Translations and covers in other countries (beware RotE spoilers)

['thul]

These beings did not check the details when guessing there. If the railing is different, then it obviously is another liveship. It could be ophelia, and it could be some other female liveship.

What color hair did Vivicia have again?

also, Paragon looks quite powerful there, yes.

[joost]

Vivacia:
[...]She has golden colored locks of hair[...]

Ophelia
[...]Her figurehead is located on the beakhead, not below the bowsprit[...]

So book #3 is Vivacia. The figurehead in #1 is too high to be Ophelia.

['thul]

Thought as much. Though it is long since 'thul read LST, black hair did not compute on her.

The ships in the LST books do not really have a well-defined bowsprit the way more typical tall ships have on Tellus.

[finella]

I don't like the new covers at all . To me they look somehow cheap and sensational.
Also I remember Ophelia as the motherly type of figurehead and family-ship. She sometimes could become a bit nasty, she was cheating when playing cards or so, but in a way she was very matronly. That cover doesn't fit to my mental picture of her at all.
I own the 1999 UK HC edition of the Liveship Traders. THAT are beautiful covers. Does anybody know them?

['thul]

True. The ships don't match the description of Ophelia. It was merely a guess from 'thul, since that was one of few named liveships that were female. The ones 'thul recall now as named and gendered were Vivacia, Ophelia, Paragon, Kendry. (excluding barges like Tarman)
No doubt a quick look in the wiki would reveal another few.

[Farseer]

Thought as much. Though it is long since 'thul read LST, black hair did not compute on her.

I'd say that the first cover is Bolt (Vivacia with her dragon aspect holding the position of ascendancy), the second Paragon and the third Vivacia . I know that Bolt was described as having black hair at one point, and I think she even went so far as having silverish glints or some such as that reminded me of memory stone. Bolt's eyes were also black/dark, differing in colour to Vivacia's eyes. I like that the artist has obviously read the books and unearthed this subtle distinction between Vivacia and Bolt's aspects but they are in the incorrect order at present...SOM should depict Vivacia and SOD should depict Bolt.

The thing that I don't like about the covers in the depiction of Paragon. His face is intact where it shouldn't be.

---

^ Erk...okay...just went back a page and took a better look at the pics AND your other posts...yes, the actual ship railing in the first and third covers look entirely different (aside from the figurehead differences as well). Hmm...

I have to agree that I took Ophelia to be somewhat 'matronly', not to mention 'ample', though she was vain and sassy so...

...more research may be required!

[Farseer]

Just a thought on Vivacia...while she did change physically during her transformation as Bolt (to have black hair and dark eyes), I'm fairly certain that she did also change once more when she became a 'merged' or 'whole' version of both herself and Bolt. I don't recall her hair changing back to her previous blonde locks but I do remember that Althea had noticed her eyes had changed their green colour...which possibly suggests that by the time Althea had seen her again, she had changed/reverted pretty much back to her former colouring with only slight changes eg in that she closely resembled the Vivacia of old, and not so much Bolt, but with some small changes? If so, this then could be in line with the blonde hair of the figurehead on the final cover?

Possibly there is something about Ophelia's colouring mentioned where she suggested changing her hair at one stage. I think this happened during a conversation with Grag, Althea and Tomie when she was hoping that Amber could recarve her burned hands (which later did happen)?

If only I had a Kindle or some such to search with...! Anyone here have one?

['thul]

These beings have all of them in digital form, so they copied a few sections describing her...

lots o' LST spoilers

wo days ago she had spotted the Ophelia in the harbor. The sight of the old liveship's silvery hull and smiling figurehead had moved her with a depth that shocked her.

The Ophelia was one of the oldest liveships, the first generation as it were. She was a blowzy old cog, bawdy and lewd when the mood took her, and patrician and commanding at other times. A willful lady was the kindest way she had ever heard Ophelia described.

"You lied to my captain." The Ophelia had a husky, courtesan's voice, sweet as dark honey. "Boy," she added belatedly. She gave Althea a sideways glance. Ophelia, like many figureheads of her day, had been arrayed upon the beakhead of the ship, rather than positioned below the bowsprit. The glance she gave Althea over her bare and ample shoulder was an arch warning against lying.

Oh, and below last section was a note about her being a gambler.

"Why bother? I think you already know it." Althea prayed it was no more than her sex. If that was all Ophelia knew and all she could reveal, then she was still relatively safe. Violence aboard a liveship was not unheard of, but it was rare. The emotions that radiated from violence were too unsettling to the ship. Most of the ships themselves disdained violence, although it was rumored that the Shaw had a mean streak, and had once even called for the flogging of an incompetent hand who'd spilled paint on him. But the Ophelia, for all her blowzy airs, was a lady, and a kind-hearted one as well. Althea doubted she would be raped aboard such a ship, though the rough courtship of a sailor attempting to be gallant could be almost as fierce and bruising. Consider Brashen, for instance, she thought to herself, and then she wished she hadn't. Lately he popped into her mind at unguarded moments. She probably should have hunted him down in Candletown and bid him good-bye. That was all she was missing, putting a final close to things. Above all, she should never have let him have the last word.

