As usual, Dave tells it like it is. Let's see if I can add anything.
: What one would do with the Codex is still an open
: question. It tells future history, which sounds
: useful--except it also details YOUR history, which
: means that whatever you read will come true.
: Therefore, if the Watcher read he was doomed to die
: after a miserable struggle with the Deceiver, all he
: would be able to do would be to howl about how unfair
: it was. There is no way to change what happens, so
: it's pretty much useless unless you're the Light and
: you want to reassure your troops that yes, they will
: be successful (why Alric didn't do this is a good
: question--maybe he was worried about demoralizing them
: if they found out what was waiting for them at
: Rhi'anon). It would be much more useful as a political
: tool: whoever has it will become the foremost target
: of the Light (for unknown reasons, the Nine and later
: King Alric were obsessed with holding on to it).
Well, we don't *know* that the Codex is useless--why not give the Nine the benefit of the doubt that it confers certain advantages upon its owner? It's certainly useful to be able to tell the future, even if that future is fixed (and we don't know that it is--what's written in the book may depend on past events).
Also remember that the Codex doesn't allow you to turn to a given desired page. Powerful mages can turn to pages near where they're interested, but even the Watcher couldn't just pick out any tidbit of information he desired.
Basically, Sandman, think of the Codex as providing random bits of information about the future, some useless, some that you can exploit and take into account. For instance, Soulblighter (as far as we know) wanted the Codex because he knew that it talked about a man who was going to summon the Myrkridia. He hoped to find out from it who the Summoner was and how to contact it.
So what the Watcher might be able to do with the Codex is uncertain. He might find nothing at all that he could use; just information like "In 2878, a man in Covenant is hit on the head by a mysterious beet from the sky." He might find information that he could exploit with a little cleverness, like "Archaeologists in 3026 discover that the ancient Deceiver was vulnerable to cheese." Or he might find something *really* useful like "The Deceiver was finally killed by the Watcher using a magic arrow cunningly fashioned from cheddar," and then he'd just have to do exactly what the book said he'd do in order to triumph.
: Exactly what the Nine did: use it to kill him. The Fallen
: were all protected by massive sorceries that made them
: all but invulnerable. However, by the logic of magic a
: thing that is invulnerable can always be hurt by
: itself. Therefore, having a piece of a Fallen Lord
: (his arm, her true name, whatever) makes them
: vulnerable. The Deceiver could probably have done
: better than make arrows out of bone chips, but the end
: result would be the same. It's the ultimate weapon as
: far as the Watcher is concerned. The Deceiver, being
: the wily fellow he was, might have used it
: strategically rather than tactically; i.e., he could
: have blackmailed/threatened the Watcher into
: furthering his (the Deceiver's) own agenda, but he was
: blinded by his desire for revenge (his big weak spot)
: and therefore would almost have certainly used it to
: complete some kind of ironic and highly unlikely
: revenge fantasy. Short answer: the Deceiver would have
: killed the Watcher with it.
All very true.
: It would never have happened. The battle between the two
: of them at Tyr and the later snafu at Seven Gates
: would have been very short, and either of them would
: have ended with the Watcher being dead. By all
: accounts the Watcher was not the craftiest fellow in
: the Mythworld and he would not even have seen it
: coming. The fact that he managed to hold his own was
: due purely to the fact that he was the better sorceror
: (by probably an order of magnitude), and therefore
: didn't have to worry about the Deceiver's tricks. The
: fact that Balor was heavily invested in the Watcher
: (he did, after all, specifically and at great peril to
: himself search for, rescue, and support the Watcher,
: while the big D was just bent to his (Balor's) will)
: probably helped as well. Short answer: the Codex
: wouldn't have made a difference, but the arm would
: have ended the conflict almost instantly, with the
: Watcher being dead before the dust settled.
Agreed, except that the Codex would probably have been somewhat useful (though certainly not as much as the arm).
: There's a whole can of worms there. We know that
: Soulblighter, at least, was still active even after
: Balor's head came off, though there's some evidence he
: lost most of his army as a result. What the
: consequences of Balor's death were for the Fallen is a
: matter still open to heated debate. As for the Shades,
: they seem largely untouched by this circumstance.
: Herod and Phelot were both on the losing side in TFL,
: but they remained healthy and at full power for the
: sixty years between games.
I'd guess that it was the low-level Fallen--the Thrall and Wights and so forth--that were almost completely incapacitated by Balor's death. Shades seem to be fairly self-powered, as do the Fallen Lords (though most of them did apparently suffer a reduction in power.)
: Again, it's an open question what Balor's Death did (or
: might have done, since he was dead anyway) to the
: Watcher. Most likely he would have been alive but
: without Balor's leadership he wouldn't have known what
: to do next. Most likely he would have turned his
: efforts towards destroying the Deceiver and would have
: left the Light pretty much alone, but it's hard to
: say. He was far more loyal to Balor's vision than the
: rest of the Fallen (not that I have much evidence for
: this, but there's little evidence to the contrary,
: either): Soulblighter had his own vision to fulfill,
: Shiver was too aggressive to take orders well, the
: Deceiver was his own creature and resented even the
: simplest order, etc. The Watcher may well have gone on
: trying to Level the Mythworld, even without Balor. He
: would have still had plenty of undead troops and if
: the Deceiver were out of the picture (dead, or frozen
: in the Dramus, or whatever) he might have gone down
: fighting, anyway.
Agreed, though I think Soulblighter was just as good an underling, or better, than the Watcher. He didn't get distracted by petty rivalries with other Fallen (though some Inmates of course believe that he was working with the Head or otherwise scheming against Balor all along).
--SiliconDream
