McKinley: Re: Luthe/Tor

Hi,

First, I didn't think that Luthe intentionally made Aerin immortal. Even
great wizards have their limits, and I think Luthe was in fact sorry (in a
way) that it had happened.

Second, I usually hate love triangles too, but not this one. I suppose
it's because it's done so well that you realize she really loves both of
them, in very different ways, and that the two loves actually inform/feed
each other and make her a more complete person. If you remember, it wasn't
until she fell in love with Luthe that Aerin realized her love for Tor.
There seems to be this feeling in the thread that she loved Tor "less," but
I didn't get that impression from the book at all.

This next bit is somewhat irrelevant, but I remember one line from a novel
I read, where a character is trying to convince his lover that he could
love her as much even though he very clearly loved his dead wife dearly.
He said something like this: love is not a bucket that empties out; it's
like a stream. And when it finds itself blocked in one direction it
doesn't dry up but strives to flow in a new direction. (He said it much
more eloquently.) I know the situation is different because both Tor and
Luthe are alive, but somehow that's what I think of when I think of Tor,
Aerin, and Luthe. (The book was Gillian Bradshaw's _Island of Ghosts_.)

In defense of Luthe, Harry, and the girl from the short story (I just
blanked out on its name) with regard to a previous topic: I didn't think
they were lazy at all. I think the person who said that Luthe just know
better the price one might have to pay for power better than an ordinary
mortal was right. When someone has so much power it takes more strength of
mind/discipline and whatever is opposite to laziness to _not_ use it. As
for Harry and the modern-day girl, I thought it wasn't that they wanted to
have an ordinary life because they'll have to do too much work if they used
their magic, it was that they wanted a life on their _own_ terms. (Isn't
it less lazy to have to make friends on your own rather than to have the
"magic" do it for you?)

Anyway, sorry for this long, long post.

Tawen
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Received on Sat Apr 8 07:54:01 2000