: I wonder if the Crown belongs to a realm of magery which
: Alric doesn't know a whole lot about... although not
: very likely, I still consider this a possibility. One
: would think that such an artifact would increase one's
: ability exponentially. Yet Alric still uses 3
: dispersals and his swordsmanship skills have not
: improved so much as to evoke the response "OMG
: ALRIK 0WNZ NOW.. B4 HE DIDNT".
: Which leads me to believe that either (A) Alric didn't
: have enough time during the campaigns to explore the
: Crown's full usefullness or (B) the Crown is like a
: 'key' to Balmung.. in the hands of a mere berserk, it
: can kill a few ghosts, but in Alric's hands, it can
: kill legions.
: A very good point... although we do know his pre-Crown
: skills, when we used him in TFL, there are unknown
: variables which could have changed things since then.
: Red is an important literary symbol... although I can't
: say for sure, I just think Bungie made him wear it in
: TFL because it looked really cool on him :)
: -Welly
You think the question of what the crown does is interesting? I have a better one. Is it really the Ibis Crown? After all, we know there are 11 copies floating around. And Alric certainly chooses an odd time to go after it. Why not long ago? Who told him where it was now, if he didn't know before? And why, if the thing is so damn powerful, didn't he go after it himself? wasn't he afraid that one of his followers, or one of the dark minions might get his hands on i and keep it? The story smacks of the "one ring" from Tolkien, an object of great power that only one wearer can possess, and that was thought to have disappeared foe eaons, only to fall into exactly the right persons hand at exactly the right time.
And here's the kicker. Alric doesn't seem to exhibit any new powers whatsoever after wearing the thing ("After the Ibis Crown was recovered from the ancient tomb below Muirthemne, a ceremony was held to coronate Alric as the new Emperor of the Cath Bruig Empire."). Balmung is the real item of power recoved from the crypt. *My* theory is that Balmung is what Alric actually wanted, and that he knew of the sword's existence through the journeymen. He also learned that at least one copy of the crown was located there. So he sent a bunch of people, including a couple jmen, to recover the sword under the guise of recovering the crown. After all, the Jmen want one thing: the return of the Heron Guard. To do so they must crown someone emperor of the CB. Alric wants the sword. Put two and two together and you have Alric agreeing to become emperor so that he can get his hands on Balmung, his best shot at defeating SoulBlighter.
--Stinger
