The "Other" Lords

[variol son]

There are so many topics here at the Watch about Mhoram and Elena that it's not funny, but Elena's Council consisted of seven other Lords. So the question is; when we take High Lord Elena, daughter of Lena, and High Lord Mhoram Variol son out of the picture, who is your favourite Lord? Why? What is it about them that makes them so great? Who do you think got short changed, and why do you think they deserved a bigger role in the first chronicles?

Sum sui generis
Vs

[CovenantJr]

I always liked Amatin. I just get the feeling there are depths to her we never saw. The other Lords seemed to consider her insightful and intelligent, as I recall - the interrogation of Amok, for example. There are just hints here and there that Mhoram and Elena believe Amatin is capable of more than we ever witness.

[aTOMiC]

Lord Callindrill Rocks! I'd like to read an entire book featuring him.

[Durris]

Lord Verement has always arrested my attention. It's not quite accurate to call him a favorite--his story is a lacerating one. But I found him a painfully recognizable cautionary tale and quite impossible to forget. Occasionally feel like lighting a candle in Thomin's memory, too.

(BTW, I don't believe Thomin decided on his own to act as he did at the last; we see Verement speaking to him privately for a last order that no one else hears--assigning a last duty that, had their tactical situation been less hopeless, the Vow would have compelled him to refuse. After that, the attack on the Giant-Raver is only a coup de grace--had Thomin not got himself killed at once in that way, he certainly would have gone mad from Vow-rupture.)

[danlo]

I agree Durris- I picked Callindrill for his valor at Doom's Retreat-oh merciful and torn Bloodguard! And his and Faer's extremely classy treatment of TC at Revelstone. Hyrim was my second choice-who can resist his all too human indulgences and love of Giants! But Verement always captured my attn. & emotions: not picked by a Ranyhyn, overshadowed by his mate's prowess. A tough and complex relationship with Shetra that I would have liked to have seen expanded.

[duchess of malfi]

It would have to be Lord Hyrim. Nothing can be more desireable or sexy in a man than kindness and laughter and intelligence -- and he has all of that passion and determination bubbling around underneath. If you've read Gilden Fire, you will know how hard it was for him to become a Lord at all (he has some sort of problem with his balance that made the War tests very difficult for him), but he stuck the course...wish we could have seen more of him...

[Durris]

If you've read Gilden Fire, you will know how hard it was for him to become a Lord at all (he has some sort of problem with his balance that made the War tests very difficult for him), but he stuck the course...wish we could have seen more of him...

Indeed...his mixture (transcendent alchemical fusion!) of physical ineptitude and moral determination was a sight to behold. (I wonder just what was the problem--a simple consequence of his size and shape, or something neurological and permanent?)

[matrixman]

Amatin is probably my favorite "supporting" Lord, for the same reasons CovJr stated. But I like Hyrim a lot, too.

Amatin: the scholar. Hyrim: the party animal. I can picture Amatin trying to study Kevin's Wards amid the thump-thump of Hyrim's dance music in the bowels of Revelstone. "By the Seven! Hyrim son of Hoole, turn that noise down! Do you rave?"

[Haruchai]

I had a hard time deciding between Hyrim and Callindrill. I liked Hyrim, because he seemed like fun! But I immediately liked Callindrill! The name alone was pretty cool.

[Mouseglove]

"By the Seven! Hyrim son of Hoole, turn that noise down! Do you rave?"

ROFLMAO! Fabulous! Bravo! What a great double-entendre! Even early on a Sunday morning, I literally broke out laughing, then had to explain to my wife (who refuses to read the books because they're "depressing") why she wouldn't get the joke.

-Mg

[Dragonlily]

I would have chosen Tamarantha, if you had included her. I'll never forget SRD's description of her and Variol:

Their faces were full of satisfaction and calm expectancy, which they shared in the silent marriage of their eyes.

[Furls Fire]

Oh, it was hard for me to choose. But because my love for the giants, mirrored his, I finally picked Hyrim.

This passage is one of the many reasons I just loved him...

From Gilden-Fire:

Nevertheless he [Korik] felt anxiety. He wondered if the High Lord had known of Hyrim's deficiency as a rider. If she had, why had she chosen him? However, such questions were not within Korik's responsibility, and he recited his Vow to silence them. The mission would give him the measure of Lord Hyrim's fitness.

Hyrim himself was obviously aware of the problem. He limped ruefully away from the Ranyhyn and dropped fiat on his stomach to drink from the stream. After a long draught, he pushed himself onto his back, spat a last mouthful of water over the grass, and groaned, "By the Seven! Is it only noon? Half of one day? Friend Korik, how long will we require to gain Seareach?"

Korik shrugged. "Perhaps less than a score of days -- if we are not delayed."

"A score -- ? Melenkurion! Then let us pray that we are not delayed. A score of days" -- he sat up with a huge show of difficulty -- "will leave me eighteen in my grave."

"Then," said Shetra sourly, "we will be the first folk in life to hear a dead man complain for eighteen days."

At this, Lord Hyrim fell back to the grass, laughing gleefully.

When his mirth had subsided, he rolled his eyes at Shetra and attempted to stand up smoothly, as if he were not sore and tired.

