From: vanan@aol.com (Vanan) Subject: Re: alt.fan.eddings Frequently Asked Questions Part 2 Date: 17 Dec 1998 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <19981216224433.29532.00000476@ng-ch1.aol.com> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit References: <19981216221920.29532.00000461@ng-ch1.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Admin: news@aol.com Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.fan.eddings G. Dryads (a.k.a. The Thread That Will Not Die) Donal Fellows has a fairly comprehensive compilation of the endless Dryad threads. To take a look, check out his hompage. (URL given at the end of this FAQ). Although to date I have heard of three possible explanations for this, below is Rumor's explanation, the most comprehensive explanation I've yet seen. Keep in mind that PtS was discarded when considering this question. The general consensus is that Eddings wasn't thinking clearly when he wrote the section where Polgara briefly writes about this subject. It's really very simple (long, but simple): The dryad invariably has one "human" X chromosome and one "dryad" X chromosome. When a dryad (female, of course) and a human male produce a female child, the male has donated an X chromosome, which still pairs with during mitosis and meoisis so that the child can grow and produce eggs (not so strange - the Y and X chromosomes of humans are extremely different and still pair in cell division, and in this case, it's the dryad X that varies slightly from the human X). Now, in human females, one X chromosome in _every_ cell of the body becomes inactivated after a few weeks of life. (It becomes super-condensed because a double-dose of genes would be too much - it is then called a Barr body). In dryad female offspring, the human X serves to determine sex of the child, and then is the one condensed in every cell of the dryad's body (in humans, it is a random choice in the cells, but it could _easily_ be forced in dryad cells, because the two X chromosomes are slightly different, so one can be recognized as the human one and then condensed). The simplest mechanism for this would be a protein or series of protein reactions derived from the dryad X to inactivate the human X. Thus, a female child develops via the dryad X. Because half of her genome is human, dryads appear very much like humans. (The dryad half couldn't be much different anyway, because all chromosomes have to pair in cell division). Males: Child receives human male Y and a dryad female X. The male Y chromosome codes for a gene product (TDF maybe - the testis (male) determining factor) that inactivates portions of the dryad X chromosome that deal with dryad physiology. This is entirely possible - on all chromosomes, areas of the chromosome are regulated separately and turned 'on' or 'off' at the genetic level by protein and DNA packing regulation. Thus, a protein from the Y, normally meant only for some human purpose (such as TDF, which develops a male into a male) could also bind to the dryad X or cause some sort of signal cascade that deactivates the specific dryad genes - remember that the dryad X is quite similar to the human X which can clearly be indicated by their stark similarity to humans, so all the normal physiological genes needed from the X chromosome remain active. So, there you go. Gene regulation and inactivation. Simple, real, human genetics that can be applied to the dryad system, which must be amazingly similar to ours if human males can actually manage to reproduce with them. Re: "Half-dryad" and "full-dryad" nomenclature Or, why there are no full dryads _All_ dryads are half-dryad because half their genome is from a human, in which case, the definition for "dryad" becomes "half-dryad," and the word "dryad" still is correct: Dryads are all half-dryads, but are still called dryads, because there are no full-dryads. An analogy: the word hypercholesterolemia. This is a disease in which a person has one of _two_ genes defective for a certain receptor that allows cholesterol to be taken out of the blood. That is to say, the person has one mutant copy of the gene and one wildtype (normal) copy. Hypercholesterolemia breeds true (it is genetic, so obviously...), but the definition refers to a half-hypercholesterolemic, technically... However, people with two copies are _not_ called hypercholesterolemic (ack, bad example! Typing that is annoying! ^_^), because there aren't any. Two copies of the mutant are lethal, so all "full-hyper'emics" are dead. Hence the word, like dryad, technically means a half-breed, but that's _all_ it means, so it is still the correct connotation. "Dryad" _means_ half-breed, and there are _no_ "full-dryads." So, essentially, when Polgara refers to Ce'Nedra