GOODKIND VI: THE PHANTOM MENACING

[14th Dragon]

Well, as far a boxing yourself in goes, Terry does a fine job. I'm just wondering if he planned this twist or he got to the point where he couldn't figure out where he was going and so rewrote the rules. (Though I thought the cheese bit was a response to awakening of his gift, the meat was the only balance part.)

Anyway, what Richard seems to have missed, for now or for a while, is that despite the neccesity of having to kill, the balance was not break even on morals (since had this been the case the other War Wizards would have been eating meat all the time right?) but was more a case of balancing out failure. (Killing usually being a last resort, though in the Terryverse it is often the first.) If it has come to the point where killing is the most moral action, then at some point you failed to act properly. (See the number of times that Richard has unleashed the next greast horror with his moral actions.) Even the most moral of actions still come with a price. Or at least that seems to be how it was presented in book 2.

[Knight of the Wineskin]

Borders sent me a coupon for Phantom.

My inbox has been permanently sullied.

[Moosicus]

Not eating meat or cheese to balance the killing he does isn't something he originally thought of himself. Shortly after his "gift" started to develop and well before he began slaughtering people on a regular basis, he started having an aversion to meat and cheese. It's sometime in the second book when it is explained to him that it is a price for being a war wizard. I think maybe Terry decided that being a vegitarian was too pansy-ass for Richard the big hero, and so decided to sneak out of it. Through reason, of all things.

[niamh]

.

"The Sword of Truth's magic, as my gift, could only again be viable when I comprehended - completely - that the magic needs no balance for the killing I've done because the killing I've done is not only moral, but the only moral course of action I could have taken.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. That's the new one?

He's gone batshit insane, that's not even funny anymore.

[TLL17]

For a special treat this morning, here is an exclusive extract from The Winds of Winter - not sure how GRRM got it written so fast, maybe he had some help...

Arya brought up her sword, touching the crimson blade to her forehead. She gave the whole of herself over.

“Needle,†she whispered in supplication, “be true this day.â€

Bringer of death.

“Dance with me, Death,†she murmured. “I am ready.â€

The hordes of invisible lizards advanced, the latest horror to be unleashed by the invasion of the Others. The Westeros army had long fled in confusion at the advancing expanse of invisible beasts. Beasts of death. But Arya heeded her inner voices. This was the reason for her being struck blind all those years ago, which may or may not have been permanent. She no longer needed to see, to deal death with her blade.

Arya stalked among the lines of invisible lizards, from time to time turning and slicing with her blade. They hissed in astonishment as they died; their blood suddenly visible as it spurted from severed limbs and heads and punctured abdomens and other mortal wounds dealt by this silent killer. Grey shapes flashed past in the corner of her vision and she heard the sound of things dying that hadn't been killed by her. She frowned with confusion and rejoined the savage battle. Each commitment of her blade found flesh.

Under her breath she recited her list, and mentally ticked off each lizard as she killed it - "Lizard 35, lizard 36, lizard 37..."

Arya heard howls, and tried to wipe the invisible lizard blood from her eyes to see what was going on. She saw fur. Grey fur. Claws and teeth ripped into the attackers. Jaws bit off invisible bits of flesh. Tails wagged ferociously.

Arya stepped back as a direwolf landed in front of her, squashing the lizard who was about to kill her. It was Nymeria. There were direwolves everywhere. That was the shapes she had seen.

Suddenly the direwolves had killed all of the lizards. Wolves howled. Dying lizards groaned. Arya laughed.

Jon hugged her from behind. "I thought you were dead or possibly married to that Bolton, and I thought the Others were going to kill me!"

Sam Tarly approached and explained how the direwolves were the ancient enemy of the invisible lizards , and they had been given special powers by the Children of the Forest that would enable them to see and kill them. Arya and Jon laughed.

