writelhd

I too, felt a little disappointed, for many of the reasons covered, but also for some things about Prof and Tia as well that I've been struggling to put my finger on. I know these are superhero books, and YA books at that, not genres I usually read within. But...I just wanted a little more depth, more emotional impact, to Prof's arc. I LOVE Prof as a character, the whole concept of a fifth grade science teacher-turned-Epic-turned-Epic hunter, a gruff and brilliant leader, a man who can't help but lead and who secretly fears failure...the whole fighting the monster within thing, it's just great. I wanted the third book to be more focused on him. It was all about bringing him down, after all, so I just wanted that drama part to be a little bit deeper. Throughout the whole series I just find Prof so interesting and I was hoping for more Prof backstory! We got a little, but not a whole lot, really. For that same reason, I felt there was something off about Tia's death. Obviously I'm super mad and sad that she died, that Prof caused it, that he has to live with that forever after he came back to himself, the dramatic irony of all that...but if she had to die, I wanted MORE out of it somehow, more emotional impact, more insight into Prof's soul on the subject, something. We don't have much at all to go on throughout the series about Prof and Tia's relationship, just tiny hints, like Tia's mysterious "that looks like..." line when she saw Tavi. Part of that I know is because it's from David's POV and there's just not as much screen time available in a YA novel ...but I really want to learn more about that relationship, and I also felt that her death was kind of...awkwardly, rawly stuck in there, and it doesn't feel like Prof's arc about it is complete. He goes and stares at the sky and is sad. Well, we know alt dimension Tia is still alive and it seems like maybe alt dimension Prof is not or else is not corrupted by his powers, and Tavi is there too..neither are a replacement for the real person who is gone, but the possibilities are just kind of left on the table and not touched on, so it feels weirdly cut off to me. I also wanted more internal and interpersonal conflict with David about his hidden Epicness, rather than him thinking about the mechanics of fears sometimes, and then just choosing to use his power later. Clearly I just like internal and interpersonal conflict, and that doesn't happen as much in superhero genre. But I do just love these characters. Prof, Tia, David, Megan, Abraham, Mizzy. Cody's ok too. They certainly don't have the page space to be as developed as in other works, except for David himself, but I do like them quite a lot.

