Havelock's Triumph

"Reflect" on Stephen Donaldson's other epic fantasy

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Havelock's Triumph

Post by IrrationalSanity »

In the "Vagel: More Bark than Bite" thread:
IrrationalSanity wrote:
Revan wrote:i think it would have been amazing to see the story from havelocks point of view at the end - when all the action was happening and all the view points were changing, if done right, I think it would have been very popular with Mordant Need's fans. Who agrees?
Sounds like a fanfic project. I'll have to think about it, but my first thought for chapter title Havelock's Triumph...
I ended up starting to write one. I originally posted a link in Hall of Gifts, but Danlo suggested I start a new thread with a link here.

So, with no further ado, here is part one (of at least two, maybe more...). Let me know what you think!

www.irrationalsanity.com/Havelock/havelock.htm
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Post by Avatar »

As I might have mentioned, I saw it in the Hall. :lol: Enjoyed it. Like the way you have Havelock's mind working...

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Post by Revan »

looks like someone beat me to it... congrats! :D
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

Glad you like it, Avatar!

Revan, there is nothing preventing you from writing according to your own vision. In addition, I think you were considering writing the encounter itself. Perhaps I could leave mine where it is, and you could write the post-jump section?
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Havelock's Triumph

Post by IrrationalSanity »

Here's a short fanfic segment I wrote many years ago. I had shared it on a web site that no longer exists. I tried posting in the Hall of gifts, but it got bounced. Posted in two parts.

Havelock's Triumph
(The Spider and the Fly)

Havelock whistled tunelessly as he dusted the mirror. The pieces were set, even if Joyce insisted on using those females in the great hopboard game. That luscious arch-Imager the puppy had found, even she was in her place. This is a mirror she knew, she would use it again, but the chance would be fleeting. What do you think planning is?! And so he waited, and whistled, and dusted.

No questions. No frustrations. Quillon was gone. He always kept the questions away. Now he was gone. Sacrificed to get another piece in position. But that didn't matter any more. The piece was in position. The web would be complete. The board was set, and he would be ready to make his big jump. I'm coming, Vagel. Just you wait.

Keeping one eye on the mirror, he turned a piece of his fractured attention to the Augury. His Augury. The one he cast those many years ago, when the king was a baby. Only two others had ever seen it. Master Quillon, and the King himself. Not even Master Barsonage had ever laid eyes on it. It wasn't safe. If the Mediator's Augury was profound, Havelock's was truly disturbing.

For one thing, the glass had broken into a pattern. Perhaps a shard from an earlier attempt remained in the box, giving an artificial focus. Maybe it was a truly random event. But, for whatever reason, the glass had laid itself out into a spider web, with its heart at the place where the young king had laid. In addition, the images revealed scenes not only of great joy, but of great pain, and greater evil. The recent history of Mordant lay plainly before him.

He scanned the glass, as fractured as his mind, and planned. The women were there, of course. The king's daughters - Elega with Kragen, Myste and the Champion, and Torrent in a cloud of dust, holding a knife. A castle chambermaid, beaten to a pulp. And the Lady Terisa of Morgan - an arch-Imager, and more. At least now they knew who she was.
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

Part II...

Her appearance in this Augury had been a mystery. She was clearly an arch-Imager, for she appeared in a room lined with mirrors - flat mirrors, each of which reflected her back at herself exactly. Every sensuous curve, every inch of her perfect skin, waiting for someone. And she was unharmed. She went about her business as though unaware (or unconcerned) of her mirrors' danger. Yet she was an unknown. Not even a rumor of any imager of such power, male or female, had come to Orison. And she was important, for like Geraden, she also appeared multiple times. Usually naked. Fornication, that woman was beautiful. Why couldn't she be naked for him. There she was, standing before the puppy in all of her glory. And again, with clothes, sitting at a table with the Domne (and why did he appear to be sleeping?). And finally, naked again with Master Eremis; once again looking at herself (and him) through flat mirror. Was he an arch-Imager, too? Perhaps not - his back was to the mirror, facing out of the piece of Augury with penetrating eyes - as if he knew he was being watched.


And Havelock himself was there, too. The day his life changed was Augured. In the defining moment of his life, Havelock saw himself entering a flat glass, into a field somewhere in the Alend hills, with Vagel in the distance, beckoning him. He thought he could do it. He had seen himself do it. He remembered everything. I'm Coming, Vagel!

