Blood of Dragons discussion thread - SPOILERS, obvs

['thul]

Its like a favorite drink. They know they're missing something, but they can't seem to figure out what. Tintaglia was for a long time suffering from a problem of not really trusting two-legs to do anything.

[Norma J.]

I hate you all. Am I the only American who still posts here?

Nope!

[Jizdin]

I’ve read a lot of reviews where people thought that RWC were not as good as her other books and were disappointed with BoD, especially the ending. So I wasn’t sure what to expect….Apart from CoD being a tad too short (I just wanted more, more more! ) & there being a few too many Hest POVs in BoD & a few too many descriptions of Malta being pale & tired etc., I really loved these books! I could have read about the Elderlings & dragons & Kelsingra forever, and I really hope that we see some of them again in a future book, to find out how they are all getting on (even if it is just a cameo like with Althea & Brashen in RWC or Selden & Serilla in TM). Please, Robin, Please!

The ending? I loved the ending. The dragons, like the Elderlings (apart from Rapskul-Tellator) & some of the humans, are creating their own rules and a new society, (based more on acceptance and equality), and choosing to live in the now rather than in the past. They can learn from memories and the past but they do not have to live in it or to follow the rules and traditions of their ancestors. ….I felt that Thymara's Amarinda storyline and Tintaglia's last chapter tied this idea together nicely.

Anybody else thought that Sedric will become the Bird Keeper, the way that he was handling the messenger birds? I love that he has started making the city “look nice” (putting trees in the pots in the Square of Dragons). For all of his changes, he’s still Sedric. I think Malta will help him with this in the future. I get the feeling that she will be in charge of the glasshouses/growing flowers & will probably end up with a huge wardrobe of Elderling clothes, like Sedric (she had a large wardrobe in Trehaug, after all). I can see Reyn helping Alise & Carson in exploring, recording and understanding the city (he was an expert on excavation/archaeology at Trehaug & Cassarick). I think Reyn & Malta will take on more of a leadership role, as they are some of the older ones there (along with Carson & Sedric) but they won’t be King & Queen, important decisions will be voted for through the Kelsingra Council.

A few thoughts/questions (sorry if they have already been discussed elsewhere):

Will the Elderlings start developing the Skill, now that the dragons are drinking Silver & presumably strengthening their Skill. We know that the Elderlings can share minds/Skill link with their dragons but so far not with each other. Will this change? Do they need to learn how to use the Skill to be able to master the Elderling magic/artefacts and to work with the Silver itself? This then begs the question, (which has already been asked on this thread) why do the Farseers & the people of the Six Duchies have the Skill? How are they related to the Elderlings & dragons?

How long do the changes go on for when humans are changing into Elderlings. None of the Elderlings at Kelsingra are fully changed yet. Do the changes carry on for the rest of their lives or only last for a few years? I think it is said that if their dragon dies, then the Elderling will die as well/not live as long as they would have done if the dragon had still been alive – which implies that the dragons are continuously controlling their changes for their whole lives. Would Selden be able to marry Chassim & live with her in Chalced? I’m doubtful….if Selden needs to stay near Tintaglia for his changes to be controlled. Also, if they had children, Tintaglia would need to control their changes…but would that be possible if Chassim remained human? These questions would also be an issue with Alum & Skelly, or any other Elderling and human (non-Elderling) pairing.

Leftrin said that his scaling was increasing due to being in close proximity to the dragons. Is this going to be a problem going forward? Will Tarman be able to control his changes? He won’t want to become an Elderling for the same reasons Skelly gives. I think Carson says to Sedric when he first starts scaling, that it is unusual for an adult to start scaling/changing. Those that have grown up/were born in the Rain Wilds, however, and already have some scaling/are Rain Wilds Touched, like Tillamon and the people she will bring back with her from Trehaug, are likely to change more when they are living at Kelsingra (unless they stay in the village across the river – but even then, surely they will have some contact with the dragons/Elderlings), so will they eventually need to be turned into Elderlings? It was said that in past times, humans who did not want to become Elderlings stayed at the village and worked the fields etc. but if they are already Rain Wild Touched, won’t he proximity hasten there changes? The dragons & Elderlings lives at the village for a while, so won’t this have an effect on the humans as well?

Was Amarinda murdered by her ex-lover? When Rapskul & Thymara are in the Silver well, & Rapskul mentions Tellator's love-rival, who also worked the well, Thymara says (I can't remember the exact words but it's something like...) "Beware the jealous man" and then says that she doesn't know where those words suddenly came from. My instant thought was that Amarinda had been murdered while in the well by her jealous/spurned ex-lover, who used the quake as a cover-up.

When Alise first goes into the map tower room, she realises that she might be able to access the locked rooms on the lower floors by going through the broken window and down the ladder to the lower windows. I was expecting her to do this at some point but she never did. Unless....when she came back dazed, after having spent hours using the memory stones, is this where she was?

And now for Fool’s Assassin!

[Jizdin]

More ramblings probably nonsense but who knows...