There's been some similar discussion on similar topics--the Orders and their powers, oaths, etc--but I wanted to dig into and summarize the specific Words and incremental increases in power that we've seen in our KR characters so far. We know that the First Ideal must be spoken, thought, or at least strongly demonstrated by intent in some way: Life before death. Strength Before Weakness. Journey before destination. Before reaching the First Ideal, a proto-radiant might have a spren show some interest, maybe even lend a little bit of ability with Stormlight--but you have to speak/think/show the first ideal to "level up" in those powers. For some orders, but not others, more words/oaths are required to "level up" further. This leads me to two related questions--when did each known new Radiant say or exemplify his or her First Ideal, and what additional Words are required in order to unlock what abilities within each order? Here's the summary as I understand it, help me fill in the details! Kaladin/Windrunners: We saw Kaladin and the First Ideal in WoK. He doesn't speak the words, but he thinks them, in a tortured part-flashback part present-moment bit of introspection, when he watches Dalinar's army getting slaughtered, tells himself he has no responsibility to them...but makes, the decision to go and save them. He thinks the words and exemplifes them in his actions, and after he does so his ability to use Stormlight seemed to improve: suddenly he could draw a whole volley of arrows to land on his shield instead of him or his men. We see him uncover his first Windrunner-specific ideal shortly after, when, after charging the Parshendi to rescue Dalinar drains him and injures him his friends tell him to stay while they go and fight. Syl encourages him to say the Words, he starts running in with a spear to fight even though his friends tell him he's too drained, and he says the Words out loud: I will protect those who cannot protect themselves. There's a big clap of light, he starts glowing, and he seems to be able to use Stormlight even more effectively. We saw him uncover another ideal in WoR: A I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right. And then Syl turns into his Shardblade. Shardspear, Shardshield...etc. And now he got glowing light eyes. Shallan/Lightweavers: Much is still unknown about when she first began her nahel bond, but it is clear that it happened early enough for her mother to notice her supernatural abilities and try to kill her for it, and it is clear that she had done enough by then for Pattern to be able to become her Shardblade. It is also implied that she already spoke the oaths, and that those are what enabled Pattern to become a Blade for her and defend herself against her mother. In chapter 17 of WoK, Shallan insists to Pattern that she is not a Knight Radiant yet--just having the tools does not make one a member of a profession. Then Pattern replies: "You Spoke Oaths." Shallan froze. Life before death...The words drifted toward her from the shadows of her past. A past she would not think of. That implies that when she was a child and drawing Pattern and Lightweaving without even realizing it, she had also already spoken, thought, or otherwise experienced the First Ideal. But that's still something of a mystery--what reason would she have had, before her mother tried to kill her, to reach for the First Ideal? Did she speak it only when her mother tried to kill her, triggering Pattern's transformation to her Blade right then? Later, Pattern forces Shallan to confront her deepest secret--that she was the one who had killed her mother--in order to grow. He tells her then that Lightweavers speak no oaths beyond the first, but that truths are important for her continued growth in her powers. This makes sense with the events on WoK, where, even though she'd already spoken her oath to be a Lightweaver, she could not unlock one of her abilities, Soulcasting, until she spoke something that was true. Once she did that, it seemed to be enough to allow her to return to Shadesmar in WoK without having to speak a truth--though there's still something missing in her ability to Soulcast successfully. Is that more truths, more self-discovery, or just plain old experimenting with how the heck to convince things to change? I guess we'll find out. Finally, a burning question I have about Shallan: If she did take an oath to uphold "Life before death" and "Journey before destination"--why is it that she doesn't break that oath when she murders her father? She is, in a way, defending her brother--but she is doing it with death, not life, and it also seems that ending the life of someone who is being such a terrible person is putting the destination before the journey. Dalinar/Bondsmiths: We saw it on screen when Dalinar spoke the First Ideal out loud, he said it to the Stormfather who reluctantly accepted. It's not clear yet how that nahel relationship is going to go, nor is it clear if Dalinar will need to say more Words to progress in his surges or to get his Spren Shardblade. But the Stormfather did say something interesting: I WILL NOT BE A SIMPLE SWORD TO YOU. I WILL NOT COME AS YOU CALL, AND YOU WILL HAVE TO DIVEST YOURSELF OF THAT...MONSTROSITY THAT YOU CARRY. YOU WILL BE A RADIANT WITH NO SHARDS. To me, the Stormfather's words make it sound like Dalnar won't have to speak more oaths, but that perhaps the Bondsmiths are an order that doesn't necessarily get a Spren Shardblade whenever they want it. Their work is toward ends that don't call for a weapon. Jasnah/Elsecallers: We know that she saw Ivory in Gavilar's castle in Kholinar, and unknowingly took herself to Shadesmar to avoid him because he seemed to be attacking her. Yet something about what she did--perhaps it was successfully re-creating the castle from the beads in Shadesmar, perhaps it was something about Jasnah's personality herself--caused Ivory to bow to her, instead. We then know that at some point he bonded with her and explained a bit about the nahel bond and the Recreance, and helped her progress with her Soulcasting ability--and presumably her Transportation Surge as well, which is likely what allowed her to escape from her near-murder. We know nothing yet about when she reached for the First Ideal, or what other oaths she might have had to speak. However, we do know from the epilogue that Ivory can now become her Shardblade. Could he always have done that for her? Or did she speak some new oaths during her adventures in Shadesmar that unlocked this ability? Lift/Edgedancers: This one is interesting, because Wyndle says that Lift was not his choice: "I wanted to pick a distinguished Iriali matron...But no, the Ring said we should choose you. 'She has visited the Old Magic,' they said. 'Our mother has blessed her,' they said. "She will be young, and we can mold her,' they said." We know that part of it had to do with her unique ability to metabolize Stormlight as consequence of her visit to th Nightwatcher, but did the Ring also send Wyndle to Lift because she had spoken the First Ideal already? Or because the Ring sensed she was close to doing so? We don't know yet. But we do know that she watches her fellow thief Gawx get hurt, and discovers the Edgedancer-specific ideal, I will remember those who have been forgotten. That seems to unlock her ability to use Regrowth, on top of her existing abilities with friction. We haven't seen Wyndle turn into a Blade yet...but Lift's part was just an interlude, so we haven't seen enough of her to know. Renarin/Truthseers: We don't know very much about this yet at all! We can suspect that Renarin began to bond with his spren, Glys, early on in Wok: he grimaced when Adolin gave him Salinor's Shardblade, and he dropped the spectacles relatively early on too. And his scrawling glyphs on the walls during a highstorm likely came from his budding ability with his order's Surges. But so far, that's all we know. **** The biggest questions yet to be answered revolve around how some of our characters interacted with the First Ideal, and how their powers will develop. And while we know every order gets two Surges, a secondary question is whether every single order does indeed get to have a Spren Shardblade. Will further development for our characters give them Plate somehow, as well?