is a half-dryad, it's still what we're all used to. My explanation way above also explains how a female with only one dryad X can have the same phenotype of a theoretical full dryad. Re: Children of dryads, especially males. Without a deletion, half the male children of a dryad would have all their daughters (grand-daughters of the dryad) be dryads again; the gene causing dryad-ness in females would resurface after a generation. So, deletion of this gene by male children of dryads is likely possible, probably through an induced inversion mechanism, although it deoesn't really matter. Actually, if a dryad X underwent auto-inversion in males across the centromere of the X chromosome... the dryad X chromosomes would break up. Thus, sons of dryads could only have male kids, and the dryad chromosome would be _lost_ in that first generation. Would anybody ever notice that particular orphans found near the Wood of the Dryads only have male children. Probably not, actually. Medical records in Tolnedra were probably sketchy. The necessity for such a mechanism depends on whether a dryad is in any way recognizable from a normal human. Suppose the gene is not normally deleted, and a dryad-borne male is dumped into Tolnedra as an orphan (as per Aphrael's theory). He has three children in his lifetime, two of which are female, and thus both are dryad. _However,_ he doesn't know he's carrying the dryad genes on his X chromosome (which is given to all female children), and so nobody ever realizes they're dryad. _And_ if they're never bonded to a tree... then they don't have an extended lifetime (we _know_, despite the dryad/tree argument that tree age is the reason the dryads live so long. Xantha states it). So, nobody ever realizes she's dryad, and nothing ever comes of it... If this is the case, there's probably a lot of unclaimed dryads running around clueless in Tolnedra. Personally, I prefer the deletion/inversion theory, because it's simpler, neater, and wraps everything up just fine. Occam's Razor, n' such. H. Immortality (a.k.a. The Other Thread That Will Not Die) We've already witnessed that Belgarath, Polgara, Beldin and the other sorcerers have lived for centuries. So doesn't this mean that Garion will have the same life span? What will happen to the Rivan line? Will Garion abdicate when Geran is old enough to take over? And what about Ce'Nedra, won't she live a long time, too, at least until her tree dies? Everybody seems to have an opinion on this one. First of all, we never learn if the sorcerers are, in fact, immortal or if they just have a very long life span. And secondly, we never know if long life is part of the natural order of sorcerers or if Belgarath was allowed to live for 7000 years because the Prophecy needed him. There are two major schools of thought on this one. The first is that the sorcerers are, in fact, immortal and will live forever. The second is that the Prophecy's work is done and things will resume their natural order, and the sorcerers will die in the normal course of time now. Take your pick, because there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove either theory. As for the Rivan line, most people seem to agree that if Garion is, in fact, going to live for a long, long time, he will hand over the crown to Geran when Geran reaches a suitable age. Garion was never that thrilled to be a king in the first place, and there doesn't seem to be any reason why he would want to extend that role for several centuries. And with regard to Ce'Nedra, there are two major schools of thought on that. Some people believe that she will live as long as her tree (how long her tree will live is a whole other tangent thread), while others believe that the Prophecy tweaked things a bit so that Ce'Nedra will live as long as Garion does. I. The mark on Garion's hand -- is it symbolic of the Rivan line or the mark of his being a sorcerer? As with most of these questions, there are two schools of thought on this one. Some people believe that the mark signifies Garion's place in the Rivan line, and point to the fact that all the Rivan kings had the mark, even after they went into hiding and never touched the Orb. Others believe it is the mark of Garion's sorcery, and point to the facts that 1) we are told that all the sorcerers had some sort of mark signifying their talent -- Polgara has her white lock, Belgarath has a mark over his heart, etc. and 2) the mark on Garion's hand throbs, itches or burns when he uses sorcery, and also has some sort of connection with Polgara's white lock. It's also been suggested that the mark simply served both purposes. J. So, what exactly is on Garion's amulet? (Thanks to Jonathan Yen for this answer) We have no clue. Eddings only made one