Red eyes gathered on the battlefield. Arya's dark mood brightened to see Nymeria's menacing mien. She hurried over to the wolf. It felt so good to be hugging that shaggy fur and she laughed with tears in here eyes, a face that had been a stranger to tears for so long.

"I love you Nymeria! I knew you'd come back!" she wept.

"Nrrrr lrrrrrr Arrrrrrrrr yrrrrrrrrrr" growled Nymeria happily, then backed away, looking at the other wolves.

Arya felt a lump rising in her throat. "Are you going to stay with us, Nymeria?" she asked fearfully.

In answer, Nymeria shook her head, and another direwolf trotted up. From its manly size and masculine demeanour, Arya could tell it was a male.

"Nymeria, you have a husband? Will you be staying with him at the Trident?"

Nymeria nodded with a wolfish smile, and nuzzled her mate.

"But you will come and visit us at Winterfell, won't you? We would love to have you there, any time you're in the North..."

You know, until reading that I was hoping for Arya and Nymeria to be reunited, although Martin always handles these things his way.

Now, having undergone the Yearded One's take on things, I'm not so sure.

Oh well, it is Martin. I'm sure he won't screw it up whatever he does.

[Moosicus]

.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. That's the new one?

He's gone batshit insane, that's not even funny anymore.

Its from Naked Empire actually, I don't have the new one yet. But soon. Soon.

[14th Dragon]

Not eating meat or cheese to balance the killing he does isn't something he originally thought of himself. Shortly after his "gift" started to develop and well before he began slaughtering people on a regular basis, he started having an aversion to meat and cheese. It's sometime in the second book when it is explained to him that it is a price for being a war wizard. I think maybe Terry decided that being a vegitarian was too pansy-ass for Richard the big hero, and so decided to sneak out of it. Through reason, of all things.

Damn, I was sure it was only the meat deal. Cheese doesn't even make any sense in that context. IIRC in book six, despite not killing in a while and back to a balanced diet including milk fed veal, while standing in line in Altur Rang, he was internally complaining about the fact that Nicci could only get cheese and he still found it to be nasty.

But his aversion to meat did start after he had used his gift to kill his father, so his gift became manifest and he supposedly needed the balance. But I was sure that the cheese bit was a function of his gift changing his eating habits. Cheese just tasted nasty, but meat litterally turned his stomach, smelled like road kill or something to that effect.

[Moosicus]

14D, I'm pretty sure they're the same. Cheese and meat were both off his diet because his gift changed his eating habits in order to create balance.

[TLL17]

:sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick:

Now I know Terry has been watching bad hentai from Japan.

*throws up in a corner*

Now don't be going around and insulting bad hentai by lowering it to Goodkind's level. At least hentai is honest about being mysognistic.

Personally, I think he got the whole nipple thing from watching the latest Friday the 13th film where Jason was in space and some robot android babe was running around without nipples on her boobs. Can't really remember, though, as that's just what people have told me about it.

[14th Dragon]

14D, I'm pretty sure they're the same. Cheese and meat were both off his diet because his gift changed his eating habits in order to create balance.

I might need to make a trip to the library and check on that quote from the sixth book. I am sure that despite being back on meat he was still off the cheese. Though that could have been a fiber problem.

[Moosicus]

Personally, I think he got the whole nipple thing from watching the latest Friday the 13th film where Jason was in space and some robot android babe was running around without nipples on her boobs. Can't really remember, though, as that's just what people have told me about it.

It may be the other way around. Jason X came out in 2001, Blood of the Fold came out in '96. Jason X was far better written though.

[niamh]

So now Richard is going to kill as many animals as he can to balance out the morality of killing people maybe? It is turning insane, the guy is loosing hold of reality.

Is nobody telling him he's raving?

[Moosicus]

So now Richard is going to kill as many animals as he can to balance out the morality of killing people maybe? It is turning insane, the guy is loosing hold of reality.

Is nobody telling him he's raving?

That would be a sure sign of lacking moral clarity. You only talk to Dick like that if you're suicidal.