In chapter 17, Shallan insists to Pattern that she is not a Knight Radiant yet--just having the tools does not make one a member of a profession. Then Pattern replies: "You Spoke Oaths." Shallan froze. Life before death...The words drifted toward her from the shadows of her past. A past she would not think of. That implies that when she was a child and drawing Pattern and Lightweaving without even realizing it, she had also already spoken the oaths. But that's still something of a mystery--what reason would she have to speak them? Did she speak them only when her mother tried to kill her, triggering Pattern's transformation to her Blade right then?

I'm not sure Adolin did cover his tracks very well at this point. He wasn't planning this--he didn't know Sadeas would be there, so he didn't have time to plan any sort of cover-up. He did, however, definitely have a short moment to think about what he was doing and decide to do it--"I'm not like my father" he paused to say, and then he killed. It wasn't pre-mediated, but it wasn't completely heat-of-the-moment either. He also chose to try to hide what he'd done...but I doubt he had time to fully think through how to cover up his involvement. I'm not sure what I think. It isn't the Adolin that I thought I knew--and yet it sort of is, too. We've got plenty of murderers in our cast. Shallan. Jasnah, most likely, if the hints that she's dealt with assassins for more than just watching are true. Dalinar, from his early days, certainly. Why does Adolin joining their ranks feel worse, (at least to me)? Because he hides? Because he doesn't (yet) show remorse?

I quite liked Shallan's sections in WoK, and I liked her sections a great deal in WoR, too. There were aspects of her character, or perhaps characterization, that bugged me a bit, but I'm quite pleased with her arc overall and always find her interesting to read. 1.) I loved the flashbacks. Yes, they were information we could guess at, but it's not the information so much as the emotion that made me love them. It made me understand her on an emotional level. 2.) I agree with Natans, she definitely became a badass in this book--and perhaps a bit too quickly? In WoK she was smart but shy and conflicted, in WoR she kind of transformed from "smart" to "brilliant", lost a lot of "shy" and "conflicted" elements and became kind of this broken daredevil. "Shy" and "conflicted" are good character traits to grow out of...but the speed at which she did it seemd quick. And all of her skills came across as a bit...Mary Sue? Really broken Mary Sue? Just a little bit, mind, I still liked it over all. Just felt like sometimes she did everything too well, too easily, without enough of the terror I'd probably feel in those situations or conflicted self-doubt like she'd shown in WoK. In particular I was expecting that ghostbloods thing to backfire in terrifying ways that she'd have to really dig deep to get herself out of...and aside from a dead coachman and her very short-lived guilt about that, it never really did. Maybe it will in book 3. 3.) The way she treated Kaladan seemed a bit off to me. Previously she was a lighteyes known for treating with darkeyes like they were fellow humans---her relationships with Yalb + crew, then Gaz + crew, etc. The boots thing, that was silly and funny, and after Kaladin rode off she commented that she felt bad about taking his boots, what if he needs them? Which Tyn told her she needed to work on...but then from there, next time she sees Kaladin, she is quite mean to him, and spends most of the rest of her interactions with him (until they finally fall into the chasm and bond) treating him in a more derogatory way than made sense for her character. Why yell at him in the king's palace? Why call him "bridgeman/boy?" She didn't call Yalb "sailor." That kind of brought me out of the narrative a little bit. I think it was supposed to be in reaction to Kaladin's chip on his shoulder, which maybe I just didn't see the way she did because I know why he's got that chip...but it still felt incongruious with her character. The way she referred to Renarin (although admittedly only in her own head) as "weird and creepy" at the end brought that up for me too. Of course, the characters don't know the things about each other that we know about them, so she may well have a different in-world perspective of people we love than we will, and he was chanting about how they were all going to die...but it still seemed off. In WoK she didn't strike me as the kind of character to rush to judgement about other people, she struck me as more introspective than that. 4.) I too am not a fan of love triangles, especially because of course the only female main character would obvioulsy be in one...and was also a little bit annoyed that all the guys gushed over her. Maybe I'm just jealous. On a more serious note though, this one doesn't make me gnash my teeth just yet, because it does actually make sense with the story. She and Adolin got along well enough on the surface, and it made sense for them to considering their personalities, their reasons for both wanting/needing the betrothal to work also made sense...and her and Kaladin geting on well and on a deeper level (as opposed to when she was mean to him! grr!) also makes sense, considering what they can learn from one another. I'm not sure what ship I captain at this point, and I'm leery of The Triangle really making me angry down the road, but so far it's not so deep and convoluted, and it does fit the story.

