Kevin's Watch

I am going to bring up this topic on a couple of the SRD novel threads. I'm one of those readers who absorbs intent, plot, 'feel' of a novel more so than literal words and text. Meaning, I am not a good memorizer of text. But I am always left with 'images' from SRD's novels that stick with my for a very long time and in a powerful way.
My question to you all is: "What part of 'Mordant's Need' has stuck with you?"

For me there are soooo many (it's my favourite SRD series). But one I always come back to is the scene after Saddith had the citizens of the castle in a near frenzy against Lebbick, but the Castellan quashes it. The scene shifts up to Eremis, shrouded in the shadows of the balcony and his thoughts. The way the scene is described is brilliant. I can picture it so clearly like having watched it on TV a dozen times. And it is filled with such tension and juicyness in Eremis's evil, you almost can't help wanting to yell in to the pages...

Hmmm, it'd have to be the bit where Argus turns up lashed to a horse, dead, killed by the Alends. That pissed me off nearly as much as when they found the Perdon corkscrewed to the table.

I guess I'm just a closet romantic, because one of the things that sticks with me is the first time Geraden and Teresa make love.

And the cockroach monsters...

And the death of the Tor, who is one of my all-time favorite SRD characters.

Easy: Darsint emerging from the maw of the slugbeast!

Maybe this is a predictable answer, but for me Terisa's triumph over Eremis is the greatest moment. He thinks he has Terisa completely at his mercy, then he looks up to see his reflection...and it's all over.

The Tor bringing the corpse of his son (his face eaten off by the voracious pacmen) to Joyse and demanding action from the King was a powerful scene for me.

One of the creepiest scenes had to be when Geraden and Terisa are passing through the deserted village in the Care of Fayle and see bodies stacked up in that hut. Then they encounter the ghouls...

Also very creepy was when our heroes arrived to a deserted Esmerel, and discovered all the Perdon's men stacked neatly in the cellar. And then the Perdon himself...pretty chilling imagery.

The first glimpse that Terisa has of the "Champion"--Darsint--in the mirror excited me. Here I was, expecting a story with a purely fantastical setting, and then I see a spaceship and guys with laser guns! What the--?

duchess of malfi wrote:I guess I'm just a closet romantic, because one of the things that sticks with me is the first time Geraden and Teresa make love.

Wow, that was my exact thought on seeing the subject of this thread.

And it's not just a 'romance' thing: it signifies a huge breakthrough for both of them with their personal issues - Geraden conquering his 'self-esteem' issues, Teresa her 'worthiness/reality' issues.

To me, it's a wonderful illustration of the power of unselfish regard: to break through long-sustained self-preservation patterns, and liberate the stilted personality.

It's such a wonderful human moment, too -- in that everything is not instantly perfect, and they have to work at things a bit.

Anything worth having requires at least a bit of work from time to time.

The "horror movie" scenes in MN tend to get my attention more than the lovey-dovey scenes.

Not that I think the Terisa/Geraden romance is unimportant, of course. But I guess it just doesn't have the same...intensity? drama?...as the Linden/Covenant relationship, so it doesn't stand out as much in my mind. Meanwhile, the dark nightmare things SRD unleashed in MN totally gripped me, because it was something new in the Donaldson language. (In his dissection of the chapter on Esmerel, danlo compared the creepy atmosphere achieved by SRD to that of H.P. Lovecraft's writing. I've never read Lovecraft, as I'm still naive to the whole Gothic/horror genre, but I guess the freaky stuff in MN has given me a taste of what it's like.)

When they made love for the first time it indicated that they had become adults.

Note: they did not become adults because they had sex. They were able to have sex because they had emotionally become adults.

Matrixman wrote:The Tor bringing the corpse of his son (his face eaten off by the voracious pacmen) to Joyse and demanding action from the King was a powerful scene for me.

The quote above, along with the death of the Tor, and the fight with Gart that precedes it.

Matrixman wrote:Also very creepy was when our heroes arrived to a deserted Esmerel, and discovered all the Perdon's men stacked neatly in the cellar. And then the Perdon himself...pretty chilling imagery.