But he could not do it: a spasm of strain broke across his face, and he started to laugh again, as if his own pretensions were the most innocent entertainment imaginable. Still chuckling, he limped a way to a nearby aliantha and fed himself on the viridian berries of the gnarled bush, savouring their crisp tangy flavour and the rush of nourishment they gave him. Scrupulously, he observed the custom of the Land by scattering the seeds around him, so that new bushes might grow. Then with a flourish he indicated his readiness to ride on. In moments, the company was mounted again and cantering eastward.

[duchess of malfi]

-A trap, Cerrin said. We have been snared.
Korik called to Lord Shetra, then bounded onto Brabha's back and pelted down the hillside toward to tree. The rest of the company followed him instantly. As he reached the fire, he ordered the Bloodguard into a defensive position around him. To Lord Hyrim, he shouted "Come!"
Hyrim did not turn his head. With sweat running down his cheeks and a wide intensity like obsession in his eyes, he kept working for the tree: he invoked water as if he were heaving it out of the ground by main force of will, vitalized the tree's resistance to flame, and now pulled at the fire itself, drawing it slowly, tongue by tongue, away from the branches. But through the slow beats of the lillianrill chant he wove for the Gilden, he hissed to Korik, "It must be saved!"
-This task consumes him, Sill said. He urges the mission to go without him.
-He will be slain, Korik snapped.
-Not while I live.
-You will not live long.
-That is the way with him, Sill shrugged silently.

[Furls Fire]

I think we should start a "Lord Hyrim Appreciation Thread"

Also from Gilden-Fire:

The aroma he created revealed his talent for the work. Korik smelled strength and refreshment and delicacy in the steam of the broth Hyrim made -- a savour Korik had not scented since the curious healing meal which High Lord Prothall had cooked after the battle of Soaring Woodhelven, when all the warriors and urLord Covenant were sickened by the reek of blood and burned flesh. The food's subtle potency awakened Lord Shetra. She came close to the fire looking dull and pale, as if she had not slept well for many nights; but as she ate, Hyrim's work spread its beneficence through her, and she brightened. When she was done, she nodded to him, approving the food as if were apologising. He answered with a broad grin and an apothegm which he claimed he learned from the Giants:

"Food is concentrated beauty -- the sustaining power of the Land made savourable and ready for strength. A life without food is like life without tales -- deprived of splendour."

[Durris]

Furls, that passage caught my attention too. Between the lines it conveys Korik's awareness of yet another aspect of normal life forfeited to the Vow. Granted, aliantha was great stuff, but wouldn't even it become monotonous after 2000 years with no other food?

[danlo]

It suffices (apparently)

[Durris]

LOL, danlo! Your Haruchai accent is sounding quite authentic these days.

(tossing a fistful of aliantha seeds over left shoulder)

[Mystikan]

So I'm the first to vote for Lord Loerya!

Her devotion and concern for her children touched me deeply. She seemed to me to be the most human of the Lords. Even amidst all her power, she still kept a place in her heart for her loved ones. Some people do get their priorities right!

At the mention of a child, sudden anger twisted Loerya's face. 'Summon him!' she hissed. 'What are his nameless children to me? By the Seven, Mhoram! Summon - !'
'No.'Mhoram interrupted her, but his voice did not lose its gentleness. 'I will not. He must have the freedom of his own fate - it is his right. We have no right to take it from him - no, even the Land's utterest need does not justify such an act. He holds the white gold. Let him come to the Land if he wills. I will not gainsay the one true bravery of my unwise life.'
Loerya's anger collapsed as swiftly as it had come. Wringing her hands over the graveling as if even the hope of warmth had gone out of them, she moaned, 'This evening my youngest - Yolenid - she is hardly more than a baby - she shrieked at the sight of me.' With an effort, she raised her streaming eyes to the High Lord, and whispered, 'How endure?'

This passage brought tears to my eyes, and it still does, 13 reads later. Loerya is my favourite 'other' Lord. No doubt about it!

[Durris]

I've always figured that Trevor's and Loerya's Bloodguard sometimes ended up with rather unmilitary duties--baby sitting, bilingual tutoring, karate lessons...in addition to the added vigilance of protecting five people three of whom were under 10.

And I'd love to have seen the fight for who got that job.

[variol son]

It was a close call, but Hyrim came out on top. I always thought that Hyrim was just bursting with potential waiting to be unleashed. When we first meet him, he was the type of man who liked a large meal and a long nap afterwards. Then he displays amazing honesty in discussing his difficulties at the Loresraat and the warping of his staff in front of the infalable Bloodguard. He shows huge courage trying to save the burning Gilden in Grimmerdhore, and incredable shrewdness in questioning Korik when no other Lord would. If he had survived to fight another day, I reckon he would have kicked ass!

I also loved Amatin. Here is a woman so physically weak that it is mentioned just about every other line, and yet she goes beyond herself defending the Tower from Satanfist, parting the dead in front of the gates of the main Keep, and protecting Mhoram and Tohrm from Trells desecration.

The Lord that I thought got ripped off is Callindrill. With everyone else, we see the resolution of their Lordship, whether in death like Verement, Shetra and Hyrim; or in victory like Loerya, Trevor and Amatin. Lord Callindrill suffers while fighting at Doriendor Corishev and makes the decision to stay at Revelwood at least partly because of this. And yet, we are not with him at the end. I would personally find his story more satisfying if we could have seen, rather the just heard about, his heroic death.

Sum sui generis
Vs