: From intro to Force Ten From Stoneheim: "We learned
: there that by coincidence the combined armies of the
: North are only four days behind us, heading for the
: mountains to stop The Deceiver, another of The Fallen
: Lords, from crossing the Cloudspine before
: winter."
: If the combined armys of the North are heading to block
: the passes anyway, what difference does the garrison
: of one city make to the Deceiver? It surely would not
: have made a difference in the end. But if one of the
: Fallen Lords came in behind the forces blocking the
: passes it could only help Myrdred in the long run.
: Unless Myrdred was fulfilling some personal vendetta
: against one of his allies, why ruin his advance and
: create a stalemate over the winter?
Could be a personal vendetta; could be that The Head needed to give the Nine another sop so they'd keep trusting him. Either way, the Head's info once again hurt Myrdred less than any other Fallen Lord. I doubt he even cared much about crossing the Cloudspine--at this time his attention was focused on Alric's army, which was on his side of the mountain and which he destroyed a few weeks later. In fact, if tipping off the Light makes it harder for the Dark to cross the mountains, then Myrdred has an excuse to be waiting around in the East when he just happens to run into Alric...
: Why give Alric back once he had him? Myrdred would be the
: one blamed for his rescue, considering it was his army
: guarding him at the time, and he would face the wrath
: of Balor. That wouldn't be a very intelligent thing
: for him to do. And why give his enemy their most
: important general back? It is only making his
: adversaries more powerful after severely crippling
: them by capturing Alric.
Two things. First, Myrdred already got props by capturing Alric single-handed. Once Balor came--presumably with some of his personal warriors--and started interrogating Alric, Myrdred's responsibility for holding Alric was partially or completely removed. So the net effect on Myrdred's status after Alric's escape would still be positive.
Second, at this time only one of the Fallen Lords had been destroyed. It would be convenient to keep Alric around so's he could weaken and/or kill more of Myrdred's rivals. It probably doesn't matter that much to Myrdred whether Light or Dark lives in the end, as long as most of his peers are dead. He's switched sides before.
: But the Watcher obviously found out the Deceiver was
: digging around for his arm. Why else would he attack
: Myrdred's army at Seven Gates? I would think Myrdred
: would have a much more elaborate ambush set up if he
: had been expecting the Light to come strolling into
: Silvermines looking for the arm. And as I've said
: before, the arm was placed in the open probably more
: for gameplay issues then for the storyline. =)
So the Deceiver's ploy didn't work as well as he'd hoped. :-) And even if the player shouldn't need an intimate knowledge of mining techniques to retrieve the arm, it could still be explained how to sense it mystically...or something. Having it sit untended on a pile of rubble was a bit over the top. :-)
: The Head was also known to lie more often then reveal the
: entire truth. =)
: On more then one occasion the Head is described as:
: "The Head of one of Balor's old enemies" by
: the narrator. Bungie probably slipped on these
: occasions giving a fact instead of a generalization,
: but I could be wrong about that. If Myrdred was an
: avatara of Connacht, he was probably one of Connacht's
: closest allies or even friend. Why would he have
: anything against Balor then? "Old enemy" was
: probably the Leveler of Connacht's time, which we know
: is Moagim reborn.
So the Head's calling itself a Wolf Age Avatara is a lie...but the Head's calling itself an old enemy of Balor is the honest truth? :-) Remember, the Head *has* to label itself Balor's enemy if the Nine are to accept it as an ally. The Wolf Age Avatara thing, on the other hand, is sufficiently undirected to be close to the truth, I think.
: Other then those, some good connections are made. I am
: still not convinced, even with Forrests post. I still
: assume that Bungie originally intended the head to be
: the past Leveler, Moagim. There are many direct facts
: indicating this. If you can prove me wrong otherwise,
: using non-GURPs references, then go for it.
What direct facts are there? Other than Rabican thinking "moagim" during his battle, which could refer to anything, and is more likely a link to Shiver herself than to The Head?
And I still don't see why Moagim's head--if it could survive after the Leveller spirit had moved on--wouldn't either remain Dark, or revert to its Light Tireces personality. Either way, I doubt it would work against both sides like The Head did.
--SiliconDream