I always felt that the way that Sedric drinks Relpda’s blood (he doesn’t know why he did at the time, or afterwards) was as if he was compelled to do it, that there were some other forces at work (he also seems mesmerised by the blood in a way that others are not). It reminded me of when Wintrow is drawn to go up the cliff path to the cave & to release She Who Remembers – he doesn’t understand why he’s doing it, just that he must. I always thought that it was his destiny to free She Who Remembers, just as it is his destiny (according to Amber-Fool) to raise and influence the future King of the Pirate Isles, Paragon Ludluck (who presumably will be an important figure/play an important role in the future). I always felt that it was Malta’s destiny to become an Elderling as well.

This got me thinking about the Elderlings that did not choose to become Elderlings (and their dragons did not choose to create Elderlings). For most of the new group of Elderlings, it was a conscious decision by them and their dragon. However, for 5 of them (Malta, Reyn, Selden, Thymara & Sedric), it was not a decision made by themselves or their dragons. It was an accident….or destiny. Out of the Elderlings, these 5 are also the main protagonists.

If I remember correctly, in the Liveship Traders, Tintaglia tells Reyn (while she is carrying him to find Malta) that he is changing into an Elderling due to being in close proximity to her for a long period of time. We know from the RWC that those who are already scaled/Rain Wilds Touched in some way, change more (their changes are accelerated). However, they do not become Elderlings (Greft is an example of this & even Leftrin complains that he is scaling more). Mercor tells Reyn in BoD that he and Selden could have been changed into Elderlings by breathing Tintaglia’s breath as she emerged from her cocoon. This may explain Reyn & Selden’s change into Elderlings, though I’m not entirely convinced, but it does not explain Malta’s change. Yes, she is in the chamber (Rooster chamber?) with Tintaglia while she is in her cocoon, and tries to help her to escape from it, and she does Skill-link with Tintaglia (mainly though dreams and initiated by the dragon), but she does not drink or get on her skin any of Tintaglia’s blood, and she does not breath in or get breathed on by Tintaglia. So why does she change? Tintaglia (I think) says that Malta’s crest is a reward for helping her to escape from her cocoon, but it’s not a reward from Tintaglia. Malta’s delicate blue scaling on her face (as described in CoD) is the work of Tintaglia presumably, but Malta’s red crest, red scaling on her hands & forearms (a describes in Liveship Traders) is not. It is unlikely that Malta’s golden hair is a change brought about/controlled by Tintaglia, as her colours are blue and silver. The red crest, red hands & arms & golden hair, to me are reminiscent of a rooster (very interesting considering the rooster chamber, rooster crown in the books).

Thymara’s changes are also very interesting. That Sintara is the one dragon that does not wish to make an Elderling (apart from Kalo with Greft), and that Thymara ends up growing wings by herself (not a change initiated by her dragon) also makes her, like Malta, very special. Yes, it could just be an accident – she gets blood splattered into her face while removing a snake from Sintara’s wing – but that seems unlikely in a world where destiny plays such a big part. Sintara says that it was because Thymara kept dreaming of flying, but didn’t the other Elderlings ever dream of anything? For long periods of time, Tintaglia was not controlling the changes of Selden, Reyn & Malta. She carried Reyn in her talons while she flew…did he never dream of flying afterwards? Why did he not develop wings?

So, how are these 5 important? Malta starts the rescue effort for Tintaglia by uncovering the door with gears after immersing herself in the memories of the buried Elderling city, and by doing so assists in restoring dragons to the world. She rescues the Satrap and negotiates a treaty between Jamailia, Bingtown and the Pirate Isles. She is the first Elderling to have offspring. She pours the Silver into Tintaglia’s mouth, thus saving the next generation of dragons. Reyn & Selden free Tintaglia. Reyn tries to protect the Elderling cities and artefacts from being destroyed or sold. Selden becomes a Singer and by his association with Chassim, saves her (she would have been destroyed by the dragons if he had not been with her), thus helping peace to be established between Chalced and other places. Thymara, through her memories from Amarinda, restores Silver to the well, which enables Tintaglia and her future offspring to be saved (& helps & strengthens the other dragons). Sedric saves Relpda from being killed by Jess and by killing Jess (or helping to kill him – I am not sure if he was alive or dead when Relda bit him in half), helped to protect the other dragons that Jess would have tried to kill as well. Through his bond with Relpda he sharpened her mind and helped her to fly.

Does any of this make them more important than the other Elderlings? Maybe or maybe not…I’m not sure….I just feel that all 5 were somehow destined to become Elderlings for a reason. Maybe their important time has already passed (the things that they have already done)…or maybe it is still to come.

[BrilliantFarseer]

Was Amarinda murdered by her ex-lover? When Rapskul & Thymara are in the Silver well, & Rapskul mentions Tellator's love-rival, who also worked the well, Thymara says (I can't remember the exact words but it's something like...) "Beware the jealous man" and then says that she doesn't know where those words suddenly came from. My instant thought was that Amarinda had been murdered while in the well by her jealous/spurned ex-lover, who used the quake as a cover-up.

No. Thymara finds Amarinda's corpse in the Silver Well. Amarinda closed off the Silver Well before the earthquake, fire or whatever disaster would cause a Silver leak.