[niamh]

That would be a sure sign of lacking moral clarity. You only talk to Dick like that if you're suicidal.

That's what I thought

I wonder if the publishers are getting privately worried~

[14th Dragon]

I wonder if the publishers are getting privately worried~

Not as long as the money keeps pouring in.

[Moosicus]

That's what I thought

I wonder if the publishers are getting privately worried~

Dick could rip the spines out of a hundred orphans and justify it as perfectly moral, and so long as lots of people still buy it, the publishers won't care. Hmm, come to think about it, it's about time Dick killed a bunch of orphans. And maybe go on a rampage through an old folks home.

[TLL17]

I feel kind of bad for all that stuff the Mad Mouse had to type out so I like to take my own stab at it.

The sword was not there for decoration; it was a weapon. He looked to be a man who had made a great many desperate decisions of late, and had lived through them all. Hmm...Now if he had died from his desperate decisions he couldn't very well be there right?

Already, many of the women in the room had recovered their composure and were beginning to flash him private smiles as they batted their lashes, falling into their well-practiced habits of ingratiating themselves with those wielding power. Even if the man were not ruggedly handsome, they would have done the same, but perhaps with less sincerity. Lord Rahl either didn't notice their warming demeanor, or chose not to. Women, they can't help it. They always go for the Alpha male. It's a good thing Richard posess such vast amount of moral clarity.

Though he was young and ill at ease being the center of all eyes, this was a man who would fight with a vengeance. Tobias had seen eyes like this before. This was a man who would jump headlong over a cliff to come after you. Tobias has great presence of mind. If I jumped over a cliff and someone jumped after me I doubt I would spare the time to check out his eyes.

"They will not be halted by borders or by reason. Men with the blood of babes on their blades have no ethics. Don't you dare stand there and try to tell me otherwise;

This awesome rhetorics puts the crowd in trance. but...

"And who were these troops?" Someone else asked. "Many were D'Haran, by your own admission. You lead the D'Harans, by your own admission. When the boundary came down last spring, the D'Harans swept in and committed atrocities much the same as you recount. [...] Now you ask us to believe you? Yeah that is a good question. Why are all Richard’s buddies war criminals?

"I stand against everything Darken Rahl stood for. He would stop at no evil act to have his way.

I do not lust to rule. I take up the sword only because I have the ability to help oppose oppression."I take up this challenge only because the sword has been thrust into my hand. I ask that you not judge me by who my father was, but by what I do. I do not slaughter innocent, defenseless people. That nasty little girl was apparently not innocent. The Imperial Order does. Until I violate the trust of honest people, I have the right to be granted honest judgment. Hmm.. honest people.

"All we want is peace," someone shouted.

Lord Rahl nodded. "I, too, wish nothing more than that there were peace, and I could go home to my beloved woods and lead a simple life, but I can't, any more than we can go back to the simple innocence of our childhood. This is so poignant, I hope Terry stops before I start crying. Responsibility has been thrust upon me. Sniff.

[...]"It is too late for that. You have had your chance. The Mother Confessor suffered your bickering and intractability." Lord Rahl slammed his sword back into its scabbard. "I will not."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Midlands is not your toy!"

[...]"I am here to dictate the terms of your surrender."

Richard calls forth the local obergruppenfuhrer that tells the eurocommies that resistance is futile.

"You had a chance at unity, and you squandered it. That chance has passed into history. You now have but two choices. Your first is to choose to side with the Imperial Order. They will rule with an iron fist. You will have no say, and no rights. If you live, your lives will be a dark struggle without the spark of hope for freedom. .You will be their slaves. sounds bad.

"Your other choice is to surrender to D'Hara. You will follow the law of D'Hara. Once you are one with us, you will have a say in those laws. We have no desire to extinguish the diversity that is the Midlands. You will have the right to the fruits of your labor and the right to trade and flourish, as long as you work within the larger context of law and the rights of others. Magic will be protected, and your children will be born into a world of freedom, where anything is possible. sounds good.

