: Sorry, I think I've misunderstood your theory. I thought
: you claimed that there were quite a few Avatara, whom
: Alric represented just as the other members of the
: Nine represented different races. If what you're
: actually saying is that Alric simply commands the rest
: of the Nine and they command the individual forces,
: then that sounds reasonable to me. I would point out,
: however, that Alric's leadership over them seems to be
: relatively weak; that's why they're called "The
: Nine" instead of "Alric and the eight guys
: who work for him." I agree with Forrest that they
: were probably all equals before the war, perhaps kings
: of different areas, and that recent circumstances
: (like the conquest of their kingdoms) have placed
: Alric in command.
You and Forrest are right. Alric is leader of them, more in the sense that the President is the leader of the US, but Congress still has plenty of power.
: This is from the Shades' Myth II flavor text:
: ì...Turquine so mistreated his subjects that even his
: personal guard abandoned him... he agreed to endure
: the indescribable tortures of the Fallen that he might
: have his revenge."
But that's just one particular Shade. I bet Mazarrin didn't like being turned into a Shade.
: Also true in general, but not to the point that, say, the
: best authority on berserk warfare has to be a berserk.
: A military genius whose specialty is archery, but
: who's spent twenty years fighting alongside berserks,
: is going to know how to manage them. It might often
: happen that the guy who's best at commanding a type of
: unit is that unit, but I don't think generals would be
: chosen on the assumption that that's always the case.
But more often than not, a berserk would be the most knoweldgable, not Mr. Archer.
: What I was asking was why there would be one member of
: the Nine to represent the fir' Bolg and another to
: represent human bowmen (as you seemed to be
: suggesting) when, as of TFL, no humans have been
: trained as archers yet?
I lied. Fir'bolg and not human archers were part of the Nine.
: I'm just wondering--why don't you have the game? I mean,
: you make great arguments, but you're kinda
: handicapping yourself by not having the game you're
: talking about. Plus, we're all here because we think
: it's one of the best games in the world. So go get it!
: Sell your house and your parents to get the game and
: the fastest possible computer to play it on and a
: solar/coal/geothermal power station which guarantees
: no blackouts or power surges.
Back in the days of Nontoxic, I presented this same theory. Of course, back then Myth 2 wasn't out so we applied it to Myth 1 only. I thought that maybe I should present this same theory for critique. Not this many people argued with me. As I recall, it was mainly me and Forrest.
And I don't have myth 2 because I am cheap. That and I will be buying the Sack, so I need to save.
: It's just strange they're never mentioned, that's all.
: Given the military value of Avataras, I would think if
: there was any possibility that a potential Avatara was
: living in the Province, Alric would be sweeping the
: population for signs of magical ability, and training
: anyone he could find.
60 years. Very short amount of time to find and train someone in the art of magic, swordsmanship, and tactics. And he had to wait for a new generation of people. There were only 9 Avataras alive during the Great War. How are born in 60 years? Probably very few.
: As you say, unprovable, but also undisprovable.
: 'Specially since there wouldn't be Nine of them any
: more. But "We all know the battle for Madrigal
: will decide the fate of all the Northern lands, and
: that if it falls we will soon have nowhere to retreat
: but the ocean." I really don't think most of the
: Nine would be out doing other things while their
: capital was in such peril. As for evidence against
: your specific suggestions: I think they'd mention if
: one of the Nine had already died at the beginning of
: the journal; Alric probably wasn't sent off by the
: Head until after Rabican's victory, since that was
: what really won the Nine's trust in it; there isn't
: anyone at Bagrada or Seven Gates yet because we learn
: in "Force Ten from Stoneheim" that the
: western armies are only now moving toward those
: passes, almost a month after the victory at Madrigal;
: and if any of the Nine had been at or near Avon's
: Grove, they would have figured out what was done with
: the bodies and, most likely, the common soldiers would
: have found out. Obviously these aren't invincible
: rebuttals, but still.
First, the journal doesn't record the time when two of the Nine died. See the journal for Sons of Mygard. Secondly, the Light probably knew that The Watcher had the ability to make Thrall. They probably didn't know that the Shade there did. Thirdly, I take back what I said about Rabbican being the only person there. I recently got a bump on my head. Rabbican is probably the second most powerful Avatara. I get that impression 'cause it says in Homecoming that "Rabbican himself... blah blah blah" as though Rabbican is very very powerful and being sent through the knot by HIM is something very cool. Fourthly, I think the attack by Shiver on Madrigal was pretty unexpected, because the Legion was not even close. They were still at Crow's Bridge and Shiver had already been attacking for 3 days or someting.
: I should point out that I quite agree with you that
: avatara may be from extremely varied backgrounds, and
: that the Nine probably did have different fighting
: styles and represented different areas and were
: skilled at managing different units. I just don't
: think it was as explicitly ordered as you suggest,
: with each of the Nine commanding and being a different
: type of unit.
If the Nine was a council before the war, it makes sense that they would specifically have one member per class. Therefore, one dwarf, one Skrael, one peasant (warrior), one fir'bolg, etc. So when war came, they just kept their rank and became the leaders of their particular class.
I agree I was stretching there with one Legion per Avatara, but... you never know.
