Krilly wrote:I still don't get why Donaldson did not have Troy react to The Forestal coming to claim him. I'd think he would resist since he was preparing to save Elena or atleast give some sort of final word... but nothing. It's actually quite sad because his last action before passing is one of blind anger, violence, and despair... and he never got a chance to purify himself before Wildwood took him.
Have you considered that it was perhaps intentional on SRD's part to make Troy's last action one of, as you say, "blind anger, violence, and despair"? It is the result of his reckless choice to bargain with the Forestal coming back to haunt him in the end. Troy had agreed to any price, and the Forestal certainly wasn't about to let his payment go galloping off, just because Troy felt badly about Elena. The petty feelings of one short-lived human mean nothing to a Forestal.
As for why Troy did not react to or resist the Forestal: well, how could he? Everyone's power of movement had been suddenly frozen by Wildwood. This clearly included the power of speech. And how exactly would Troy have resisted Wildwood? Troy may have had the white gold in his hand, but he was hardly a master of it, as Wildwood himself pointed out. Troy was like a petulant kid with a firecracker in his hand waving threats in the air...right next to the Forestal of Garroting Deep. Yeah, like Wildwood was going to give this guy any chance at all of accidentally setting some of the trees on fire...
Okay, you may get from all I've said in this thread that I have issues with Troy. Yes, it's true.
But I do at least have one thing in common with him: we both have the hots for Elena.
Seriously, Troy's infatuation with Elena is surely something anyone can identify with. This leads to a poignant aspect of Troy: his increasingly troubled thoughts about the future, ominous feelings about Elena's fate and his own. Because of the special gift of his sight, and the fact that it was Elena who had taught him the meaning of his visions, Troy perhaps
saw Elena more intensely than others around him. For him, she was the Land personified.
So when her end comes, Elena's imminent death is that much more devastating for Troy. From his vantage, her loss is the loss of the Land itself, but also the loss of his hopes and dreams. In Troy's anguish and helplessness at news of Elena's fall we sense a lost, forever unrequited love. Her death is his, symbollically and literally, as the Forestal claims Troy's life as the price of his aid. Thus, Troy's last chance to save Elena by himself--or declare his love--is denied, and in that I can grieve for him and Elena.
See? I'm not such a bad guy.
You talk about that "certain special something", and how he just didn't have the "rest of what is necessary" to defeat Lord Foul. There's nothing special about Troy's failure, as you seem to imply here; I've known people like Troy, who seek out positions of authority with complete reckless confidence in their ability to accomplish any task. Guess what? They often fail too, even without a "supreme" evil being getting in their way.