comment on what was on the amulet. In _Queen of Sorcery_, Garion looks at his amulet and notices that it has a strange geometric design. That's it. For some reason, Garion never bothers to look at his amulet ever again. Why? Don't ask me. So, of course, there has been speculation on what is on the amulet. Various things have been said, like a wolf, the orb, the Rivan sword going through a crown, and a circle. Because Garion ain't that dumb, I think he would have noticed that his amulet had a design of one of these rather than think of it as a strange geometric design. Aphrael posed the idea that the design on Garion's amulet was in fact a moebius strip. "Something about two things becoming one or maybe it was one thing becoming two. I don't know...I was feeling weird that day." Amy Sheldon thought it might have been a rune; a weird character that stands for an entire word (like in the Chinese language). Of course, this started up a whole lot of speculation of what the word was... K. What is this Bel/Pol prefix business? -cont. by Donal Fellows with parenthetical commentary by Amy Sheldon `Bel' and `Pol' both mean beloved and nothing more. It's just that `Bel' is the male form and `Pol' is the female form. Beldaran is an anomaly, but languages (especially English) are full of them, so you'd better get used to it... (NOWHERE in either the Belgariad or Malloreon does it state that 'Bel' or 'Pol' means disciple. Aldur added it to his original disciples' names, presumably as a sign that they were his "beloved disciples", but simply adding 'Bel' to a name no more makes a character Aldur's disciple then adding 'Fido' to your name would make you into a dog.) L. Why isn't 'Durnik' called 'Beldurnik'? How do you know he isn't? Everyone is used to calling him 'Durnik' (and he's used to be called Durnik), so just because he's a disciple now, and officially entitled to add 'Bel' to his name doesn't mean everyone is going to start calling him a totally different name. M. Has anyone noticed the chess analogy in the titles of the Belgariad? The titles of the Belgariad all have two parts to them. One part refers to a chess piece or move (e.g. Pawn, Gambit) and the other part is a reference to some form of magic, or magical person. There is quite a strong connection with chess throughout the Belgariad. The game between the LP and the DP can be seen as a complicated game of chess involving the characters (some people have gone as far as associating each character with a type of chess piece). It has also been speculated that the strange geometric design on Garion's amulet is in fact a chessboard. The Mallorean titles are slightly more obscure. They use the title of an individual and the place where they are located. (e.g. Seeress of Kell) N. What was Beldin's first act of sorcery? There is an inconsistency between accounts in Belgarath the Sorcerer and Sorceress of Darshiva. In SoD Beldin says he was angry with Belgarath but turned his will onto a tree instead. In BtS Belgarath asks Beldin to move a rock to his tower and Beldin translocates it instead. A possible explanation for this is that Beldin didn't want everyone to think his first act of sorcery was to do something as simple as moving a rock. O. Why can't Zedar get out of that hole Belgarath put him in? (By Jonathan Yen, with parenthetical commentary by Amy Sheldon) Well, Belgarath mentions that sorcerers can't undo what another sorcerer does because everyone thinks differently. But Zedar ain't stupid, and so, should be able to think of another way to get out, right? So, Belgarath must have thought of a pretty elaborate way to keep Zedar down there. However, one should remember that Zedar is stuck in rock for all eternity, which means that he has sufficient oxygen and food for all eternity also. Or, it means that Belgarath made provisions for his well-being for throughout eternity. Two possible solutions have been proposed. a) Zedar is stuck in rock like how Relg goes through it. b) Zedar is in suspended animation. (It should be noted that this is unlikely, as it wouldn't be that awful a punishment if Zedar didn't know he was trapped.) P. Speaking of Zedar, don't you think his punishment was too harsh? No. Q. What is the sex of Polgara's twins? It is never said. In the prologue and epilogue of PtS, the twins are mentioned many times, and are quite clearly not referred to by name or sex. This is quite deliberate. The reason given is that no one can now come up with any suggestion for stories about the twins, because absolutely nothing is known about them. R. Who is the Wolf? This is thought to be, as with the twins, an attempt to keep a few loose ends lying around in the world of the Belgariad. The wolf refered to is the one found by Poledra in