This one was awesome too.

--A

When Geraden's oldest brother is striving against the wolves and firecats.... it's so much like Hile Troy, and yet better, because he is succesful in saving very many lives.

another that sticks with me is the secret meeting Eremis aranges with all the lords. In one brilliant stroke SRD gets many principles in the same room and you get such a clear vision of who they are in a few well-written passages in a murky, dark, secret chamber. Loved the atmosphere.
Of course the battle that happened in the tunnels after was truly memorable too!

it has been a while sence I read it (3+ years) but my favorite moment is at the end when I forget his name but the guy who is in charge of the defence of the chastle jumps from the top of the stairs and runs to save Teresa even though he has god only knows how many splinters of bone in his ankles

Lebbick?

any scene with Havelock - brilliantly mad

the final defeat of Eremis - there were just so many shiftings of images in mirrors I completely forgot that a mirror can actually _mirror_ the scene before it:-)

the death of the Tor - really heart-gripping

What about scenes that make you laugh?

For some reason I can't help but laugh everytime when all the people seat themselves in the gathering hall and then, with perfect timing on SD's part--Havelock begins to dance.

And then the whole fiasco after along with the imagery. Havelock waving the inscence torch which resembled a rattle, things like that... hell Havelock in general has the funniest moments.

Krilly wrote:What about scenes that make you laugh?

For some reason I can't help but laugh everytime when all the people seat themselves in the gathering hall and then, with perfect timing on SD's part--Havelock begins to dance.

And then the whole fiasco after along with the imagery. Havelock waving the inscence torch which resembled a rattle, things like that... hell Havelock in general has the funniest moments.

Havelock running after the arch mage with a feather duster made me laugh. So did, as I've probably already said, Geraden's interruptions of Eremus as Eremus tried to enslave(?) Terisa.

Hard to narrow it down to one scene, but the very first thing that comes to mind is way back in the beginning when Geraden first emerges from Terisa's mirror.

"I'm Geraden," he said. "This isn't where I'm supposed to be."

Sticks in my mind mainly because that was the moment I realized I was truly hooked.

Edge wrote:

duchess of malfi wrote:I guess I'm just a closet romantic, because one of the things that sticks with me is the first time Geraden and Teresa make love.

Wow, that was my exact thought on seeing the subject of this thread.

And it's not just a 'romance' thing: it signifies a huge breakthrough for both of them with their personal issues - Geraden conquering his 'self-esteem' issues, Teresa her 'worthiness/reality' issues.

To me, it's a wonderful illustration of the power of unselfish regard: to break through long-sustained self-preservation patterns, and liberate the stilted personality.

Yeah, that's probably my favourite part as well. Which is why I begged danlo to dissect the chapter in which this occurs. I loved it, it was beautiful and lovely. And as Duchess said with said with such beautiful eloquence:

When they made love for the first time it indicated that they had become adults.

Note: they did not become adults because they had sex. They were able to have sex because they had emotionally become adults.

Great part of the story.

I also enjoyed it when Lebbick saved the Tor when his bones were broken... and when she shouted "Gart". And Eremis, Gilbur, Gart and several of Gart's Apt's do a raid into the very heart of Orison... Kragen get's knocked out, fighting and chaos’s all over; it was amazing. I felt exalted while reading that entire sequence of The Final Piece Of Bait.

When Terisa, Geraden, Artagel and Nyle all emerge in victory from Eremis' stronghold, when Darsint climbs out of the beast’s mouth; (Artagel: "Do you mean," Artagel asked in amazement, "he actually let that thing eat him?")

The scenes when Artagel, the Tor, Eremis, Lebbick and Quillon come to Terisa while she is in prison were particularly amazing. All the plots, sub-plots, pain and love in that sequence was amazing; as was Terisa's unyielding loyalty to Geraden.

man, these are amazing books.

It's been ages since I read Mordan't Need, but I liked the winter, the frost on the window panes, the logs popping and crackling in the hearth, and the warm clothes hanging in the wardrobe.