: I think the Leveller normally disappears partway through
: the dark age, just like the hero normally disappears
: partway through a light age. It was dying, and so
: soon, that was unusual. It's hard to say as we have no
: real information on what was happening during a normal
: dark age.
Exactly! I just came on before going to bed to say this, but you beat me to it. It "set the uneasy precedent" that a Leveller can die early in the cycle, simply because that was the first Dark Age in recorded history. Also, I don't think the Light could survive at all if there was a Dark Lord leading the forces of darkness for a THOUSAND YEARS. I mean, look what Balor did in 50-something years, and extrapolate that to what would have happened had the Head not messed things up.
The thing that really messes up the thought that a Leveller would live though a Dark Age, though is that if that was the norm, then why would another Leveller show up at the dawn of the next Light Age (as did "Moagim reborn")? Just to be killed? I don't think so. I think the Leveller is usually killed sometime in his Dark Age, and then another Leveller shows up a thousand years after that one did, at the dawn of the next cycle. In other words, every thousand years both Leveller and Hero rise (whether that means being born, or being turned into a new evil by the Leveller spirit), and who wins their inevitable battle is all the cycles decide.
Also, another point: Tharsis, and the comet. Firstly, why does Tharsis erupt when the cycles are turning over? That's Nyx's creation. So does Nyx have something to do with the cycles? Secondly, the direction the comet goes. At the dawn of the Wolf Age, it took up residence in the western skies; at the dawn of the Sword Age, it took up residence in the Eastern skies. We don't know where it came from in the Wind Age, or if it came at all in the Age of Reason (though we can presume it did). So lets look at the pattern:
2nd Era - Comet rises in ????, heralding ???? ??????
3rd Era - Comet rises in ????, heralding Evil Alric
4th Era - Comet rises in west, heralding Good Connacht
5th Era - Comet rises in east, heralding ???? ??????
So, it seems to alternate east to west, to herald the Good when in the west and (presumably) the Evil when in the east, and to herald whoever is destined to win (despite the fact that Balor lost, he SHOULD have won). Thus, to fill in the blanks:
2nd Era - Comet rises in west, heralding Good Alric.
3rd Era - Comet rises in east, heralding Evil Alric.
4th Era - Comet rises in west, heralding Good Connacht
5th Era - Comet rises in east, heralding Evil Connacht
Thus, if the cycle wasn't broken, we could expect the next Era to have a comet rise in the west, heralding Good Alric's inevitable victory.
And one last thing (I promise). I was just thinking about the broken cycle again. It should have gone - Comet heralds Connacht's rule; Connacht disappears; Comet heralds Balor's rule. Instead it went - Comet heralds Connacht's rule; Connacht disappears; Comet almost due, Balor appears; Comet arrives on schedule, Balor dies.
So what I'm thinking is thus: Connacht wanted to break the cycle. He appeared as Balor off-schedule for the cycle, thus forcing Alric to kill him just as he (Connacht) was supposed to be taken over by the Leveller. In this way, the forces of the Dark are defeated IMMEDIATELY as the Dark Age begins!
Balor wasn't the Leveller - there was none this Era! The Leveller took over Balor - still the most powerfull sorceror at that moment - just as he was being killed! So the Leveller never got to secure a Dark victory like Moagim did, even though some terrible ravaging was done in the process of stopping him. Connacht sacraficed himself and most of humanity in a trick to get the Leveller killed before he could do any REAL damage!
It's brilliant! I love you, Connacht! [smooch]!
(Of course, Alric using an Eblis Stone and throwing his head down the Great Devoid couldn't have hurt much, either).