It was time. He saw the flat glass change, and he knew this was his moment. There they were, Vagel and his new Cabal. Vagel. Havelock had no choice. His mind was shattered. The only thing he had was his plan. It was his move, his piece on the hopboard. No more questions. He opened the glass and shouted "I'm Coming!" as he leapt through.
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Post by samrw3 »

I enjoyed it IrrationalSanity! Certainly sounds like Adept Havelock!

Have you ever considered writing a part three with Havelock disposing of Vagel?
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

samrw3 wrote:I enjoyed it IrrationalSanity! Certainly sounds like Adept Havelock!
Thanks! As you may have seen from some of my other posts, I'm not prone to expressing myself in quick clips. However, I felt that was the right way to write a Havelock POV segment.
Have you ever considered writing a part three with Havelock disposing of Vagel?
Actually, yes. That has been on my to-do list for a while. But I'm wondering if this is enough to answer your questions from the other thread...
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Post by samrw3 »

Yes I believe it does answer my question! I read books very slowly and truthfully had not remembered that Terisa had shown up in a Augury.

But....the thought that just struck me is if this is Havelocks Augury and Havelock and King seen it - how Eremis had known about it?

Thus, this leads us back to Eremis wanting to kill her because of her likely loyalty to Geraden or as Cord Hurn supposes Festten wants to kill her through Gart and my add now that Eremis did not do anything to stop that possible murder.

[Yes he fought Gart with pillows - but from Eremis point of view that was a forced saved. Eremis was not ready for people to know that he was a traitor so he had to look like he saved her. My personal take is Cord Hurn is on to something and Festten wanted her dead and Eremis did nothing actively to talk him out of plotting her death. Eremis enjoyed the long game much more and decided his own tactic of seducing and/or conning her into joining their side.]
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

samrw3 wrote:Yes I believe it does answer my question! I read books very slowly and truthfully had not remembered that Terisa had shown up in a Augury.
Yes, I haven't read it recently enough to say who said it (it was either the King or Quillon), but there was an almost throw-away line (actually it was a punctuation to a discussion) something to the effect of "My lady, did you know your presence was augered?"
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Havelock's Triumph

Post by Cord Hurn »

IrrationalSanity, though I read your fanfic segment back in May and gave two "Good post" awards to your work, I neglected to post any comments about it. Well, I will make amends for that oversight, now. I appreciate that you put this work in the Mordant's Need forum! 8) :biggrin:

Your writing sheds light on why Adept Havelock would challenge Vagel to combat when Terisa allows him to see the Image-room in Eremis' stronghold, despite Terisa hoping he'd translate Eremis and Gilbur through flat glass to madness in Orison: it is because Havelock has seen through his augury of Joyse that he will have a chance to dispose of Vagel once and for all after Terisa, Geraden, and Artagel depart for the stronghold--if he just waits by his mirrors for Terisa to show him the Image-room. I like that you add description of Images from Havelock's augury of Joyse, as it adds to the published Mordant's Need story without contradicting any of it. I enjoyed it! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
IrrationalSanity wrote:Yes, I haven't read it recently enough to say who said it (it was either the King or Quillon), but there was an almost throw-away line (actually it was a punctuation to a discussion) something to the effect of "My lady, did you know your presence was augured?"
That does sound like a passage in the Mordant's Need story, but as I searched the pages of the two MN books, I did not find any place with that exact sentence. Instead, I found a passage where Quillon tells Terisa they (Quillon, Havelock, and Joyse) knew from the Congery's augury that they must trust her, and a passage where Joyse tells his daughter Myste that something she had done was augured. Here, I will quote both passages, and comment on each.

[quote="In Chapter 31 of A Man Rides Through, entitled "Hop-Board", was"]"Therefore"--Master Quillon gritted his teeth to keep from shouting--"King Joyse set himself to save the world.

"His weakness is an ambush. He lures the enemy to strike here rather than elsewhere--to inflict their peril and harm here rather than on the people he has made vulnerable--to attack Mordant and Orison rather than first swallowing Cadwal and Alend and thereby growing too strong to be defeated. We did not know who he was."

