Perfect State Question

[Blaze1616]

So I'm working on the Besk page on the Coppermind, and I've come across the issue of figuring out when Besk actually met Kai. Two different excerpts are potentially contradictory, and I'm not sure what to make of it.

 

From Chapter 1: “My lord,” Besk said, stopping on the wall-walk. “This is most unseemly of you. I'm reminded of the child you were, not the king you have become.”

 

From Chapter 5: Don’t be foolish, I thought to myself. I’d survived for centuries without Besk looking over my shoulder.

 

Chapter 1 seems to imply Besk has known Kai since Kai was a child. Chapter 5, on the other hand, implies Besk didn't meet Kai until after Kai had lived for 200+ years. It is possibly that the Chapter 1 excerpt merely references Kai having acted like a child, running off on wild adventures. At the same time the Chapter 5 excerpt could be understood as Besk not traveling with Kai during all of his adventures, but still having known him since childhood.

 

So which do you think it is? I'm leaning towards Besk not having met Kai until after Kai had lived for 200+ years, but I'm not convinced.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Sand Master]

I felt like it was that Besk had known him as a child, but not gone on his earlier adventures (though Kai did decide to give him the draught of long life, so maybe he was there on later quests). The first option you present is certainly possible, but it seems to me that when saying someone was a child, you mean physically so. If Besk had meant the times when he acted like a child, I think he would have said something more like "I'm reminded of how childish you used to be," or "I'm reminded of the immature person you were".

[IAmTheBeard]

I wouldn't be surprised if Besk is calling Kai's younger self a child, even though he was centuries old at the time.

[Blaze1616]

Thanks for the responses! I'm currently leaning towards the second of my listed possibilities, with Besk merely referencing Kai's pre-emperor self as being child like. If I ever get the chance to ask Brandon a question, I'll certainly included this in my list of questions.

[vividox]

Is it possible that Besk was created hundreds of years after Kai was born and was given an artificial memory/personality that satisfied the Concept of a person having lived hundreds years longer than they actually had?

Edited June 9, 2016 by vividox

[catrianadavar]

Two other quotes to keep in mind, both in reference to Beck: 

Quote

And, truth be told, I was terrible at hacking, which was why- despite centuries together- I'd never gotten around to changing Besk. 

Quote

Long ago, I'd shared a drop of my draught of immortality with him. He'd haunted me ever since." 

Both are in chapter 1. Now, this next quote doesn't mean that he shared the draught with Beck right when he got it, I guess it could have held on to a bottle of it or something and given it to him later, but it does mean that he at least found that drink prior to being 50- and if he did give it to Beck right when he found it- then that would mean of course that he knew Beck pre 50. 

Quote

Spoiler

"Shale didn't age- long ago, he and I had discovered a secret draught of long life in the hoard of the dragon Galbrometh. These days, I wondered if that draught had been placed there specifically for me to find, so I'd have an acceptable reason for not aging. I hadn't known the truth of my nature until I reached fifty, the Wode's Age of Awareness." 

 

 

[Blaze1616]

On 6/9/2016 at 9:43 AM, vividox said:

Is it possible that Besk was created hundreds of years after Kai was born and was given an artificial memory/personality that satisfied the Concept of a person having lived hundreds years longer than they actually had?

Interesting theory, though unlikely. Sorry for not responding to you sooner. See below.

3 hours ago, catrianadavar said:

...

Thanks for the input, however I actually asked Brandon this at a signing last October, and he told me that Besk had met Kai later in Kai's life. You'll find this info in the Coppermind page on Besk.