So many! Much of what has already been said, plus here's some other things gave me teh shivers: Kaladin stepping up to challenge Amaram after his duel. Stupid, stupid...and yet so Kaladin. Adolin putting himself in prison as protest to Kaladin being in prison, cologne--baths, and all. Adolin offering Kaladin Shards, and Kaladin again refusing them, and Adolin reacting like "Huh? Really? Well, ok...weirdo" as contrast to how Amaram reacted. Elhokar asking Kaladin for help at being a leader, and even apologizing for having put Kaladan in prison, admitting his reasons were childish. Kaladin flying for the first time! Shallan summoning her own Shardblade when Renarin's and Adolin's didn't work to open the Oathgate, revealing her powers when needed rather than continuing to weave a lie. (And in general, main characters pretty well helping each other when it made sense to rather than bickering or being all mad because They Didn't Need a Woolhead to Save Them/Aes Sedai to Control Them/etc.) This is a small thing, but it really got me: When Shallan is playing with her Lightweaving ability in her room in Seberial's warcamp and Pattern tries to push her to acknowledge something of her past, and so she Lightweaves a broken scared girl huddled up on her bed, unable to do anything. She thinks to herself that this is the real Shallan, while the woman she had become instead is just a lie she has created for herself. That was a really well-done little tidbit of her arc. Renarin saying "I see," when explaining what his order does. (I do wish we'd get a Renarin point of view--all we ever get of him is what others see of him) Shen! Being a spy (how many people totally called that?)...but also...still being Bridge Four. And seeing that his people have transformed into something horrible and even saying that killing them is better than letting them do what they're trying to do.

It is true that he seems to be part of an organization that later tried to poison her. So it's a good thing they never got hitched.

Moogle, Alaxel, I'm not at all supposing that anyone here is advocating for any of the examples I gave. I used them to refute statements that there is "always a good reason for gender roles" and to respond the asked question "why defy gender roles?" with some reasons why one might. I should acknowledge though that just because "good reasons" that we now don't really think are all that good have been used the past to justify restrictive gender roles we don't now approve of, doesn't mean there aren't actually good reasons this time for the specific example you all were giving of women in infantry. I do maintain that it is important to closely scrutinize thinking in absolutes about gender, because of the very real context of history. We may be talking past each other (or, well, honestly, maybe I just talked past you) simply because we define "gender roles" differently. Alaxel, I reacted to the strong absolutes you used, but I wasn't trying to derail your general point, I'm sorry. I agree that lowering physical standards for professions that call for them is not necessarily wise, and I see that whole question as something a little different than a gender role. Physical standards that are not explicitly restrictive of one gender, but that end up having that effect in practice...those are things look at with care, but yeah, ultimately they aren't assigning people into roles arbitrarily. (Which is really what you just said, huh.) I see gender roles as cultural norms that are enforced or purveyed for no other reason that a person's gender. Like the safehand...everybody's got two hands, girls hand-parts don't look different from guys hand-parts and for that matter from their still-visible right hands. And why shouldn't men read script and be non-ardent scholars if they want to? Edit, in response to edit above: you can totally eat a spicy steak with a dagger right here on Earth, too.

