Post by QuantumNull on Mar 16, 2005 3:57:39 GMT -5
So... here's my speculation on Doul's motivations (plural) in The Scar. I just read it for the first time, and should probably give it a reread, but, here goes:
1. Loyalty to his employers: Doul at least needs to appear loyal to the Lovers, and, at least on some level, seems to be loyal to them. However, he may be manipulating them towards his own ends.
2. Loyalty to the Armada. This is the clearest one, and yet at the same time its unclear whether or not Doul has an ulterior motive of some kind. He certainly seems to have all the control he needs, while allowing others to take the blame for unpopular decisions.
3. Loyalty to the Brucolac. It seems that Doul and the Brucolac fought together once, but whether he is extending it friendship based on that or merely manipulating it expertly remains unclear. Certainly, the Brucolac is manipulated, as are all the other characters who cross Doul's path. Also, I'd just like to note here that razor-golems are a good and frightening thing to mention in passing.
4. Personal gain. We know Doul is being paid for his services by the Lovers, but we don't know in what. It seems unlikely to me that he'd be motivated by money. In addition, I find it questionable that if it was Doul's intention all along to turn the Armada around, he could not have done so sooner.
I suspect that Doul may have had something to gain by traveling even as close as he did to the Scar. My best theory is that it allowed him to charge the battery for his Possible Sword, but there are numerous other possibilites as well.
Perhaps Doul merely reacts to each crisis as it occurs, but if our main character's alternate hypothesis is true and he was manipulating everyone all along, he must have had an end goal, which I suspect he achieved, merely because we never see Uther Doul fail at anything else.
The fact that he gives no indication of victory is entirely in character for someone who hides his emotions as skillfully as he does.
1. Loyalty to his employers: Doul at least needs to appear loyal to the Lovers, and, at least on some level, seems to be loyal to them. However, he may be manipulating them towards his own ends.
2. Loyalty to the Armada. This is the clearest one, and yet at the same time its unclear whether or not Doul has an ulterior motive of some kind. He certainly seems to have all the control he needs, while allowing others to take the blame for unpopular decisions.
3. Loyalty to the Brucolac. It seems that Doul and the Brucolac fought together once, but whether he is extending it friendship based on that or merely manipulating it expertly remains unclear. Certainly, the Brucolac is manipulated, as are all the other characters who cross Doul's path. Also, I'd just like to note here that razor-golems are a good and frightening thing to mention in passing.
4. Personal gain. We know Doul is being paid for his services by the Lovers, but we don't know in what. It seems unlikely to me that he'd be motivated by money. In addition, I find it questionable that if it was Doul's intention all along to turn the Armada around, he could not have done so sooner.
I suspect that Doul may have had something to gain by traveling even as close as he did to the Scar. My best theory is that it allowed him to charge the battery for his Possible Sword, but there are numerous other possibilites as well.
Perhaps Doul merely reacts to each crisis as it occurs, but if our main character's alternate hypothesis is true and he was manipulating everyone all along, he must have had an end goal, which I suspect he achieved, merely because we never see Uther Doul fail at anything else.
The fact that he gives no indication of victory is entirely in character for someone who hides his emotions as skillfully as he does.