Shadow Walker Chapter 5 (Spoilers*)

[expedient]

So, Kyven has left complete chaos in his wake; there might be human shamans, the arcans have built a nation, the possibility of an uprising against the Loremasters, shaman can create crystals, and most amusing (to me) that the black fox arcan shaman that has caused them so much trouble is the weakest of the shaman in ability.

The worst thing of all is that the Loremasters can’t be sure what is true as the truth crystal was unreliable and the shaman obviously wanted to be caught as evidenced by his escaping so easily.


I’m intrigued by Kyven’s developing powers. The ability to change shape allows for greater stealth and to get around obstacles such as narrow gaps. Could he also augment his body in some way by shifting muscle or reshaping bones? The vampiric spell, when he is healthy, could give him tremendous endurance by draining strength from others repeatedly whilst keeping much of his own in reserve. Imagine running for weeks at a time or invading a barracks and using their life force to power his spells.


I wonder what he’ll find at Riyan? Could he meet up with Clover again or complete her mission to weaken the Loreguard army by disabling weapons and destroying stores? What will he find at the tobacco plantation, another shaman or a way to infiltrate the expedition perhaps?


An excellent chapter with much food for thought.

[Ledsmith]

Pretty sure he is going to lead an arcan uprising, rebelion, etc. starting at the plantation.

[miraborn]

Pretty sure he is going to lead an arcan uprising, rebelion, etc. starting at the plantation.

Do you think that one Arcan he was looking at might be Shaman?

[dellstart]

Pretty sure he is going to lead an arcan uprising, rebelion, etc. starting at the plantation.

dittos

[Mark_Reed]

His willingness to obey the fox spirit after all she's done to him baffles me. Throughout this chapter especially, but also the previous four chapters of the book, he has shown faith and fidelity to a being which he *knows* views him only as a tool.

I've very recently joined a new church. Currently I'm getting a lot of bible studies about how to be a disciple of Christ. I couldn't help but thinking, upon the decision to keep going when he could have chosen death, that *I* don't even have that much of a servant mentality to my God yet, and that's exactly what I've been trying to learn how to do!

Did I miss some big moment of transition? It seemed as if, with the beginning of Shadow Walker, Kyven went from "I serve the fox because she'll kill me if I don't, and she's holding my humanity hostage" to "I serve the fox because I'm a shaman and that's what we do." What caused such a huge change in mentality? And does the fox truly deserve it?

[Weresmilodon]

It's not quite that easy. The fox has as an overall goal to preserve the Arcan race, and probably at least some degree of interspecies peace. He knows this, and he also knows that he has an important role to play in that. He doesn’t serve the fox because she's a spirit, or because he worships her or anything like that, I’d even say he still hates her. But that dose’s really matter in the end. He works for/with her because that is what will do the most good to others, and that is his duty as a shaman. Part of this journey has been learning to put his personal feelings and problems to the side, and do what he needs to do, no matter what he might think of it, or how little he might like it.

[expedient]

To add to Weresmilodon's comments:

At the beginning of Shadow Walker Kyven had agreed to the course of action laid out by the Shadow Fox Spirit. He agreed with her that war was inevitable and the only way forward was to manipulate events into Haven's favor and try to stop a second Breach. He felt that the the other spirits and shaman had an unrealistic hope of a peaceful solution being found. "There are are no happy endings."

What has changed is that he is no longer just risking his life for the duration of these events when he can be useful, he has now committed his life to the cause of those in need. An analogy might be that he has now made his priestly vows. In life or in death he now serves, his wounded ego at the Shadow Fox Spirit's manipulations simply doesn’t matter anymore.

I’m sure she will still anger him at times, like when he finds out about Danna, but he has found his purpose in life: in service to those people in need. It's subtle but could cause big changes in how he behaves.

[Mad Monk]

Pretty sure he is going to lead an arcan uprising, rebelion, etc. starting at the plantation.