Roughly, Quillon shrugged, trying to contain his anger. "That is the reason for everything King Joyse has done. That--and the Congery's augury--and Geraden's strange translation, which brought you here. When you came among us, your importance was obvious at once. Clearly, it was vital to make you aware of the world you had entered, so that you could choose your own role in Mordant's need. Even a good person may do ill out of ignorance, but only a destructive one would do ill out of knowledge. The augury made it clear we had to trust you or die.["][/quote]

So, the augury mentioned to Terisa by Quillon that she was a part of is the Congery's augury, not Havelock's augury. This seems odd, because we get a thorough description of all the pieces of the Congery's augury in The Mirror Of Her Dreams chapter 9 (entitled, "Master Eremis At Play"), and no scene depicted in that augury explicitly shows Terisa. However, one of that augury's pieces shows Geraden going into a mirror without showing the Image in that mirror. I suppose from that augury scene Joyse, Havelock, and Quillon concluded that whoever Geraden brought back would be the true champion of Mordant in its time of need. Having Havelock's augury explicitly show Terisa, as your short story does, IrrationalSanity, gives further reason for Havelock, Joyse, and Quillon to trust her with information about Mordant's history. (However, I note that Quillon confesses he had a hard time trusting Terisa nevertheless because of her seemingly passive personality.) So, your fanfic piece strengthens the motivation for Joyse wanting Terisa to be "in the know" about the world that she finds herself in.

[quote="In Chapter 49 of A Man Rides Through, entitled "The King's Last Hopes", was"][King Joyse, to Myste:] "In the meantime, daughter, you have brought us new hope. Did you know that your meeting with Darsint was augured?"

Elega looked at King Joyse sharply. Augured?

Both Terisa and Geraden were grinning.

"Havelock cast an augury," Joyse explained, "in which you appeared, on your knees before Darsint as if you were begging him not to kill you."

Darsint shifted his weight uncomfortably. "She did kneel. I was hurt--out of my head. Couldn't get my eyes in focus. Everything was changed, enemies everywhere. Someone came, I fired. Nearly God-rotting killed her.

"Then I heard her voice. A woman. On her knees. Felt like shooting myself when I saw what I did to her."

Distinctly, as if he wanted no mistake on this point, he said, "She saved my life." There was a threat in his tone. He had no intention of letting Myste be harmed again.

For a moment, the King's blue eyes blurred. "When you disappeared from Orison," he continued to Myste, "I knew in my heart where you had gone--and I was afraid. That is why," he explained to Terisa, "I was so harsh with you, when I asked you to account for her absence. I could not resolve my fear of the truth.

"In fact," he went on, addressing Myste again, "when I first realized that the champion in Master Gilbur's glass was the same as the figure in Havelock's augury, I almost decided to shatter that glass. To spare you. So that Darsint would not be translated. Havelock had great difficulty dissuading me. Allowing that translation to take place--trusting the risks I had chosen--" His smile was sad and relieved and strong all at the same time, "That did not come easily. If I had let the Fayle urge me to stop the Congery, my determination might have faltered."

Geraden cleared his throat. "Adept Havelock tried to tell us about that augury--tried to tell Terisa. I'm still not sure why. All he managed to do at the time was scare us. But maybe he was trying to make us understand you better. As well as he could, in his condition--"

Dryly, King Joyse replied, "Perhaps. Don't underestimate him. At his worst, he's still the best hop-board player I know."[/quote]

Indeed, Havelock shouldn't be underestimated, and your short story gives further confirmation of that, as there's often reasoning in Havelock's seeming madness, based on what he knows. Thank you again for the story, IS!
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

Thank you, Cord Hurn! You have indeed pulled out the relevant quote. It was in that scene and in my memory I was conflating Joyces' statement to Myste, and (now that you've jogged me), his statement to Terisa that (IIRC) "My Lady, you were provoked".

My Augury shard with Terisa and Eremis was meant to be a part of Quillon's doubt, as well as Havelock's - in order to balance her appearance with Gereden, and not give away too much "in-story" to the characters.
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Havelock's Triumph

Post by Cord Hurn »

IrrationalSanity wrote:Havelock's Triumph
(The Spider and the Fly)

Havelock whistled tunelessly as he dusted the mirror. The pieces were set, even if Joyce insisted on using those females in the great hopboard game. That luscious arch-Imager the puppy had found, even she was in her place. This is a mirror she knew, she would use it again, but the chance would be fleeting. What do you think planning is?! And so he waited, and whistled, and dusted.

No questions. No frustrations. Quillon was gone. He always kept the questions away. Now he was gone. Sacrificed to get another piece in position. But that didn't matter any more. The piece was in position. The web would be complete. The board was set, and he would be ready to make his big jump. I'm coming, Vagel. Just you wait.