"Well, you are right, I do know at least a part of it." The Ophelia laughed huskily. Her lips were painted scarlet, her own conceit. Her teeth were very white when she laughed. She lowered both her eyelashes and her voice as she said more softly, "And right now I'm the only one that knows it. As I'm sure you'd like it to remain."

"As I am sure it will," Althea replied sweetly, shaking the dice box soundly. "For a lady so grand as yourself could never be so petty as to give away another's secret."

"No?" She smiled with a corner of her mouth. "Do you not think I have a duty to reveal to my captain that one of his hands is not what he thinks him to be?"

Ophelia asked her with a throaty chuckle. The buxom
figurehead gave her a knowing glance over her bared shoulder.

It was the first time Althea had had a clear look at the damage. The tarry fireballs had clung to her fingers as they burned her. It had licked up the inside of Ophelia's left wrist. Her patrician hands looked like those of a scrub maid.

Ophelia smiled nervously. Then a wondering look came into her eyes. "If your work on my hands is successful, then perhaps something could be done about my hair as well." She lifted a hand to touch the long loose curls of her mane. "This style is so dated. I have often thought that if I could contrive ringlets around my face and ..."
"Oh, Ophelia." Tomie groaned as the others laughed.
Amber had kept possession of one of Ophelia's hands. Her head was still bent over it, examining the damage. "I may have great difficulty in matching the stain. Never have I seen stain that mimics so well the color of flesh without obscuring the grain of the wood. Someone told me that a liveship creates its own colors as it awakens." She met Ophelia's eyes without selfconsciousness as she asked, "Will that happen again, if I have to plane so deep that I expose uncolored wood?"

Grag smiled understandingly. "In your position, I'm sure I would be as preoccupied. I continue to ask every ship that comes into the harbor for word of her. I'm afraid that is as much as I can do right now. Next month, when we sail again to Jamaillia, I will seek word from every ship I encounter."
"Thank you," she told him warmly. Then, as his look became too tender, she distracted him. "I have missed Ophelia. If I had not promised Mother that I would be more conservative in my behavior, I would have come calling on her. The only time I ventured down there, the Satrap's tariff guards challenged me. For the sake of propriety, I did not make an issue of it." She sighed, then changed her tone. "So Amber was able to repair Ophelia's hands."
Grag leaned back in his chair. He squinted his eyes in the afternoon
sunlight. "More than repair. She had to reshape them as a whole to keep the more slender fingers proportional. When Ophelia expressed concern for the scraps of wizardwood that had to be removed, Amber made a practice of saving every scrap in a special box. They never left the fore-deck. The loss of them seemed very threatening to Ophelia; I was surprised that someone not of Bingtown stock could be so perceptive to the ship's distress. Now she has even gone one step further. After consulting with Ophelia, she has gained my father's permission to refashion the larger scraps into a bracelet for the ship. She will cut the pieces into fine rods and bars and then peg them together. 'No other liveship in the harbor possesses such jewelry, made not only by a prominent artist but carved of her own wizardwood.' Ophelia is ecstatic."

Judging from the above quotes, it does not appear that Ophelia changed her hair. Mind you, this is only from the first book and a half.
She tried convincing her captain to allow restructured hair, but obviously it did not happen.

[finella]

Possibly there is something about Ophelia's colouring mentioned where she suggested changing her hair at one stage. I think this happened during a conversation with Grag, Althea and Tomie when she was hoping that Amber could recarve her burned hands (which later did happen)?

If only I had a Kindle or some such to search with...! Anyone here have one?

I have a Kindle and started searching for Ophelia (one of my favorite characters). And right away stuck in one of my favorite scenses with her. When Grag and Tomie Tenira told Althea, that they know who she is and what the three of them (including Ophelia) have cooked up for her so that she can stay aboard as Althea. THAT is soooo funny ""Grag was easy, of course, Grag's always easy, aren't you, my lamb?" (Ophelia said that) She didn't wait for the mate' murmured assent." My lamb - I roll around with laughter. Sorry for this short excursion. I go on searching, as I couldn't find something about Ophelia's colour.

[Farseer]

I like that the artist has obviously read the books and unearthed this subtle distinction between Vivacia and Bolt's aspects but they are in the incorrect order at present...SOM should depict Vivacia and SOD should depict Bolt.

I've been looking at the John Howe cover of Ship of Magic for days (seeing as I'm supposed to be re-reading it!) and have only just realised something...he too depicted his ship, Vivacia, as having dark hair on his cover. Who else could it really be but Vivacia? I always just assumed that's who it was and the figure standing up the front was Althea...despite the fact that Althea also has the wrong hair colour. They should be changed around.

Interesting that both covers would depict a ship with dark hair, especially if both are meant to depict Vivacia despite her having blonde hair and green eyes until she became Bolt.

The thing that I don't like about the covers in the depiction of Paragon. His face is intact where it shouldn't be.

I had to come back and explain this as it comes across as overly abrupt, I think! I actually like everything else about the picture of Paragon except that is face is still intact...yes, that's better.

It's 2:54am. I'm going for a sleep for an hour or so...I've had to make three edits on this thing already!