: Yes, it all fits quite nicely. I'm just being picky
: and/or playing the Leveler's advocate.
Heh, "Leveller's advocate". I'm gonna have to rememeber that.
: The two things that might be conflicting in this is that
: the East might not have been the land of men, but
: rather of beings superior to men, but that doesn't
: sound too likely. The other is that about
: "terrible sorcery without equal in the
: West". The Cath Bruig empire is always spoken of
: as the greatest of empires. But that the West would
: not know of a great war going on between the Dark and
: the Cath Bruig for 450 years is just not to consider a
: plausible theory.
I think the thing is, Balor was around and doing various damage, amassing forces and such, for centuries before open war erupted. Then the real war started, and after 30 years the civilized nations were reduced to carrion and ash. Only then (right about when the Head showed up), did the Light start to push back the Dark.
: Also remember that Covenant was not sacked by
: Soulblighter that Battle for Tyr did not take place
: and that The Watcher and The Deceiver did not go for
: each other's throats until after Madrigal stood up to
: the Fallen. (See journal entry from "Flight from
: Covenant.") This would mean that there was not
: much fighting in the West until all of the East was
: defeated. Also remember that the Heron Guard was
: absent at the fall of Muirthemne.
Obviously, since Balor came from the East and had to fight his way through the Bruig and other forces before he could get to the West.
: After Connacht killed Moagim, he ruled the civilized
: nations for what could have been a very long time
: (known as the Age of Light). He then disappeared and
: returned "centuries later" as Balor. If we
: go by this, he could've ruled for 500 years, then
: disappeared for about 450 years and then popped up
: again with The Fallen Lords on a leish. I would think
: that Soulblighter might've gone about the same path,
: chronologically speaking. 500 years of going back and
: forth, mucking about beyond the Untamed Lands,
: disappearing for centuried and finally leading part of
: Balor's army upon his return.
Exactly! The Light won't be a big, powerfull force to reckon with (at least not to a force like the Leveller) for a good number of centuries, when their forces are completely rebuilt. Likewise, if Balor had just run into the heart of Muirthemne and started hurling lightning about, he would do quite a bit of damage but in the end he'd wind up in a thousand pieces. So he has to plot and scheme, freeing the Watcher and the Trow, subborning the Myrmidons, enslaving the Ghols, finding the Dream of Unlife, binding Myrdred to his side, retriving the Fetch however he did, not to mention wherever Shiver and the missing Fallen came from (I'm presuming Damas was more than willing to join Balor's side). THEN he marches on Muirthemne, and the war really begins.
: As I'm pointing out below, power seems to have very
: little to do with victory in the world of Myth. The
: Watcher, who could be as much as two millenia old or
: more, was put to rest by someone who was less than
: half his age. I don't think one needs to be a
: immensely powerful just to be a hero.
Age and power aren't neccesarily related. The Watcher was really damn old and really powefull, but the Deceiver was just about as powerfull if not moreso, and how would YOU feel if someone shot you with arrows tipped with your own bone? (Chances are you wouldn't turn to stone, but Very Bad Things would happen). And one doesn't have to be magically powerfull to be powerfull; look at Soulblighter, he's just, immortal, he can turn into crows, and can do a couple odd things with fire rings and world-destroying spells of some sort. But as far as practical magic goes, what's he got? Nothing. But he's BUFF, and a tactical genious. That's what makes him powerfull.
: I sorta never saw Alric or any of the Nine being per say
: powerful. Just look at what happened against The
: Fallen Lords. It was almost always defeat and retreat.
Until the Head shows up and gives them some tips...
(Not to mention the Fallen were powered by the Leveller at the time).
: The one thing the Light-sided (Heh heh) had against
: the Fallen seems to have been cunning. Alric had to
: use one of the Eblis stones, an extremly rare and
: powerful artifact, just to get Balor under control for
: a few important moments. It can only remind me of
: Rommel's shenanegance in North Africa. To be honest,
: the Light of the Great War seemed to have been total
: weenies compared to the Dark, but with truckloads more
: wit. Either that or the whatever deities that might
: exist were making destiny work for them in the end.
Like the Head. I think it's all his fault.
