Were Hoid's alterations really necessary?

[Banazir864]

Charlie's curse requires him to "bring the person he loved most to the Sorceress's home, to be cursed, in exchange for his freedom."  Hoid got around this by tweaking the wording, but I think Charlie and Tress could have easily satisfied the condition as long as they did so before the Sorceress left and took her home with her.*

Specifically, the curse said that Charlie needed to bring Tress to the Sorceress's home "to be cursed," but it doesn't say who would be doing the cursing.  So Charlie and Tress could go out the door, then Charlie could lead her back inside to be cursed by Hoid in exchange for his freedom.  Hoid could then give her a harmless, easy-to-break curse (e.g., your hair will be purple until you clap three times), or even not curse her at all, since all that matters is that Charlie brought her there "to be cursed" (the fact that "to be cursed" is offset by commas implies that his freedom would be given in exchange for him bring her there for that purpose, not in exchange for the curse itself).

Is there a reason this wouldn't work, other than the characters not thinking of it until after the Sorceress left?

*-Incidentally, even after the Sorceress left, the island itself might have counted as her "home" due to having been her home for centuries, similar to how people call Mt. Vernon "George Washington's home" even though he doesn't live there anymore due to being dead.  If I'd been on the crew, I would have recommended at least trying that.

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, Banazir864 said:

Is there a reason this wouldn't work, other than the characters not thinking of it until after the Sorceress left?

Some measure of change would still be needed because, even if the other clause was not mentioned in the Epilogue, those could not have been the only two changes. Tress Ch 61:

Spoiler

 “You’re wrong,” he said softly. “I’m still a rat, and will remain one. Because for my curse to be broken, I have to bring her to your home in trade for my freedom. I realized on the way in that I haven’t done that. 

Also, keep in mind that Hoid is an unreliable narrator (at least to some degree) so, in the Epilogue, he describes using rhyme and puns as his solution - but the "curse" would actually have been phrases in AonDor (where that kind of rhyme change would not work) so the story can't be literally "true" so much as an example told in the best narritive humor Hoid could devise as a metaphor for how things may have really happened.

 

 

[Banazir864]

43 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Some measure of change would still be needed because, even if the other clause was not mentioned in the Epilogue, those could not have been the only two changes. Tress Ch 61:

  Hide contents

 “You’re wrong,” he said softly. “I’m still a rat, and will remain one. Because for my curse to be broken, I have to bring her to your home in trade for my freedom. I realized on the way in that I haven’t done that. 

What other clause are you referring to?  The bolded language is a paraphrase of the language I quoted, minus the "to be cursed" detail.  What other requirement do you think there was?

I agree that Hoid is not the most reliable narrator.  However, as long as Charlie's curse didn't say "to be cursed by the Sorceress" or otherwise get into details about Tress's curse (which would have required additional changes by Hoid, since Tress obviously wasn't versed by the Sorceress), I don't see why taking her to be (nominally) cursed by Hoid would be insufficient.

[Treamayne]

14 hours ago, Banazir864 said:

What other clause are you referring to? 

Trading for freedom was the bolded part. The curse had (at least) three known conditions (key words bolded - known Hoid changes italicized):

• Bring your loved one to the Sorceress's home
• Trade that person to the Sorceress
• For the express purpose of being cursed

We do not know what, if any changes were made to the "trade for freedom" part of the curse. We also do not know the exact wording of the curse, just paraphrased fragments. So, it may be possible that Intent could be used to interpret the Island as the Sorceress' home, and anybody could do the curse. It is equally possible that those options were non-viable for causes we do not know, just as Hoid mentioned that it was possible for the Sorceress to remove the curse herself (had she been more skilled). Tress Ch 64:

Spoiler

Fort helped Tress as she stumbled, and she nodded in thanks. Then she turned to the Sorceress. “First,” she said, “end Charlie’s curse.”

“I can’t,” the Sorceress said. “I can’t break a curse unless the terms are met. It’s impossible.”

Tress looked to me. There were ways, but the Sorceress probably wasn’t capable of them. So I nodded. It was true enough.

 

Edited February 8 by Treamayne
SPAG/Example

[Banazir864]

Ah, I see your reasoning.  I don't see anything that says you have to trade the person in question "to the Sorceress." 

The quote I found says "bring the person he loved most to the Sorceress's home, to be cursed, in exchange for his freedom," which says the trade must occur by bringing her to the Sorceress's home, but doesn't specify who she's being traded to.  The quote you found says "bring her to [the Sorceress's] home in trade for my freedom," which similarly specifies the location but not the recipient.

From the wording, it sounds like the Sorceress assumed that the she would be the only one present at her home and able to curse someone and so neglected to specify that Tress would be given to her or cursed by her, but her assumption was proven incorrect when Hoid was at the Sorceress's home with the ability to make curses.