the Mallorean. He is now Geran's pet/friend, and in the epilogue of PtS he is described as having rather more intelligence than your average wolf. Some of the various explanations are: he is just an ordinary wolf, it's just that wolves are very intelligent creatures, he is an embodiment of the Light Prophecy, enjoying his retirement, or finally, he is David Eddings himself. S. How did Polgara and Poledra merging help them remain unseen by Torak? The first time Polgara and Poledra merge form into the SuperOwl(tm), Polgara remarks that it was the inward turning of themselves that made them invisible. But that cannot be the whole reason, for it should be possible to someone to turn their thoughts inward without merging with someone else. The turning of thought can be seen as creating a shield against searching thoughts. The merging process in combination with turning inward enables them to remain unseen from Torak. It is possible that the merging means they can create the shield and be aware of events happening outside of their merged form. Whereas the shield Garion and Polgara made was imperfect at the join, a combined form could create a perfect shield. T. Why are there so many differences between BtS and PtS? It seems to be on purpose. In one of the letters to the Polgara scrapbook, David speaks about this, and says not to bother pointing them out. In the book, Polgara says that she has a different viewpoint and remembers things differently to Belgarath. Now, given the fact David has put this in, it means he knows there are differences and doesn't want to change them. It is more realistic to think that Polgara and Belgarath cannot remember something exactly when it's something that occurred 3000 years ago. ELENIUM/TAMULI U. Inconsistencies 1.) Some terms that may be confused and are occasionally mixed up by the editors. a.) Elene/Elenian The difference is pretty simple. "Elene" refers to an ethnic/racial group, that group which dominates all of western Eosia, in the nations of Elenia, Arcium, Deira, Thalesia, Pelosia, Lamorkand, Cammoria and Rendor, as opposed to the Styric or Tamul races. "Elenian" refers to the citizens of a particular Elene nation, Elenia. Not all Elenes are Elenian, nor are all Elenians necessarily Elene, since a rural Styric living in Elenia could also be classified as "Elenian." b.) Patriarch/primate A patriarch is one of the 168 members of the upper level of the Hierocracy of the Elene Church. A primate, from all indications, is one rank below a patriarch. If the patriarch of a particular city or district is incapacitated, the primate acts in his stead. I compare them to the Roman Catholic ranks of cardinal vs. Bishop. The major difference is that patriarchs can vote with the Hierocracy and primates can't. This is why it was so important for Annias to buy support among the patriarchs. 2.) Illogical gaps in the story a.) When Ehlana coaxes the Bhelliom to let her touch it, Bhelliom flatly refuses and states that it has _only once_ allowed a non-divine, non-Anakha creature to touch it, and that was when Ghwerig first lifted it from the earth. Yet we know that Adian must have touched the stone when he stole it from Ghwerig's cave, and it's likely that the Thalesian kings who followed him touched it as well. Aside from concluding that the ancient stone of power was developing Alzheimer's, the only explanation seemed to be that Bhelliom deliberately lied. There has been much debate about why. We know, of course, that the story about instant death if one touched Bhelliom was false and that Bhelliom itself could decide who got to touch it. Rumor believes that Bhelliom was very proud and egotistical, and didn't want to admit that so many people had been allowed to touch it.Other's agree and add that Bhelliom was afraid that this would be seen as a sign of weakness and as its alliance with Anakha was still relatively new, it still didn't trust even its own creature. b.) In Domes of Fire, Sparhawk mentions to Sephrenia that Aphrael can fly, and Sephrenia replies that she never actually saw Aphrael do it, but she assumed that her sister could fly. But later, we learn that not only has Sephrenia seen Aphrael fly, but she's even been brought along on about four or five flights in the last three centuries. Someone jokingly suggested that Sephrenia had never "seen" Aphrael fly because she always had her eyes closed in terror. But otherwise, there has not yet been a logical explanation for this one. V. Do the Elenium or Tamuli titles have any connections to the stories? The Elenium titles are all related to types of precious stones. The Tamuli is the hardest. The closest anyone has come up with is that they refer to cities. The only problem is "The Shining Ones" but that could