made a part of whatever future takes place, or will this just be about the warring between the Specks and Gernians?!

As for the solution, I'm clueless, though somewhere in there may be something from Caulder's uncle and the rocks he is searching for...such an unknown HE is...he sounds as if he has an evil intent but maybe that's just his personality and an off-shoot of the excitement he is experiencing throughout his on-going discoveries? Will he provide a key...for good, or ill?! Epiny will certainly have a role. Oh, it's so exciting!!!!

[Farseer]

I had sort of expected Nevare to sacrifice his 'Nevare' aspect of himself, and thus 'choose life', just as he chose life with Tree Woman/Lisana. I thought he'd consider that a better option than to 'die' by losing his awareness in Soldier's Boy?

Not sure if I've got this right now or not but I just had a look back to the time when Nevare got shot and he actually DID already offer his life to Orandula. Orandula said in response, "Give me a life that is yours to give before you die." This suggests to me that Nevare CAN'T offer his own life because it's no longer his to give...his life (and that of Soldier's Boy) belongs instead to the magic, and therefore can't be used as an offering to Orandula! Aha !!

This is most likely a bit sketchier but, if this is the case, Epiny could not be used either, even though I think I remember that Orandula lists her as one of the possible lives that Nevare could give, as she too promised her life to the magic. If correct, the only way her life could be made forfeit would be if it suited the purposes of the magic for her to sacrifice it on Nevare's behalf ,so as to bring balance.

A few pages to go and then I will begin Chapter Eighteen...so much harder to keep focused with my life again impeding my reading time!

[Nuytsia]

Glad to hear you're feeling better and have got some good sleep in!
Gees I think so much of these books went over my head!
Although I have a feeling some things just don't get resolved at all. Unless I missed some things .... which is possible..... this was the first Hobb books I ever read so I didn't know to watch out for so much complexity as I went along...

[Farseer]

Been doing other things (like replying on thePlenty!) so only just finished Chapter Seventeen. As soon as Soldier's Son said,"Fire fears no magic," I thought of the arrows with the cage things on the end, that Nevare noticed at the Trading Place...oohh!

Given my earlier comments re the roles of Speck females, I am surprised that there are not more female Great Ones.

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I imagine, if Soldier Son's 'final solution' takes place as he plans, it will be Spink and/or Epiny who will be allowed to live, visit with the Gernian royals and then take the role of sole trader/s with the Specks?

[Farseer]

Oh, no! I thought of Likari as soon as Soldier's Boy found out it would be those of his kin-clan who were to be summoned to dance, and so I was relieved to hear that a feeder such as he could not be summoned...such a short-lived relief!!

As Nevare is the narrator of the story, it is safe to assume his aspect survives, either alone or reunited with his Soldier's Son aspect?

I get the drift that Epiny's father will do well by him and his soldier son's journal, and it will later bear some huge significance. When Epiny told Nevare her father was angry, I don't think it was with him but possibly toward the injustice he'd suffered or even an anger directed at Nevare's father for having put him on the path of magic via his Kidona training? Possibly he will try and forward it to the queen via his wife's close relationship with her? Maybe the wife/aunt (can't remember her name but the one who despised Nevare!) will even be the one to offer the journal, to better her positioning before the queen but it won't work as she expects it to?

Hm, Epiny/Spink + rocks found by Caulder's uncle + soldier son journal + Queen of Gernia...these are things I'm fairly certain of! Despite his love for Amzil and Lisana, I still think maybe the girl Nevare met in the beginning will prove important. He did her a favour and showed bravery that he was never given credit for. I expect she will return, remember him somehow and repay the debt.

[Farseer]

I'm thinking Spink DID remember the dream and the message given to him by Nevare...and took Amzil and kids, and Epiny and baby, to the safety of the cemetery? He was only surprised because he had not expected Nevare to he heading the party, or to see him in the flesh again?

[Farseer]

Soldier's Son is going to ask Kinrove to use his magic to merge he and Nevare, isn't he, because he can't do it himself?!

[Farseer]

It's as I thought but I am too suspicious of Kinrove to believe he will do this thing as Soldier's Son imagines he will...if I were him, I'd be fearing the foods he is about to eat! I think Likari isn't allowed to eat any of it for a different reason other than that it is only meant to be consumed by a Great One...Kinrove's cooking up something !!

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Ok, am reading Chapter Twenty-Six and Nevare has just danced near Yaril asking her to remind Carsina of their love...I can only imagine that this is for her husband's benefit so he may know he wrongly judged Nevare with what happened at the cemetery.

I am also starting to think that the dance will right everything and Nevare will truly end up returning to his father "clouded in glory", just not the kind of glory that they both always expected...and I'm thinking that it will be Nevare who becomes the "one in Gernian authority" who speaks for the Specks and the only one through who all future trade with the Specks will flow, and not Spink.

[Farseer]

Me again ! Oh, my gosh...talk about sob my way through Nevare's goodbyes !!! Such a spin-out to realise that his dad was only doing as the magic had bid all along, just as Hitch had to! Of course, I knew that his reactions toward Nevare were prompted by the magic, in a manner of speaking to make Nevare leave his life behind, but I didn't even consider that the magic may have actually held his father firmly in its power.

Orandula has just landed in Nevare's tree (I cried when he made that too and was reunited with Lisana!) and so I have to make a final prediction...hmm...Nevare will choose life, thinking he will remain as he is with Lisana BUT Orandula will instead give him another chance at his own life. I'm not sure if it will be in his body (or the body he was meant to have without the magic) or maybe even to come back as a baby boy with Spink and Epiny as parents (who they will name Nevare, as they always said they would if they had a son)??!!

The build-up and tension is AMAZING!!!!!