: Remember that The Watcher and The Deceiver turned on each
: other years before TFL, after the battle for Tyr. And
: Balor knows something of his lieutenants' earlier
: history. He can't be unaware of the rivalries.
Ah yes, they had it out after the battle for Tyr, and I'm sure Balor would have disciplined them someway. If he let it go unnoticed it is garunteed to happen again, especially since the Deceiver left the Watcher barely alive.
: Heh. "We're bored with this whole 1st-person
: narrator-isn't-omniscient-and-can-be-lied-to-or- misinformed deal. Too complicated. Let's just write down the facts in every forty-ninth sentence." ;-)
No, just giving information about the Head. Bungie is known for subtle hints. The Head claims to be an enemy of Balor before it is discovered that Balor is Connacht, effectively putting him on Connacht's side in the mind of the Nine, when in fact, he was an enemy of Connacht.
: Perhaps, but he sho' took his time...
: But Moagim Reborn was incinerated, with no hint that his
: head was kept around. And he was killed on the plains
: before Ilium--wherever that is, it's probably not yet
: another name for Muirthemne.
Maybe Connacht beheaded him and kept the Head at his capital to make sure he would not rise again. If he was dubbed Moagim reborn, and the previous Age was terrorized by Moagim, he probably wanted to make sure it would not happen again, without knowing about the cycle yet. If he's already dead, why kill him again? Lock him up so he can't get out and keep a close watch on him.
: And he picked Shiver and The Watcher--the two most
: reliable Fallen Lords, allied to the Dark for
: millennia now and most likely his former loyal
: servants, with no prior allegiance to Connacht (unlike
: Damas and The Deceiver)--to sacrifice first? And then
: he turned on those useful Light pawns and decimated
: them, trusting to Alric's tiny band to make it through
: and finish off Balor single-handed? Woo, he cuts it a
: bit close...
Its just been assumed Shiver is an ancient evil... its not proven anywhere. As well, we don't know if either of them served Maogim or Moagim reborn.
Also, the Head is still located way in the East, and news probably traveled slow. Things could have been looking good for the legion when he started the civil war.
: Yeah, he could be insane, but then what's the point of
: giving him *any* particular former identity?
: "He's the preserved head of Clark Gable, and he
: helped the Light and then betrayed them because...he's
: insane!" If his identity is relevant to the plot,
: then it's probably relevant to his behavior.
You seem to have missed the point... the possession by the Leveler could leave his mind barren with no thought but malice for the man who defeated him and decapitated him.
: Round and round we go...
Indeed it does, and in the process we have excluded many or all the facts we are given about the Head to make way for our guesses. We are getting no where with this discussion.
~Longshadow
