Taravangion's Old Magic Boon

[Bramble Thorn]

“Capacity,” he whispered, turning a page. “Capacity to stop what was

coming. The capacity to save humankind.”

from another thread this is tangentially related to and split from.

I think "punishment" is the wrong word. Better would be price. You ask for the Nightwatcher to use her power on you for a purpose of yours. She does, and is then allowed to use her power on you for a purpose of hers. It does not have to be a curse, and does not have to be proportional/related to what you ask.

 

That one day experienced by Taravangion allowed him to see the actions he needed to take to make changes several years into the future. to try and set up a multi stage butterfly effect. Likely the Nightwatcher has similar ability, full time, and the see the repercussions of actions, and some inkling of how making someone see upside down, or speak backwards, will or won't change subsequent events.

 

They may even be the same thing. In Taravangion's case there may not even be a curse component to separate from what was given to him. He did not ask to be smart enough so he could figure a way out of this mess, or make any other assumptions, which may have been wrong and hindered him. He basically trusted the genie. If there was more than one way to give him the capacity to save the world, and one of those worked for the Nightwatcher, she may have saved time and effort by giving him that and calling it a day.

HOWEVER: There WAS an assumption made. He asked for two things, “Capacity to stop what was coming. The capacity to save humankind.” Assuming that those are the same thing. What if they are not? The Heralds and others have been in the "Stop what was coming" business for over four thousand years. Personally, I do not think in the long run they were doing mankind any favors in the "save humankind" department...

 

What if his Intelligence and Compassion are inverse to each other because he asked for two mutually exclusive things? Intelligence to stop one, and Compassion to save the other? The capacity for both, but the necessity to make a choice?

 

P.S. Not to proud to ask for upvotes if you think I am on to something...

[Cayden]

that is actually quite an intriguing idea, I have considered similar to an extent but I dont actually think he has truly hit the heights that he is capable of. I think part of request was so flawed that he was given the super-intelligent day in order to set the stage for something greater at a later day.

 

I am hoping that he will redeem himself in some massive way in a few books, in fact I think he will be crucial to the survival of the humans, because he does care, he just cannot let that stop him doing what he believes is the only way to keep the species alive.

[Moogle]

The Nightwatcher only grants one boon and one curse, so far as we know. If he/she/it could grant multiple boons, I think every person that went to the Nightwatcher would have asked for more than the one thing.

 

 

“Doesn’t work that way,” Av said. “It’s not a game, no matter how the stories try to put it. The Nightwatcher doesn’t trick you or twist your words. You ask a boon. She gives what she feels you deserve, then gives you a curse to go along with it. Sometimes related, sometimes not.”

 

Taravangian didn't ask for two truly separate things. The Nightwatcher does not try to twist your words, and what Taravangian was asking for was obvious. I doubt what he asked for was flawed. And I also believe Taravangian was paraphrasing in his interlude - he likely didn't use that exact phrasing when talking to the Nightwatcher. He would have just asked for the one thing.

 

 

“I didn’t,” Av said. “On account of my father going, my mother going, and each of my brothers going. A few got what they wanted. Most all of them regretted the curse, save my father. He got a heap of good cloth; sold to keep us from starving during the lurnip famine a few decades ago.”

 

Does anyone here think that Av's father asked specifically for a heap of good cloth? It seems far more likely that Av asked for the ability to feed his family during the lurnip famine, and the Nightwatcher just found a way to do that and gave him the cloth. The Nightwatcher does not seem like an emotionless robot, or a malicious genie - she seems to try to do what you want in a rather beneficial way, assuming you deserve it. And I highly doubt there is a single man more worthy than Taravangian - before his boon, his entire life was dedicated to creating hospitals to help heal everyone in Kharbranth. Though I suppose his connection to Gavilar and the Sons of Honor does bit a rather dark cast to the days before his boon, I doubt it was all that serious a relationship.

 

I think Taravangian's interpretation of what his boon and curse were is likely correct. There's a sort of Feruchemical feel to what the Nightwatcher does - she never adds, just changes what is there. I'd almost guess that the mechanics of what she does is that she snips a part of your spiritweb and attaches it somewhere else. She takes Taravangian's compassion and puts it towards his intelligence, and has it swing back and forth between the two. Of course, this doesn't explain Av's father, but it's possible she took a part of his spiritweb and moved it into the physical to turn it into a heap of good cloth. (Yeah, that one doesn't sound very convincing. Sigh...)

 

As nice as it would be, loving everyone and having roses and flowers bloom everywhere isn't going to save anyone. I almost wonder if part of Taravangian's boon to have the capacity to save everyone required the Nightwatcher to reduce his compassion, and that he would be incapable of saving anyone unless he lost all of his compassion. A bit grim, but it is an apocalyptic story. There's certainly precedence in stories like Watchmen.

 

That said, I don't trust Taravangian's intelligence completely. His idiotic idea to have half the population commit suicide via him persuading them shows he loses some sort of base understanding of humans when he's sufficiently intelligent. I cannot comprehend how he's capable of writing a plan to manipulate multiple human factions into war and for some reason cannot understand how people will not simply be persuaded to commit suicide.

 

... Unless he would be able to persuade them to commit suicide? That is a fascinating idea. Still, it feels contradictory to me that he's a master of political manipulation but loses the ability to manipulate individuals.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Moogle

[Talyra]

What if his Intelligence and Compassion are inverse to each other because he asked for two mutually exclusive things? Intelligence to stop one, and Compassion to save the other? The capacity for both, but the necessity to make a choice?

 

Despite Moogle's objections, I think this does raise a question - what happens if Taravangian has a day of pure compassion? While it's possible that he might just be shut away in his room, if he encounters another immense statistical anomaly reversed, it could potentially have implications for his plot. I feel that it's foreshadowed, and his safeguards are not necessarily infallible...

[zandi she/her]

I agree - I doubt he is infallible. Who is? He is still a mortal. He has savant genius days but he can make mistakes like anyone. His hubris almost makes it inevitable.