originally posted by R’is’n
Spoiler Spoiler…
I'm taking this from general discussion, because it includes spoilers from TK.
Janny says, Friday, September 30:
/quote{However much they (F7) might UNDERSTAND balanced m/f energy, they have a purpose driving them. They stay within certain boundaries - but must break them if Paravian survival is compromised.}
So, without the Drake's binding, they would practice magic in line with more balanced philosophy? OR is that a lesson yet to be learned…
I guess it would also make sense that the restoration of Paravians, the key of which is the love that Elaira and Arithon share. I wonder if sanctioned as High King of Rathain, would the key be the consummation of their relationship in the way that Arithon conducted it - opening both to each other (male/female balance) and to the land? Certainly, their 'session' brought out a LOT of power. Did it make a difference that both were 'marked' by Paravians?
Janny, I still have a question on this: why DID the Drakes only find MALE sorcerers with destructive powers to destroy the methuri etc… and not female? Do you align that kind of 'invented' magical destructive power to masculine energy? Is it analogous to the nuclear bomb? i.e. A seriously distorted masculine power (even the shape of the bomb shows that!) that obliterates excessive order. (Usually considered a 'feminine' energy e.g. Hurricane Rita.)
Aside: I watched last night on the news & pictures from the internet, of huge alligators being returned to the Louisiana swamps. Horrifying on the human level, people must have felt terrified. Yet on another level, it's satisfying to see an example of nature trying to balance itself. Reminds one of how precarious our 'civilised order' really is.
Roisin - You Asked. I'll try to answer best I can, though I admit to a little confusion on my part as to the precise thrust of your question…the bomb being masculine…excessive "order" being (?) Rita's energy being feminine…? Not sure how this applies, but.
With regard to the Drake's binding - this is explained quite clearly in the manuscript. The drakes "DREAMED" creation - and that dream summoned its PRECISE match: the seven whose energy answered EXACTLY in that moment of time/space.
There was no specific choice - the dream called its mirror and made it manifest.
To know WHAT the dragon's dream WAS - it was a now,then, and forever thing, not tied in time. Yet a point in time that held all probability, all possibility, all mystery (nonformed). You'd have to "see" what the seven were THEN - which you haven't (yet) - you see what they are NOW (as far as you can perceive, given the limits of your perception coupled with the words given and what they mean to you)
You can't yet see what they will Become.
What the seven were then, some of that is in the works already - what form it may take to arrive in your hands is yet to be determined…some of the information will be covered in this story. Some that is not so directly pertinent will be in parallel works I plan to write; or am writing.
I did not "set out" to align any one "thing" or "purpose" - deliberately. The manuscript unfolded this way for a reason. I don't apologize now for keeping what the Fellowship WERE somewhat veiled. This is story material you will have to wait to see (I know what it IS) at just the right moment.
One thing to set straight: any woman can be just as destructive as any man. Distortions, imbalances, misperceptions, lack of understanding, and MISTAKES are but definitely not gender specific … in my opinion and my experience - given that one shapes the other, that IS what is seen from this vantage.
Yours may be quite different. Knowing why tends to explain, but not necessarily reconcile, the differences.
originally posted by Auna
I'm glad the Fellowship has such mystery, it makes them more tantalizing and I can't wait to finally discover what they were before and what becomes of them after.
originally posted by Mark Timmony
Potential Spoiler:
Roisin asked:
"So, without the Drake's binding, they would practice magic in line with more balanced philosophy? OR is that a lesson yet to be learned…"
To jump in here, I just wanted to comment that I understood the Drake' binding to be that the F7 ensures Paravian survival (at any cost) rather than to constrict the way they perform magic… the way they perform magic falls in line with the Law of the Major Balance.
Mark.
originally posted by R’is’n
Thanks Janny. You Answered what I Asked. *grin* I wanted to know if you specifically chose to represent destructive 'explosive' energy as masculine. You said no. Female energy can be just as destructive.