"And once the Imperial Order is exterminated, there will be peace. True peace. The eurocommies saw white froth covering Richard's lips.

"There will be a price: your sovereignty. While you will be allowed to maintain your own lands and cultures, you will not be allowed to have standing armies.

"Much as you all paid a tribute to Aydindril, no land, no people, will bear all the burden of freedom; all lands, all people, will pay a tax sufficient to see to the common defense, and no more.

The room erupted with protests, with most claiming it would be robbery of what was theirs. Lord Rahl silenced them with nothing more than his glare. Really, why are people so difficult. Becoming protectorates under the former Nazi-Germany with their new benelovent leader( He says so.) who wants peace (When all his enemies are exterminated.) That sounds like an easy choice to me.

[…] All will participate in attaining freedom and peace, if not with service under arms, then at minimum with a tax to support our troops.

"All, no matter their means, must have an investment in their freedom, and will pay their part. This principle is law, and inviolate. But werent the protectorates about to have say in those laws? Or is it just those laws the master of D'hara can't be bothered with?

"You are free to choose: with us, or against us. If you are with us, then you will help us. Think carefully before you decide to leave, for if you leave, and decide later that you would rather not suffer the Order any longer, then you will pay double the tax for a period of ten years in order to earn your way back."

Heavy taxes, the greatest indignity known in the American Westlands.

The crowd in the balconies gasped. A woman on the floor, near the front, spoke up in a distraught voice.

"What if we choose neither? It is against our principles to fight. We want to be left alone to go about our lives. What if we choose not to fight, to simply go about our business?"

Shut up, you pesky Swedes and Swiss with your coco clocks!

"Do you arrogantly believe that we want to fight because we would stop the slaughter, and you are somehow better because you wish not to? Or that we will carry the load by ourselves so that you, too, may enjoy the freedom to live by your principles? You tell them Richard, mouthing off when you are delivering your dictates, arrogance indeed.

[...]"You can contribute in other ways without taking up a sword, but contribute you must. You will pay the tax, the same as everyone else. There will be no bystanders.

"If you choose not to surrender, you will stand alone. The Order intends to conquer all people and lands. Because there is no other way to stop them, I can intend no less. Hmm may I ask why not? Werent you the nice guy? Sooner or later, you will be ruled by one of us. "Those lands that choose not to surrender to us will be placed under blockade and isolated until we have time to invade and conquer you, or the Order does.

"You can't get away with this," an anonymous voice in the crowd called out. "We'll stop you."

"The Midlands is fragmented, and cannot be made whole again, or I would instead join with you. What is past, is past, and cannot be returned.

Yeah what’s the point of the EU really? They can’t even take a firm stand against terrorism.

Why is it that quotes like this make me think most libertarians are closet autocrats who want the individual right to rule over us all in the marketplace of political power, free of government intrusion into their actualizing of the nobility of the human spirit through their right to the free expression of the creation of a murderous fascist cult of personality?

[BranTheBuilder]

Hmmm, I'm now wondering if this is going to be the Rahl Diet - cut out all Meat and Cheese from your diet for a few months then gradually phase meat back in and see that weight loss...

[14th Dragon]

Dick could rip the spines out of a hundred orphans and justify it as perfectly moral, and so long as lots of people still buy it, the publishers won't care. Hmm, come to think about it, it's about time Dick killed a bunch of orphans. And maybe go on a rampage through an old folks home.

I think the old folks home will be first. He needs to free all their children from caring for the elderly. His moral clarity will see a culture that is overly burded with the care of those no longer producing needs to sever the ties with them so that they can go on to fight against the evil in world that would burden them with such a duty.

[Moshe Goldberg Rubinshteyn]

I'm sorry to have to ask this, but what is Richard's 'gift'? Has it anything to do with Richard's 'thing' (the one which is rising or the other one which is not a thing)?