Relayer wrote:Goldenboy wrote:I don't sense that Berek is someone the Theomach could simply give orders to.
I agree. At one point, Berek tells him (paraphrasing) "you will teach me, but my choices are still my own. Now leave me and Linden alone."
I agree. Berek was not unimportant, and he certainly influenced events.
Berek had the will. The Theomach had the knowledge. They created the future Council of Lords together.
Nevertheless, the Theomach was a guy who could say, "you want to do this, something good will happen, trust me", or say "don't do that, something bad will come of it, trust me".
He knew the future. That means this knowledge guided him in guiding Berek.
So Berek had an advisor who knew the future, who could make everything work out in his favor. And who knew all the lore Berek would need as well.
The only choice Berek made in being a success was to listen to the Theomach. After that, it was a greased track to a done deal. I can't give Berek any credit for that.
I don't think I have too strong an attachment to the old view of Berek. I think I am the only one who is letting it go! Everyone else seems to persist in their desire to see Berek be a kind of hero that we now plainly know that he isn't. He was a strong man, careful of people, a good leader. But he's not responsible for creating the Council of Lords, the institutions, which led to the great deeds of Loric's and Kevin's times.
.