I wanted to know why the Drakes only found Male Sorcerers, you explained that it was a 'matching' of mirrored energies, through space/time, when the Drakes 'dreamed' and it manifested. I still find that explanation of 'dreaming' ambiguous, which I put down to me, not yet knowing or seeing clearly enough to 'get' it. I'll keep trying, and if I really struggle, will Ask again.
I was also just exploring the theme of dynamic equilibrium - that either excess, of order or chaos, will eventually push itself towards its opposite.
The result of 'civilisation' a human-made 'order' engenders its own destruction - be it aggressive 'man-made' power like a nuclear bomb, or natural (usually seen as feminine) forces, like hurricane Rita, fueled by global warming - a by-product of 'order'. At the moment, that is what I think Davien's worry is based on - order that naturally destabilises, as the Paravians are not there to curb entropy with their grace and maintain the high level of vibration of Athera. But again - time will tell, either it will be revealed in future books, or I will reread and catch something I have missed.
I do agree with you - order and chaos not necessarily male or female. There is a tendency to label! I'm just trying to find out how you see it, as I think I am not 'getting' that particular theme, by looking at it from my point of view.
I'm trusting in the fact that this is an open forum for us to ask questions - I know I might ask stupid ones! I hope to keep learning, and not settle for narrow answers; to explore new interpretations.
These books have not lost their shine, AT ALL. I keep feeling like I've only just scratched the surface. I am thoroughly enjoying the process of exploring them and learning from them.
Note: if order were never "destroyed" there would be no change, no gap, no chance for inspiration to re-form anything new.
Is the "destruction" creative or entropic.
Too much order chokes creativity.
Too much chaos - admits fear, in our human condition.
If you substitute "mystery" and "unformed" for the "idea" of "chaos" - what does that suggest? The UNKNOWN - does it have to be fearful?
If you have order, and you venture into mystery with a sense of adventure, and you withdraw the interest in the old order, and reform a new and wider understanding that grows from inspired perception, this spiral is NOT entropic…it is evolving.
The "imbalances and distortions" to me, are when you have more of one and deny the action or dissolution of the other…
MYSTERY need not be Chaos, and ORDER as informed action need not be TYRANNY.
The death of an old outworn order need not be destructive - creation and destruction are a natural cycle, but if viewed in distortion, destruction and "chaos" are "bad" (threatening) because they are not in balance, or understood undistorted by fear.
So…
originally posted by Trys
R’is’n,
I'm a firm believer that the only 'stupid' questions are the ones that remained unasked.
My thought on the drakes dreaming reality. There are some esoteric belief systems which propose that we (humans, animals, plants, rocks, etc.) are not physical in any sense of the word except that we perceive it that way. We are in fact spiritual beings who project ourselves into a physical existence (why? that is very subject to discussion and debate). If these ideas are true and one could become congnizant of the fact that it is true then it would be possible to harness that energy and dream a reality into existence. But whether or not awareness is involved the reality is manifested this way.
So has Janny adapted this idea into her Drakes. Maybe. If it is (and I'm saying clearly here that I don't know) then the Drakes dreamed a reality that would have what was needed to meet the threat to the Paravians and the seven showed up as part of that new reality. Phrased another way, the Drakes Dream and the F7's manifested reality interesected at that moment (beginning of the Second Age) and that place (Crater Lake).
I also think, from some reading between the lines, that the Drakes may not always Dream cognizantly but on occasion (many occasions?) their Dreams have gone far afield of any focused intent and that might be why the Seardluin and other drakespawn came into existence. Why that would happen is also up for debate.
Trys
originally posted by R’is’n
Trys: in fact (something I just recalled) 'stupid' questions can be used to startle the mind into what Janny calls Mystery - opening up to new possibilities.
How far is a cat?
originally posted by Trys
quote:Is that one of those questions like they ask around here: "What's a Henwae?" "About 3 pounds." (Henwae is musical band.)How far is a cat?
Trys
originally posted by R’is’n
::groan:: 
I love jokes like that.