: But wait, there's more...
: The fallen lords, even Balor himself, were on familiar
: terms with Alric - more so than the rest of the Nine
: to our knowledge.
How so? Only Balor ever talked to Alric in-game, to interrogate him and to tell him to surrender. No reason to think that the other Fallen Lords didn't throw a taunt or two when an Avatara came their way.
: Just think, if Alric was Mazzarin, hence known to them
: from beforehand & previously allied with some...
: Balor: "Join me or die"
: - why ask Alric to join him, unless appealing to an old
: alliance?
He's bent other Avatara to his will, like Myrdred. Alric would make a useful servant.
: Also, Alric knew that the Myrkridian standard would
: enrage Balor, again hinting at prior knowledge of
: Balor/Connacht's character.
Unfortunately, Mazzarin didn't know either Connacht or Balor. He was dead long before then. No possibility of an alliance.
: Shiver: "Tell Alric his nightmare has just begun
: etc."
: - why would Shiver know Alric's worst fears - the
: resurrection of the Myrkridia, unless he was Mazzarin
: & helped Connacht to imprison them.
See above. :-)
: Also, in TFL he never met Shiver (or so I believe). But
: he recognised the disfigured soul of Shiver and knew
: she was a ruthless opponent.
Well, super-powerful female sorceress, extremely vain, probably giving off some aura of "died a while ago and was resurrected..." it's probably not hard to figure out. And having met Shiver in the Wind Age wouldn't help him recognize her new persona, anyway.
: Ok, the hiding of the Elbis stone occured after
: Mazzarin's death, so no special knowledge of Mazz
: would let Alric know where the stone was. Unless
: Connacht had told him where he'd hide it, or perhaps
: it was Mazz's own stone, secreted away from Connacht -
: which is pure speculation of course.
See above again. :-)
: Certainly the other Elbis stone argument, that Alric knew
: how to use it, remains valid methinks.
Is there a reason to think that Mazzarin was better at using Eblis stones than any other archmage, though?
: Also there's the Deceiver, a contemporary and former ally
: of Mazzarin. Alric's decision to enlist Myrdred's aid
: could certainly be based on hoping the old rivalry
: between M & SB would be the key ... but that
: doesn't really explain it enough IMO. Myrdred was an
: enemy of the light too, and is a Fallen Lord after
: all. Alric's ongoing and implicit trust of Myrdred
: afterwards speaks of an old friendship renewed.
I don't think Alric and Myrdred are particularly friendly toward each other...Alric used him as a powerful weapon against Soulblighter, but he didn't trust him much. He never gave The Deceiver more than a small force of soldiers. If Myrdred helped out, good; if not, he didn't have enough power over the Light army to do any real harm.
--SiliconDream