So, Quiver and I ended up in some good private message discussion, started by the "Restrictive Gender Roler" thread over in the Stormlight Archive forum. And because it was good discussion, I thought to bring it to the forum at large, although I realize that with this particular topic, some ire and controversy can arise. It is not my intent to start a discussion that descends into characterizations and stereotypes, but I do think the subject of gender in fantasy and science fiction is really interesting. I also find that we 17th Sharders are an astute, open-minded, and respectful bunch, equal to the task of great discussion. So, with a request for everyone to tread politely, and to remember that stereotypes are often inadequate descriptions of real people, let's wade: Quiver supposed that fantasy and Sci-Fi might be very male dominated. I argued, as a female and a lifelong consumer of both, that this is an erroneous perception. I don't know what exactly the split is, I would believe that men still do outnumber women somewhat, but I'm betting it's something like 60/40, at the very most. Certainly, as authors go, there are numerous female legends in the field: JK Rowling, Ursula Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, Madeline le' Engle, to name just a few. And well, this got me thinking about all the fantasy and sci-fi sub-genres out there, what sub-genres may in fact be more dominated by one gender and why, what aspects of fantasy may perhaps still say pretty (from my feminist perspective) annoying or even degrading things about women's roles and if that does still turn some of us off to it, and what aspects of fantasy and sci-fi really do seem to attract a very wide audience. I think Brandon's work in particular has aspects that draw a very gender diverse audience, and Wheel of Time as well. Why is that? What are those aspects? What other books have those aspects? Discuss! I think it comes down to interesting, heroic, complicated, and sympathetic characters, both male and female, bringing diverse skills and perspectives to complex and giant-scope problems. It comes down to in-world gender roles that feel believable, and that aren't (well, overly) degrading of one gender. And I also think it comes down to having enough people. Having one woman only in a sea full of men, even if making her The Most Interesting Woman In the World, isn't as compelling a read to me personally as these stories that have people like Shallan AND Jasnah AND Navani, or Moiraine AND Egwene AND Nyanaeve AND (list all the rest of them here...) doing interesting, diverse, and different things in ways that are about them as a character. (Moderator note: I wasn't sure where to put this. It relates to Brandon, because I want to talk about his works, but it relates to "other books" too because I want to talk about sci-fi/fantasy books in general, so I was torn. Do you think this is the right place for this thread?)

What's wrong with gender roles, you ask? Well, some probably are benign, but it is important to recognize and challenge the ones that are not, because when gender roles are too limiting, they hurt everyone. Western society alone used to disallow women, but not men, from, at various points in our history: reading and writing, teaching, nursing, later doing any jobs BUT teaching or nursing, voting, holding public office, being scientists or engineers, not to mention having control over their own destinies via owning property, getting married or not to a person of their own choosing or not, getting divorced. Those restrictions were wrong and damaging to everyone because it turns out that women reading, writing, teaching, nursing, being scientists, being engineers, voting and holding office have contributed a large workforce of people who are skilled at those things, improving all of society in the process, while a society of people who are largely in control of their own destiny is free to be more innovative and creative. Yet most of those gender roles, in their time, were thought to be for good reason. There are real-world gender role restrictions that are just as whacked out, today. In Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive, though many women in Saudi Arabia still work, and this restriction requires the hiring of a large workforce of out-of-country drivers and puts an unnecessary economic burden on two-income families. In Pakistan a teenage girl was shot in the face after speaking up on behalf of education for girls--and that, unfortunately, is only one such story out of many similar to become internationally famous. So there is a lot that can be wrong with gender roles. At their most benign, they still serve to offer feelings of shame and humiliation to those men and women who happen to find that aspects of their own biology, personality, or temperament fall outside of them. But what if I'm a good swimmer AND good at tennis? Or what if, not being naturally good at tennis, I find that, just like everyone, I can get better with practice, and by gosh I'm tired of swimming and want to give tennis a try? What if I discover that it's really just everyone's belief that I can't be good at tennis that put fears into my own head that I'll probably be terrible at tennis that kept me from ever trying tennis in the first place? Ok, turning the Humorless Feminist Surge off now. I fear I may have been the one who steered this topic in this somewhat more controversial direction with my assertion that many real-world gender roles are ridiculous. I hope that derail hasn't caused too much ire and strife! I do greatly appreciate when fantasy experiments with or challenges gender roles. I wouldn't/don't read fantasy if it depicts restrictive medieval gender roles only, because I am a woman, I like to read about other women doing things and being heroes, at least some of the time. Vorin gender roles are quite interesting, and for that reason, I can totally go along with the story and how they affect it. Kudos for interesting and different and mostly believable.