refer to the city of Delphaeus, as Delphaeus means both the city and The Shining Ones. W. What God is supporting Zalasta's spells when he crashes Sephrenia and Vanion's wedding? At the end of the Tamuli, Cyrgon is dead and Klæl is banished. If Styric spells are nothing more than requests to a God, how do Zalasta's spells work at Sephrenia and Vanion's wedding when he has no God left to appeal to? This one was argued back and forth a bit. This is the one solution that seems that Edæmus gave the Delphae the power to act on their own when he departed to prepare the way for their eventual journey. It seems logical to conclude, then, that a God or other source of power could just as easily have given Zalasta the power to act on his own. Where he got that power from is another matter entirely. Rumor and Aphrael concluded that it was Klæl. As Rumor pointed out, a God is of this (i.e., Sparhawk's) world and has reason to feel threatened by a human with the power to act on his own. But for Klæl, Zalasta was little more than a tiny speck who meant nothing. He would never be able to destroy or contend with Klæl. The only two entities from whom Klæl had anything to fear were Bhelliom and Anakha. So it would be no loss for Klæl to grant Zalasta the power to act on his own. X. If the Elder Gods were all confined and the Younger Gods were all good guys, where did the renegade Styrics get their power? This is one of those cases of not enough information. There are two possibilities here. Either the renegades somehow found another Elder God besides Azash who still had power despite his confinement, or else not all of the Younger Gods were as lily-white as we're led to believe. In the first scenario, it could be that the Elder Gods could still grant spells to individuals in their confined state, but because of their lack of worshippers they were somehow cut off from being powerful enough to command Bhelliom. On the other hand, it's been proposed that it's entirely possible that there was resentment among the Younger Gods, and that there were one or two who would actually grant spells to renegades. It's doubtful, however that the resentment extended so far as to go along with Zalasta's plot to destroy Aphrael, therefore necessitating Zalasta's alliances with Azash and Cyrgon. Y. Why was Sparhawk so afraid to let Wargun know that they were looking for Bhelliom when they ran into Wargun in Pelosia? Wouldn't Wargun have agreed to at least let Sparhawk borrow the stone if he knew it was their only hope? And even if not, wouldn't it be easier to steal the stone from Wargun after he and his army captured it from Ghwerig than to fight the Troll himself? It seems that we have to go on the assumption that Wargun was an erratic drunk who was not thinking rationally. Add to that the fact that he probably wouldn't have believed that the Bhelliom had magical powers and could cure Ehlana, and chances are, he wouldn't believe that Sparhawk had a valid reason for wanting the stone. As for the question of letting Wargun help capture the stone and then stealing it from him, it's important to note that time was of the essence. Half the knights whose lives were supporting Ehlana's had already died. And, as Rumor pointed out, it would take a while just to move an army from Pelosia to Thalesia. Besides, chances are that Wargun would have taken his own soldiers with him and sent Sparhawk to Arcium. Considering that the most important thing in Sparhawk's mind was restoring Ehlana, he couldn't afford to gamble on the whims of an erratic, drunken king. Z. Immortality (The Elenium Derivative) If Danae is going to be Queen of Elenia and she is immortal, will she have to grow old and die like a normal person? Aphrael makes it clear at the end of the Elenium that she knows she will have to play by the normal rules in her incarnation as Danae. As much as she may be tempted, she isn't about to upset the Elene population of Eosia by remaining a child for several centuries. So it's likely that at the appropriate time, Danae will fake a nice, peaceful, painless death and move on to her next incarnation. AA. Will Eddings write any more on Sparhawk and the gang when he is finished with _Polgara the Sorceress_? No THE ALT.FAN.EDDINGS NEWSGROUP AB. alt.fan.eddings newsgroup; what is it, who created it, and when? -Cont. by Aquarius a.f.e. is the home of Eddings fanatics worldwide. The newsgroup has a high level of traffic, several hundred posts a day, up from only a couple dozen only a few years ago. The control message sent to alt.config came from Bob Snyder, on behalf of Lydia Leong. The date was 17 May 1992. The reasons given for the creation of the new group was that the existing place for discussion about Eddings,rec.arts.sf.written, had