The Second Apocalypse
General => Author Q&A => Topic started by: Callan S. on June 25, 2016, 06:18:34 am
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How can the white luck warrior know in his future that muggers will attack him in an alley (and notch his sword) of those muggers have free will? Is the theme of determinism being raised in this?
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Not determinism, fatalism. The contradictions abound, no different than time travel narratives. Just wait and see what happens next!
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Do people have free will in Eärwa?
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They have souls! So yes. This is what makes the distinction between Men and Sranc so fascinating.
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Funny. I remember a couple of years back reading the westeros discussions I got the sense that most people bought the Dunyain principle of before and after to mean that folks did not have free will on Eärwa.
The opposite seems to me like a minority opinion among readers. I could be wrong, though.
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A not so close reading of the text leads readers to 'side' with the Dunyain view of the world, especially early on. Its not until later books that you get a sense of how wrong the dunyain might be. I think most people have a fairly rigid perspective, so once they've cast their lot with one side, its tough to change that opinion. Or, sometimes its just too difficult to have a meaningful conversation when everyone just shrugs and says "anything is possible", so they pick a side and stick to it.
Once everything is published, things will hopefully be slightly less obscure - though I doubt many, many things will remain contentious.
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I had a double take when he killed the dog. But I guess it's a crossroads things - showing up who'd side with Kellhus and we're all reading the same text but our commitments are in different directions, so we're all brought together to the same thematic forum. I don't think I'll ever be able to do writing like that.