From: xoanon@carina.unm.edu (timothy k istian soholt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: The Elf Queen of Shannara -- Thoughts, and the like -- SPOILERS
Date: 8 Sep 92 21:24:51 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

alix@iastate.edu (Leigh Ann) writes:

>Hi!  I'm new to news-net, but couldn't keep my two-cents out of this
>one.  So if I break any news-net protocol...I plead ignorance.....

Well, if there are spoilers in the post, you should either put in a
page break (check your editor's documentation or your computer-whiz
friend as to how to do this for your editor) or a lot of blank lines.




>ss1@kepler.unh.edu (The Rink) writes:
>
>>A couple speculations that I'm wondering what people think of:

                       [snip]

>>2.  Who is the stranger that confronted Par at the end of the book?
>
>Personally, I think that it was Padishar.  Like you said, he should have been
>the only one who knew about the lighthouse, and Damson would have used her
>hidden entrance, not the door.

Y'know, I hadn't thought of that one! Now that you mention it, you're
probably right.

>>3.  Does anybody know why the Sword of Shannara burned Par's hand at the end
>>	of the Scions just after Par used his magic?  This implies that Par's
>>	magic is something of a lie.  To some extent, we know why the Sword
>>	didn't phaze Rimmer Dall.  I don't believe that the Sword that Par
>>	has is a fake, but then again, I can't think of any reason why Dall
>>	would let Par have the real one, nor can I imagine why Par seemed to
>>	get some violent reaction from it after using his magic.
>
>This one is tough.  I think that the reason that the sword burned Par is
>because Par is 'lying' to himself in someone way about his magic.  Rimmer Dall
>might be twisting the truth, but he isn't out and out lying to himself about
>his magic (like the Skull Bearers and the druid Brona were in "Sword").
>As for why he let Par have it, maybe he 'thinks' that it can't be used against
>him in the same way it was used against Brona (it didn't affect him when it
>touched him, while Brona REFUSED to touch it because he knew it would kill
>him).  Maybe instead, it'll be used in another way that neither he nor
>Par has thought of yet.

I think that Brooks has a real doozy of a revelation regarding this one;
absolutely nothing I've heard anyone come up with quite seems to satisfy
all the circumstances. I think you're pretty close to the truth -- but
then again, my own thoughts on the matter run along similar lines.

>But what about the _obvious_ one?  The Ohmsfords and the Leahs?  It looked
>like, at the end of the original trilogy, that Brin Ohmsford and Morgan Leah
>were an item.  If so, is Morgan their direct descendent? [also see answer #6]

That's what I thought too. Hmmm.

>While we're on geneologies...how in the world can Walker (who is the only
>acknowledged descendent of Brin Ohmsford) be an Ohmsford (he only changed
>his name to Boh)?  Did someone keep their maternal paternom somewhere along
>the line, or did Brin's line marry into Jair's at some point?

Brooks has really got his genealogy in a mess here, hasn't he? I wonder
if he just forgot about some of this or if he's got a whole series of 
rabbits just waiting to be pulled out of hats in the fourth book.

>>6.  What REALLY happened to Coll? 

>IMHO, I think the cloak has turned him into a Shadowen.  Or, could the cloak
>be a Shadowen that possesses the wearer, but doesn't change him permanantly
>into a Shadowen? [Wishful thinking on my part; I like Coll's character, and
>I'd hate to have him killed off.  But, part of Brooks' appeal is the fact
>that he's not afraid to kill off his characters (look at Amberle in
>"Elfstones", the party from Culhaven in "Wishsong", Teel in "Scions",
>Quicksilver in "Druid", Garth in "Elfqueen", etc.)

I don't think that Coll is unsaveable _yet_. When major characters go
in Brooks's novels, they tend to go with a bit more drama. Then again,
it's not entirely impossible that he's breaking form with Coll.

>>But what still remains is the King of the Silver River's comment in the
>>beginning of the Druid:  (paraphrased)  "Four, not three.  There were still
>>some things Allanon did not fully see."  So besides Par and Walker and Wren,
>>there is one more.  This may or may not be Coll.  If it is Coll, it still
>>explains Allanon's ignorace of him, since Allanon obviously didn't see his
>>role in it.  But what if the fourth is someone else?  Who, if not Coll?

>Well, my original thought on this was that maybe it was Morgan Leah.  Now
>that I think of it, I seem to remember the King of the Silver River saying
>that Morgan was insignificant (not exactly in those words, 
 but general meaning)

I'll have to check that one out. (I knew there was a reason for taking 
those books to school with me :=)  )

>But think about it:  Morgan was a major character in two out of the so far
>three books with no real reason (he's NOT one of the characters in the
>prophecy, after all).  And, like Par, Coll, and Walker, we are 'updated'
>on him in "Elfqueen".  If not Morgan OR Coll, the only other even semi-major
>characters are Rimmer Dall (yeah, right), Padishar Creel, and Damson Rhee.
>Not very likely, but who knows.

I'd have to go on the record as favoring Morgan by a slight margin over
Coll at the moment, with everyone else not even under serious consider-
ation.

-- Tim Soholt (xoanon@carina.unm.edu), The Man With No .sig
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written