a lot of flame wars about whether Eddings was a good writer or not. It was felt that fans' questions were being lost as a result of these flame wars. Interestingly, alt.fan.eddings was created with the idea that it should also be a home for discussion about the Belgariad MUSH as well. A fuller history of the newsgroup, and a full copy of the control message can be seen at http://www.members.tripod.com/~afecodex/ AC. Why does everyone have an Eddings alias, and how can I get one? This popular habit was started around the summer of 97. There had always been a few people using aliases, but more and more people started using them until it was decided that some sort of system was needed to ensure that no two people took the same alias. Teut monitors who has what alias and any questions regarding aliases should be directed to teut@thebusstop.demon.co.uk. Teut maintains a site listing all aliases currently in use. It can be found at http://www.thebusstop.demon.co.uk/alias.htm AD. What are the Silver Suggestions? The "Silver Suggestions" are alt.fan.eddings' guide to good netiquette and is posted, twice a month, by Itagne (or rather, his daemon Mordja). They are a collection of statements which people should aim to follow when posting to alt.fan.eddings. Newcomers are encouraged to read them, as well as the FAQ, before posting for the first time. They include Aphrael's Three Commandments, as mentioned in the main FAQ. To see the on-line copy of the Silver Suggestions, visit http://www.greenbeak.demon.co.uk/afe/silver-suggestions/ AE. Who runs the Trivia quiz, and when is it posted to the newsgroup? Simon Nickerson runs the AFE Trivia Quiz. A new quiz is posted once every two weeks and everyone is encouraged to enter. Looking in the books for answers is positively encouraged. Please don't post the answers to the newsgroup, instead mail them to triviaquiz@iname.com. For further information, refer to the guidelines set out in the Trivia Quiz posts, or the web page at http://www.sigma.demon.co.uk/quiz. AF. What exactly is Klæl's Army? Klæl's Army was a rather innocuous looking thread about how the Arcerans (aliens that Klæl brought over to fight in the Tamuli) could forge weapons in the highly explosive atmosphere they lived in. It developed into a highly complex and incomprehensible discussion about biology. Very quickly, it became an in-joke to refer to it when any complicated thread was started, no matter the subject. It has returned this year and if anything, is even more complicated. Klæl's Army has now joined the Dryad and Immortality threads into the history of alt.fan.eddings. AG. Where can a new user find information about this newsgroup? Itagne (itagne@greenbeak.demon.co.uk) runs the AFE Daemon Catalogue which can automatically send you various information packs about this newsgroup. To get the Newbie pack send a blank email to afe-daemon@greenbeak.demon.co.uk with a subject of "get -newbie". For a catalogue of all the documents send an e-mail to the same address as above with a subject of "get -cat". Please ensure that your return email address is *NOT* disguised as you will not get a reply. The catalogue can be found at one of Itagne's afe related sites http://www.greenbeak.demon.co.uk/afe/dispatch-daemon/ along with a variety of other files that the new user (or a returning old user who never read the documents in the first place) might find of interest. AH. Are there any rules for this newsgroup? There are no formal rules. Most people seem to agree that this is a pretty pleasant newsgroup with friendly people and low spam and troll ratios. But there are three things we can all do to make sure things stay friendly and relaxed. They are called the Three Commandments. 1.) Thou shalt not flame without malicious provocation. Pretty self-explanatory. If someone says something that upsets you or that you disagree with, tell them calmly, in polite language, and without resorting to name-calling or personal attacks. 2.) Thou shalt not profane the works of thy authors David and Leigh Eddings. So maybe you didn't like _all_ of Eddings' books. Not everybody does. But don't come out with belligerent statements like "This book sucks!" Instead, state in intelligent, mature language that you had problems with this particular book or series and explain why. Maybe there is even someone else here who can offer you a new perspective on it that will make you appreciate it more. 3.) Thou shalt not utilize foul or offensive language. This one follows pretty logically from the other two. What is meant by "foul or offensive language?" Basically, if you wouldn't say it in front of your parents or other respected adults, or in the presence of particular racial, ethnic or gender groups, don't say it here.