Pier Giorgio (Xar): Hello Steve! I was reading a question you recently answered, concerning the Haruchai and their obsessions with moral absolutes, and I was wondering - the Haruchai of the Last Chronicles, as far as we can see, appear to believe themselves the only ones who are worthy of preserving the Land, and they absolutely refuse to accept any criticism about their ways, their deeds, and the actions they undertook in order to become the Masters of the Land. In short, in their own eyes, they appear to believe themselves unassailable, and they exorcise the fear of being inadequate which was shown by the Haruchai in the Second Chronicles by establishing the tradition of the three Humbled, which should technically serve as reminders of past mistakes and lessons in humility. Even this tradition has become a source of pride though, as we learn that it is a great honor to be maimed into a Humbled, and the Haruchai actually fight to prove themselves worthy of this honor. So, in short, it seems that the Haruchai have a deep-rooted desire - perhaps on an unconscious level - to prove themselves to be the best, bar none. This is also reflected in the obsessive way all Haruchai we have known hone their physical skills to near-perfection.
Obviously, this attitude leads to a certain amount of metaphorical blindness (if I believe to be always right, and you show me evidence that I'm wrong, chances are I'll pretend I didn't see them and keep believing I'm always right), and so the Haruchai end up being generally impervious to outside influence - somewhat tragically, though, this imperviousness seems to apply more to their would-be allies than to their subtler foes.
Anyway, all of these considerations led me to wonder: Stave, who has shown the typical behaviour of the Masters throughout most of "Runes", eventually rejects at least part of this belief. Could the loss of his eye, which happens shortly before this event, also be taken to exemplify a "crack" in the imperviousness of the Haruchai (or at least Stave)? I mean: the marring of a Haruchai's near-perfect physical skills (and I would imagine that having one less eye does have an impact on those) could symbolize the shattering of Stave's preconceptions and a "crack" in the "moral armor" all Haruchai have? The Humbled are also maimed, but they do so voluntarily, and turn the maiming into a source of pride; whereas Stave's maiming seems to symbolize something more - although I could easily be reading too much into this event
I'm posting this more because of the thought and care you put into it than because I have anything substantial to add (although the theme is being explored further in "Fatal Revenant" even as we speak <grin>). But I do want to confirm that I intended the loss of Stave's eye pretty much the way you interpreted it. His "single" vision is both physically less and psychologically more than the ordinary "double" vision of the Haruchai.
(09/21/2005)