I don't know that Jasnah would say she was proven wrong, I believe she has just said that she doesn't accept whatever Honor is as "god" and worthy of worship, not that he doesn't exist at all. She doesn't know what a Shardholder is at this point in time, but I'd bet she'd be willing to argue that even were she wrong about Honor being a spren, a Shardholder is still not something she defines as "god."

From the prologue: “Perhaps if you found pleasant associations,” Gavilar said, “you would enjoy the feasts.” His eyes swung toward Amaram, whom he’d long fancied as a potential match for her. It would never happen. Amaram met her eyes, then murmured words of parting to her father and hastened away down the corridor. The "it could never happen" thought and subsequent rushing away by Amaram could be a reference to some dark history of an unknown type between Jasnah and Amaram, and yes, that's a compelling plot-thickening. But, she could also just be thinking that for other reasons. Like maybe she just doesn't want to get married, as others have mentioned, for various reasons, or doesn't want to marry him in particular for a much more mundane incompatibility reason than him hurting her somehow in the past. It could even be referring to the fact that she just proclaimed her atheism and didn't that cause quite a stir, and may be assuming that nobody who still adheres to the devotaries would be willing to marry her.

Just pre-ordered my copy at the local bookstore today!!! Ahhhhh! Yes, thank the Light February is the shortest month. Can't wait for: What's up with Amaram? What's up with Mr. T? How did Shallan get her Shardblade? What exactly did her father do? What exactly did she do? Szeth vs everyone, particularly Kaladin,and I sure I hope that part isn't gonna make me cry General POV character reactions to each other when so many of them are on a trajectory to collide soon, and, most especially... Shallan and Wit Epic Duel of Wittiness

Isn't that true about most societal restrictions on gender roles? I see it as Brandon trying out something interesting and different, somewhat in the spirit of Wheel of Time, even, whose creator was also admittedly experimenting with male/female power dynamics. Quiver, I am not at all offended by your post, because it is a reasonable supposition presented quite earnestly, but you are nonetheless quite wrong that fantasy is consumed in vastly greater quantities by men than by women. There do seem to be sub-classes of fantasy that are more consumed by one gender than the other, for example, romantic fantasy vs heroic fantasy vs whatever other subclasses I can't really think of to detail right now...but I think the high prevalence of strong characters of both gender is why Wheel of Time and now Brandon Sanderson's work are quite popular among both men and women. JordonCon was pretty genderly diverse, anyway. And I bet this forum is, too. Yes, as a female ready I do tend to turn away from (most, there is LOTR after all) fantasy books that don't have enough women in them, or that have women in traditional medieval gender roles only, because what can I say, I like to read a mirror just like anyone else. That's why I do love WoT and Brandon's stuff so much. But yes, I thought the safe-hand thing was pretty appallingly ridiculous. As I recall, so did some of Brandon's editors, but he insisted upon keeping it nonetheless, so I assume (hope) he has some interesting uses for it in store. And men not reading also seems a little bit intentionally restrictive just to give women an ability to have a bit more power in a medieval society than in the Real World historically they had. But, it really comes back to the fact that gender roles historically, and even today, in various societies of the world, are actually just as appallingly ridiculous (or even way more so) for no good reason. Usually in our world their existence has had something to do with ideas about sexuality and the control thereof, which is ground Brandon is probably trying to stay away from, so maybe that makes the Vorin ones seem more silly to us than the ones we are used to experiencing.

I hadn't really been inclined to believe he had free will, but you all do make some convincing points in favor. In particular I can see how self-loathing can really do a number on someone, and doing what Szeth does can be a real boost to self-loathing, so it's a particularly horrible downward spiral from there. Honestly it makes me think of these awful shootings in the real world, only worse because many of those people commit suicide in the midst of their intense self-loathing, and Szeth's not allowed to do that. Honorable? I guess I'd have to understand more about Shin ideals to really assess the honor here. He's saying this all this suffering that killing inflicts upon his own psyche is right, because it's what he deserves, yeah he sticks to whatever his culture told him to make him think he deserves this--but people are still dying. Kingdoms are still shattering. And in his own head he's turning their deaths into a pity party all about him. If that's honor, it's an incredibly selfish kind. But you're right, that does turn into more compelling storytelling than if he were just a slave to some magic.