The Council, a factor I disliked
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:02 am
I have recently been rereading the Gap Series on my travels, and i find my concentration focused this time round more on the Council For Earth and Space than any other group or set of characters. They eat at my patience, the part that loves characters who are realistic within the world they are in. Part of the reason why i dislike Robert Jordan so much is that he has created a world and characters which do not behave on the terms the world he has created for them... and i find a few of the members of this Governing body are just too unrealistic for me to have patience with.
One such character was Sigurd Carsin, the junior member to Sixten Vertigus; was one such member that I just found i couldn't stand. She reminded me more of a sneering adolescent than a very powerful and high representative of her species. When Sixten first starts to introduce his Bill of Severence, she mutters, "This better be good". That is a poor example of her immaturity; it is better demonstrated in Book Three, where Warden and Hashi are giving a conference about Angus; throughout it, she sneers and i just got the distinct impression Warden and Hashi were dealing with a sarcastic 15 year old.
Another example was Blaine Manse, who was said to have the "reputation for serving on the Council only because it supplied her with opportunities for sexual conquest." Now this is a Council of 21 members and one leader who represent the entire human race, regardless of how redundant their jobs have become in response to Holt Fasners power, and Donaldson is trying to tell us out of the 12billion humans that the Gap Series universe is supposed to hold, this is the best politicians he could come up with? I'm sorry, i can't find the council as a whole realistic. It seems to me it was invented to be just passive enough to only take over Holt Fasner when it suited the author most. To conveniently convoluted for me.
Another thing which I found hard to like is the so called "victory", at the end... the Council finally coming to power, finally doing it's job as uncorrupted members of the chosen human government as it is supposed to... and Holt Fasner losing his power over human space and humankinds future.. a victory for good against evil, on the surface, is it not?
I think not.
To those that think the Council is morally preferable to Holt Fasner, look at how Angus has ensured his freedom, what Holt Fasner's "true muscle is based on, he could threaten more than half the council with complete ruin if they threatened him". Now, where over half of a Council can be stopped from acting against a person who just killed people with kazes, and tried to kill more, what impression does that give you of the morality of this so called good council?
So at the end of the books, the humankind is led by a council that is mostly corrupted. And given the nature of political power, will become more corrupted as it has finally gained the power over it's species. I can imagine the different Council members fighting over the remains of the UMC's turf, for scraps of power... so instead of one clear, albeit egotistical leader, Holt Fasner, who probably knew the danger of the aliens more than any council member, you've got a group of corrupted individuals who will be too busy fighting each other for turf and power that nothing will get done... and we've seen such things happen before, the UN is almost useless for big decisions.
I guess I just think that while humankind is led by that Council, then it will be wiped out. And what was a seeming victory at the end was nothing but an empty moral one which will result in human space being wiped out.
One such character was Sigurd Carsin, the junior member to Sixten Vertigus; was one such member that I just found i couldn't stand. She reminded me more of a sneering adolescent than a very powerful and high representative of her species. When Sixten first starts to introduce his Bill of Severence, she mutters, "This better be good". That is a poor example of her immaturity; it is better demonstrated in Book Three, where Warden and Hashi are giving a conference about Angus; throughout it, she sneers and i just got the distinct impression Warden and Hashi were dealing with a sarcastic 15 year old.
Another example was Blaine Manse, who was said to have the "reputation for serving on the Council only because it supplied her with opportunities for sexual conquest." Now this is a Council of 21 members and one leader who represent the entire human race, regardless of how redundant their jobs have become in response to Holt Fasners power, and Donaldson is trying to tell us out of the 12billion humans that the Gap Series universe is supposed to hold, this is the best politicians he could come up with? I'm sorry, i can't find the council as a whole realistic. It seems to me it was invented to be just passive enough to only take over Holt Fasner when it suited the author most. To conveniently convoluted for me.
Another thing which I found hard to like is the so called "victory", at the end... the Council finally coming to power, finally doing it's job as uncorrupted members of the chosen human government as it is supposed to... and Holt Fasner losing his power over human space and humankinds future.. a victory for good against evil, on the surface, is it not?
I think not.
To those that think the Council is morally preferable to Holt Fasner, look at how Angus has ensured his freedom, what Holt Fasner's "true muscle is based on, he could threaten more than half the council with complete ruin if they threatened him". Now, where over half of a Council can be stopped from acting against a person who just killed people with kazes, and tried to kill more, what impression does that give you of the morality of this so called good council?
So at the end of the books, the humankind is led by a council that is mostly corrupted. And given the nature of political power, will become more corrupted as it has finally gained the power over it's species. I can imagine the different Council members fighting over the remains of the UMC's turf, for scraps of power... so instead of one clear, albeit egotistical leader, Holt Fasner, who probably knew the danger of the aliens more than any council member, you've got a group of corrupted individuals who will be too busy fighting each other for turf and power that nothing will get done... and we've seen such things happen before, the UN is almost useless for big decisions.
I guess I just think that while humankind is led by that Council, then it will be wiped out. And what was a seeming victory at the end was nothing but an empty moral one which will result in human space being wiped out.