Keeping one eye on the mirror, he turned a piece of his fractured attention to the Augury. His Augury. The one he cast those many years ago, when the king was a baby. Only two others had ever seen it. Master Quillon, and the King himself. Not even Master Barsonage had ever laid eyes on it. It wasn't safe. If the Mediator's Augury was profound, Havelock's was truly disturbing.

For one thing, the glass had broken into a pattern. Perhaps a shard from an earlier attempt remained in the box, giving an artificial focus. Maybe it was a truly random event. But, for whatever reason, the glass had laid itself out into a spider web, with its heart at the place where the young king had laid. In addition, the images revealed scenes not only of great joy, but of great pain, and greater evil. The recent history of Mordant lay plainly before him.

He scanned the glass, as fractured as his mind, and planned. The women were there, of course. The king's daughters - Elega with Kragen, Myste and the Champion, and Torrent in a cloud of dust, holding a knife. A castle chambermaid, beaten to a pulp. And the Lady Terisa of Morgan - an arch-Imager, and more. At least now they knew who she was.

Her appearance in this Augury had been a mystery. She was clearly an arch-Imager, for she appeared in a room lined with mirrors - flat mirrors, each of which reflected her back at herself exactly. Every sensuous curve, every inch of her perfect skin, waiting for someone. And she was unharmed. She went about her business as though unaware (or unconcerned) of her mirrors' danger. Yet she was an unknown. Not even a rumor of any imager of such power, male or female, had come to Orison. And she was important, for like Geraden, she also appeared multiple times. Usually naked. Fornication, that woman was beautiful. Why couldn't she be naked for him. There she was, standing before the puppy in all of her glory. And again, with clothes, sitting at a table with the Domne (and why did he appear to be sleeping?). And finally, naked again with Master Eremis; once again looking at herself (and him) through flat mirror. Was he an arch-Imager, too? Perhaps not - his back was to the mirror, facing out of the piece of Augury with penetrating eyes - as if he knew he was being watched.


And Havelock himself was there, too. The day his life changed was Augured. In the defining moment of his life, Havelock saw himself entering a flat glass, into a field somewhere in the Alend hills, with Vagel in the distance, beckoning him. He thought he could do it. He had seen himself do it. He remembered everything. I'm Coming, Vagel!

It was time. He saw the flat glass change, and he knew this was his moment. There they were, Vagel and his new Cabal. Vagel. Havelock had no choice. His mind was shattered. The only thing he had was his plan. It was his move, his piece on the hopboard. No more questions. He opened the glass and shouted "I'm Coming!" as he leapt through.
I really love this, especially how it fills in an untold story, a plot thread was left dangling, of why Havelock risked on on the chance to kill Vagel in single combat. This fantastic short story by IrrationalSanity explains it well. Next time I reread Mordant's Need, I want to read this right before rereading chapter 50 of A Man Rides Through. I want to incorporate the experience of rereading THIS with a rereading of the story, I like it that much! 8) :biggrin: :R :bounce03: :hearts:

(Rereading Havelock's Triumph once again makes me eager to get to another Mordant's' Need read done sometime next year.)
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Re: Havelock's Triumph

Post by IrrationalSanity »

Cord Hurn wrote:
IrrationalSanity wrote:Havelock's Triumph
(The Spider and the Fly)
Detail removed to ease reading...
I really love this, especially how it fills in an untold story, a plot thread was left dangling, of why Havelock risked on on the chance to kill Vagel in single combat. This fantastic short story by IrrationalSanity explains it well. Next time I reread Mordant's Need, I want to read this right before rereading chapter 50 of A Man Rides Through. I want to incorporate the experience of rereading THIS with a rereading of the story, I like it that much! 8) :biggrin: :R :bounce03: :hearts:

(Rereading Havelock's Triumph once again makes me eager to get to another Mordant's' Need read done sometime next year.)
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Havelock's Triumph

Post by Cord Hurn »

it makes perfect sense that Havelock saw himself stepping through glass to confront Vagel in an augury, so that's why he did it as soon as Terisa used her power to show him the Image-room in Eremis' stronghold, forsaking his chance to translate Eremis and Gilbur into madness. Havelock had been waiting for that moment the better part of his lifetime, then! 8O
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Post by shadowbinding shoe »

I enjoyed your story, IrrationalSanity.

