: The Taken under The Dominator's influence were all women.
: That is how the Dominator is able to influence them.
: Lady, on the other hand, is far more powerful than
: they (remember the eye?), and was successful in
: getting out of the ground first (she controlled Bomanz
: long before the Dominator got ahold on the Taken).
Surely the women in the Circle were being influenced, just as the female Taken were being influenced... right? This is probable, and very believable. But we must look ahead into the later novels...
Spoilers below (the below spoils certain parts of the Glittering Stone series.. seraph it might be a good idea to ignore this, or bookmark this for later reference once you get this far).
Let's examine the female Taken, who were supposed to be tempted by the Dominator. Soulcatcher is the first and foremost. It turns out that she was acting for herself... neither the Lady nor the Dominator. Now, Stormbringer. Though she is female, and therefore supposed to be in the service of the Dominator, she winds up in the deep south after the Battle at Charm. Note that she moved as far away from him as possible. The other, third and final (and still unnamed) female Taken, logically went south also according to Otto and Hagop's report that the remains of Nightcrawler, the Faceless Man, and Moonbiter were not found in their supposed graves. In my "Taken and Shadowmaster Breakdown" analysis (which I posted on the Glen Cook fanmail) I described how Moonbiter is a logical choice for the 3rd female Taken, and how she was killed with 2 others before Longshadow could seal the shadowgate.
My point: The three female Taken might have been tempted to serve the Dominator, but by the Battle at Charm, 2 executed other plans and went AWOL from both him And the Lady, faking their deaths, to independently seek out power in the south as Shadowmasters, while Soulcatcher was busy executing her own plans (e.g. putting her 'head' together).
The female Circle members appear to be much more tempted by the Dominator in that case, right? The only positive example we have of a female Circle member is Whisper, who suborned the Limper. It is questionable if even she herself was tempted by the Dominator. Maybe the Lady is a better schemer, but that does not make her darker (Alric schemed his way to victory against the Leveler).
(( It's also arguable if Bomanz the Awakener actually got the Lady from the ground. Technically, he was used, like a tool, by the Resurrectionists. One of which was his son, the other, was the true Awakener (I apologize, I cannot remember his name at the moment). ))
: I wouldn't consider her a "lesser" evil at
: all. She's less violent, but certainly no less dark
: and nasty.
The books note at least twice that she is not as evil as the Dominator himself, and that having her in charge is far better than having him in power. She also has a good streak that Croaker pulls out, mentioned oodles of times.
Though she doesn't employ as many of those ravenous monsters her husband used, it makes her no less violent. She slaughtered an entire Town Square packed-to-busting full of priests and clerics! I think you might be a bit confused about those aspects you mentioned: she's violent when she must be, just like the Dominator, but is not as nasty or dark.
: Actually, I think the Nine are based on the Circle.
: Remember how the Circle keep getting knocked off
: ("Two of The Nine were killed, which makes them
: something like The Three now, if you also subtract
: Murgen and Cu Roi, who did not escape the destruction
: of the Tain, and the others who have died this
: year."). The same thing happens to the Circle...
: one by one they disappear.
Although it's true that the Nine of Myth were crafted with the Circle in mind (I never denied that) it is false to say they have much more in common than the fact that they both are groups of mages which lose members in battle. The Nine of Myth fight against the Leveler, and they do not support (unwittingly or intentionally) greater evils, which the Circle clearly does. So, yes: they are both groups of powerful people, and they lose members through attrition. But, they differ greatly on far too many accounts to have much else in common.
And no, the Head is not a greater evil than the Leveler. :)
: Agreed. There's just too much material in TBC (6 books
: published by the time TFL was in production) to expect
: Bungie to borrow that extravagantly.
Yes.. thankfully they didn't.
: Which is why, if there's a Myth 4, TBC should be
: referenced again. As it should have been for Myth 3,
: since MJ didn't have Bungie's notes. :)
Referenced, yes. But not copied so liberally :) If you Stinger or any other reader wants to see the Breakdown analysis I referred to, email me and I'll send a copy, or check the August archives of the Glen Cook fans mailing list. http://www.xmission.com/~shpshftr/GC/GC-Mail.html
: --Stinger
-Welly
