Re: [Re: McKinley: HERO AND THE CROWN]

Alex wrote:
> As far as the dragon stone goes, as I'm sure you know, it was from the last
> drops of blood from Maur's heart. The stones were the prizes that the hero
> took back from killing a dragon, not the head (I can't remember whether or
> not Luthe or Agsded told Aerin this).
 
Luthe.

> If you didn't understand that in the
> end Aerin found that she had the tools for the crown all the time and (this
> gets a little difficult to explain), that she travelled back in time to
> actually create the crown, then you will need to reread the novel. This is
> a main part of the book and very important to understanding what happened
> and any symbolism.
 
Katya wrote:

> this: Aerin and Agsded fight in the future ("I really was a long time
> climbing?" she asks Luthe) and Aerin continues to go forward in time as the
> tower/crag falls (And I really was a very long time falling?). Luthe tells

I have to chime in with Katya; I don't know where you got the back in time
bit. Luthe said she went forward. And the evidence supports that: when she
lands the ruins of Agsded's tower have been reclaimed by the jungle.

How that was supposed to work, I don't know. As Robin's letter to me
indicates, _Hero_ doesn't bear too much reductionist analysis.

I did like the idea that Aerin's mother might have forged the Crown way back
when. I think I got that idea from my overfertile imagination.

> *past*) in the City, in the blue garden with Narknon. As for the crown, she
> was always worthy of it, and had everything she needed to inherit
> Damar...Agsded had the crown, but Aerin did have what it took to defeat him by
> her own power and her own intelligence.

I have to say that intelligence was not obviously present in that fight. Or
if it was, it was Gonturan's intelligence guiding Aerin's power.

Aerin leaves Luthe. Animals mysteriously follow her. They break a door in
the tower, where Aerin herself had failed. She climbs. She climbs. She
climbs. She and Agsded trade words, then swordblows, then she loses Gonturan,
then she throws the bloodstone-surka wreath at him and he gets burned by his
own fire. Then she falls. And falls. Oh, and all the surka everywhere dies.

Does this make much sense? Not to me. I guess it has that mythic feel. But
Aerin's personal abilities were much more obvious when she was dragonfighting.
Later the kelar just takes over.

Separtely, Rose Daughter didn't thrill me. But I can't say why anymore.

-xx- Damien X-)
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Received on Fri Mar 31 18:08:25 2000