Wow, Sili, that's really good/cool. The rest said it all, but helluva good job at that foreignsic work.
»–)›
: OK, so I glanced over The Head info again, and it seems
: to me that most of it points toward it working for The
: Deceiver--perhaps being nothing more than a mouthpiece
: and magical conduit. First of all, considering the
: actions The Head takes: It reveals Shiver's weakness,
: enabling her destruction. We know that The Deceiver
: and Shiver are old enemies.
: It helps the Light retrieve the Total Codex. Now, as
: others have pointed out on the forum, we don't really
: know why this was a huge deal--the narrator never
: mentions the Nine discovering anything amazing in the
: Codex. But we *do* know that The Watcher was already
: looking for it, and we know that Myrdred would take
: any opportunity to sabotage one of Bahl'al's missions.
: Especially since exactly the same thing happens in The
: Black Company.
: It reveals that the Dark has learned how to use the World
: Knots, and has a part of the Legion sent to destroy
: one Knot. Now this is a setback to the Dark in
: general, but probably affects the Deceiver less than
: other Fallen Lords, since he can teleport unaided.
: Also, since The Deceiver's armies are trying to cross
: the Cloudspine on foot at this time, it's likely that
: it's another Fallen Lord who plans to send forces
: through the Knot. Finally, the soldiers who have to go
: and destroy the Knot are--as the narrator explains in
: his journal--therefore unable to meet up with the main
: army which is marching to block The Deceiver's
: advance. So tipping off the Light about the Knots
: means that they can't give The Deceiver their
: undivided attention.
: It has Alric sent across the mountains, where--surprise,
: surprise--he's promptly captured by The Deceiver. Once
: Myrdred's turned Alric over to Balor and gotten his
: props, it probably (this is is a suspicion of the
: narrator) informs The Nine so that a rescue attempt
: can be made.
: It probably (the narrator doesn't know how they figured
: it out) tells The Nine about The Watcher's arm. The
: Deceiver has been digging for the arm for months now,
: and when the Light forces get there, they find the arm
: conveniently sitting on the ground. As soon as they go
: for it, The Deceiver starts attacking and tries to get
: it back. It's hard not to suspect that Myrdred just
: needed to be able to blame the arm's reappearance on
: the Light, so that the rest of the Fallen wouldn't
: realize he was working toward Bahl'al's demise yet
: again.
: It starts a civil war and gets some of the Nine killed.
: Of course, any of the Fallen would want this.
: Now, as for The Head's general character and abilities:
: It apparently possesses powerful mind-control magics,
: which can persuade thousands of soldiers to fight for
: it, or turn the Nine into gullible idiots. We all know
: who the master of mind control is.
: It never takes any physical action (though all it could
: really do is spit, I guess), but rather manipulates
: others through judicious application of truth and
: lies. This is Myrdred's M.O.
: It claims to be an Avatara of Connacht's time, and a
: close friend or ally of Connacht. This is, so far as
: we know, exactly what Myrdred was. If The Head's
: relaying info from Myrdred, it'd make sense for it to
: validate that info by borrowing an edited version of
: Myrdred's life story.
: It disappears entirely following the civil war. This is
: less surprising if it's just a tool or a mouthpiece
: than if it's an independent entity.
: I wonder if earlier versions of the TFL story spent more
: time on The Head's betrayals, or on those of whatever
: creature controlled it? The biggest subplot of the
: first Black Company book is Soulcatcher's systematic
: annihilation of the rest of the Taken; perhaps TFL
: started out focused on this, and then moved away from
: the Black Company model (as it did with Shades) once
: it really found its individual flavor.
: --SiliconDream
