Greetings

[tiz]

 Hello everybody :)

I am a new convert of this trilogy :D 
Despite some anger towards the Author, I admit I am hooked to the characters (mostly to Vanyel and Stefen). I would like to write something about it, but since my interest in reading further works on Valdemar is rather low (She DID angered me <.<'), and I need some informations before writing, I am making some questions^^

1. About the Vrondi-net. How does it work, exactly? O.o I mean, sort of air-elemental who spy on mage inside Valdemar, ok. All the mages who aren't Heralds? Or all the mages who came from outside Valdemar? 

2. About the magic. As far as I can see, there is no way that somebody born with the mage-gift(s) to learn how to use it without guide, not only that but they are *always* unusable if not "untapped". Correct? °-°

Thank you all for your help!^^

(Yes, the fic I wish to write is, to begin with, a short story centered about the Vrondi-net. I DO feel it was a lot an Orwellian measure and quite a dark thing to do, and I would like to explore on that^^) 

Also, I want to thank Theme who pointed me there ^^ My thanks!



(I apologize for any mistake, I am Italian^^)

Comments

[pennie_dreadful]

Well, the Winds and Storms bring mages back to Valdemar (this is like 800 years after the death of Vanyel). And there's a couple of brief cameos by Vanyel, Stefen, and Yfandes (as ghosts, of course).

But, I completely understand what you mean (See: the community name). On the one hand, people who read the Valdemar books in the order they were first published already knew the outcome of LHM, because at that point in the timeline, Vanyel is a famous historic figure, and she wrote that he died saving the kingdom. But people like you (and me ;__;) who didn't read those books first had no idea Vanyel was going to die at the end, so it's like...okay...you gave him this horrible life...what's the payoff? Oh, he and his lifebonded get to haunt a forest together??? What the hell kind of ending is that???

The thing that fills me with rage the most is, when you do the math, Vanyel didn't even get a year with both Tylendel and Stefen combined! And then in Magic's Promise, the Shadow Lover told him he wouldn't be alone anymore. Nine years later he finally meets Stef...and then dies six months after lifebonding to him. FUUUUUUUUUUUUU that is not faaaair ;_________;

[tiz]

Yes, in some way you nailed it. But for me it is even *worse*

It is not that terrible things happened to Vanyel. Terrible things happens to all heroes, it is a part of the stock of trade so to speak.
To take another example: think Sherlock Holmes. Everybody knows of him, so he made a good example.
Conan Doyle killed Holmes at Reichnback Fall. Not because it was what the story demanded. Not because it was a fitting end. Even if it was, mind you, like Vanyel, he died to destroy his arch-enemy. But that wasn't the Reason for his death. The Reason was that Doyle had got annoyed at him and wanted him gone, because he wanted to write about other things.
(He had to make him come back from the dead because his fans demanded him, but that is beyond the point)

The WHOLE story of Vanyel is the same. Vanyel doesn't suffer or die because his story or character demanded it. Vanyel suffered and died because MERCEDES LACKEY WANTED THE READER TO CRY.
It is blatant emotional manipulation. A cheap trick in which even good author sometime fall. I suppose that, since she knew that Van had to have a Tragic End, she strived to make it as tragic as possible.
JK Rowling falls in the same trick in the later HP books, when she kills beloved characters at random for cry-value.

I hate when Authors try to manipulate me like that. I hate it.

[pennie_dreadful]

Huh, well, the way I see it, the purpose (or one of the purposes) of creative writing is to make us feel things--manipulate our emotions, make us think, open our eyes to new ideas. When I am writing I am certainly trying--hoping--to manipulate reader's emotions.

Just to be clear, I am agreeing with you; my point isn't that manipulating the reader's emotions is bad in and of itself, it's manipulating them without a clear purpose. A perfect example: The gang rape. What purpose did it have? Did anything significant come of this? No. Not a damn thing.

[tiz]

Peraphs I explained myself badly ò.ò

It is the difference between pulling a guitar string and playing it.

A good story should "play the cord of your heart" so to speak. It shouldn't pull it to get an extreme reaction.
It is... overplayed. A good actor don't need to exagerate to pass a meaning. A subtle gesture is sufficient.

You get it with the rape. There was no reason save to make us all heartsick. And pretty much all of Vanyel story is like that.

We are saying the same thing, anyway :D It is ok to kill characters if the story demands it. But killing them off for angst value (or because you are bored of them, like Conan Doyle)is wrong. It is a cheap trick.

[pennie_dreadful]

I do believe we are on the same page :) That's a good analogy with the guitar string. I once said to thene that at one point, during the writing of one of my fics, I worried about making it too melodramatic, but then I realized nothing I wrote could be more melodramatic than the actual books. :|