Was Terisa augered?
"Therefore"--Master Quillon gritted his teeth to keep from shouting--"King Joyse set himself to save the world.

"His weakness is an ambush. He lures the enemy to strike here rather than elsewhere--to inflict their peril and harm here rather than on the people he has made vulnerable--to attack Mordant and Orison rather than first swallowing Cadwal and Alend and thereby growing too strong to be defeated. We did not know who he was."

Roughly, Quillon shrugged, trying to contain his anger. "That is the reason for everything King Joyse has done. That--and the Congery's augury--and Geraden's strange translation, which brought you here. When you came among us, your importance was obvious at once. Clearly, it was vital to make you aware of the world you had entered, so that you could choose your own role in Mordant's need. Even a good person may do ill out of ignorance, but only a destructive one would do ill out of knowledge. The augury made it clear we had to trust you or die.["]
I think she wasn't. They needed to trust her because the situation spelled their doom if The True Champion didn't help them. They needed all 3 outside helpers to win. Elega's to defeat the army. Myste's to defeat their translations and special weapons. Geraden's to defeat the enemy Imagers.

Her importance was made obvious by her coming. Not before it happened.

Donadlson kept a good balance between prophecy and choice. It's Havelock and Joyce choices that lead to all the good they achieved. The Congery only achieved greater ruin when they blindly followed their augury. The first followed their hearts while the Congery followed a recipe. The prophecies don't tell everything. They don't know who their hidden enemies are until very late in the game. They're not sure if the augury is a self fulfilling prophecy. They don't know what results from the dramatic moments the auguries show. Terisa's prophetic dreams hint at that. She changed as a person and therefore the outcome of those scenes changed.
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

shadowbinding shoe wrote:I enjoyed your story, IrrationalSanity.

Was Terisa augered?
"Therefore"--Master Quillon gritted his teeth to keep from shouting--"King Joyse set himself to save the world.

"His weakness is an ambush. He lures the enemy to strike here rather than elsewhere--to inflict their peril and harm here rather than on the people he has made vulnerable--to attack Mordant and Orison rather than first swallowing Cadwal and Alend and thereby growing too strong to be defeated. We did not know who he was."

Roughly, Quillon shrugged, trying to contain his anger. "That is the reason for everything King Joyse has done. That--and the Congery's augury--and Geraden's strange translation, which brought you here. When you came among us, your importance was obvious at once. Clearly, it was vital to make you aware of the world you had entered, so that you could choose your own role in Mordant's need. Even a good person may do ill out of ignorance, but only a destructive one would do ill out of knowledge. The augury made it clear we had to trust you or die.["]
I think she wasn't. They needed to trust her because the situation spelled their doom if The True Champion didn't help them. They needed all 3 outside helpers to win. Elega's to defeat the army. Myste's to defeat their translations and special weapons. Geraden's to defeat the enemy Imagers.

Her importance was made obvious by her coming. Not before it happened.

Donadlson kept a good balance between prophecy and choice. It's Havelock and Joyce choices that lead to all the good they achieved. The Congery only achieved greater ruin when they blindly followed their augury. The first followed their hearts while the Congery followed a recipe. The prophecies don't tell everything. They don't know who their hidden enemies are until very late in the game. They're not sure if the augury is a self fulfilling prophecy. They don't know what results from the dramatic moments the auguries show. Terisa's prophetic dreams hint at that. She changed as a person and therefore the outcome of those scenes changed.
You are correct in that there is a balance between prophecy and free will. I allowed for Terisa to appear in Havelock's augury, because there are layers revelation. Havelock had more details on the King's daughters, for example. They couldn't have known that was who they were until they were at least partially grown. Similarly, Therisa is already prophetically bound up with Mordant - not only through her dreams, but also through the riders appearing in the Congery's augury.

Fanfic, by its very nature, is non-canon. However, I tried to be very careful to supplement, rather than override SRD's narrative. By adding her as another unknown, but important, wildcard in Havelock's augury, I don't change anything in the main story, but give some potential motivation and background.
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Post by shadowbinding shoe »

Sure.

I only gave my understanding of the canon story in the books.
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Havelock's Triumph

Post by Cord Hurn »

Late last month I finished my seventh read of Mordant's Need, and this time made sure to reread IrrationalSanity's Havelock's Triumph along with the main [canonical] story. I must say, it fits really well! :mrgreen: 8) :thumbsup:
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