Tend to agree to an extent.

We know from previously that slave arcans will be in at least three categories:
- Those who will fight
- Those who will want to run
- Those who are so institutionalised that they need masters to tell them what to do

The uprising/liberation will act to distract the Loremasters, but it will also produce thousands of free arcans, some of whom will be sent to freedom, others will open a new front - even if they are not trying to fight, just raid other farms to free more arcans

One other point - we understand what the information Kyven gave the Loremasters while he was drugged meant, but the Loremasters themselves might not understand it, they might misinterpret it or regard it as false information. The ease with which Kyven escaped may make them think that it was all misdirection. They will remember what he said:

“So you’re telling me that you can make crystals?”
“Me…no. Weak. Guile…deceit. Tricks. Spy. Crystals…too weak. Shaman…make. Not me. Too weak.”

Confusion to the enemy!

[dellstart]

we can all reaffirm that our boy is one major bad ass!

[GBLW]

One other point - we understand what the information Kyven gave the Loremasters while he was drugged meant, but the Loremasters themselves might not understand it, they might misinterpret it or regard it as false information. The ease with which Kyven escaped may make them think that it was all misdirection. They will remember what he said:

“So you’re telling me that you can make crystals?”
“Me…no. Weak. Guile…deceit. Tricks. Spy. Crystals…too weak. Shaman…make. Not me. Too weak.”

The thing about this is the fact that there are always pessimists in any group, who are going to think; "If he really was a weak shaman like he said, yet he escaped from the deepest dungeon so easily - after being tortured for so long, what are the stronger shaman capable of doing?"

Suddenly we have not just confusion, but also apprehension and even fear - umm, make that MORE fear, because the Loremasters are already fearful!

[boballab]

The thing to remember that is the most important about what the Loremasters learned from Kyven: is that while what he said was the absolute truth, everything said is just disjointed facts with no depth to them. What this does is let the Loremasters deceive themselves when they look at those facts.

Fact one:

“A human Shaman?”
“The…first,” he breathed, then he coughed, which weakened him considerably. “The…first of…those…to come.”

The Loremasters have no idea how Shaman are picked, trained or how long it takes. To them they could have 5, 10, 30, 100 Human Shaman just getting ready to pop up on them. They have no idea or clue that what Kyven meant with First of those to come, was the first trained. To them he could have meant just the first to come infiltrate them.

Fact two:

“This Haven has its own crystals? Where do they mine them? What deposits have they found?”
“Shaman…make.”
There was a startled silence. “Shaman can make crystals?” came a stunned question.
“Spirits…mana…same. Energy…spirits…energy…crystals. Magic. Same. Shaman….crystals…same. Shaman…drain. Shaman…make. Crystals…same…Shaman. Shaman…make…crystals. Masked…use. Buy Arcans.”
“So you’re telling me that you can make crystals?”
“Me…no. Weak. Guile…deceit. Tricks. Spy. Crystals…too weak. Shaman…make. Not me. Too weak.”

The Loremasters have no idea that the Shaman are limited not just in strength to make crystals but to types as well. They will have to plan for the worse thinking that there could be thousands of Shamans all cranking out Black Crystals for weapons and others that make ones for healing bells. Imagine how that will effect military planning.

Fact three:

“Haven.”
“Again, what is Haven?”
“Arcans,” he whispered, his head drooping even lower. “Arcans.”
“They’re part of the Masked?”
“The…Masked is…part of…them.”
There was another silence. “You mean Arcans run the Masked, and not humans?”
“Yes. Haven commands…Masked obey.”
“Where are the leaders of Haven?”
“Far,” he mumbled. “Far.”
“Where exactly?”
“Far,” he repeated. “Cold. Snow. Far.”
“What city do they hide in?”
“Haven,” he answered. “Capitol…Arcan nation. Haven.”

Now this one will really play with their collective heads. All along they thought the Masked controlled the Shaman, but now they know that the Arcans are in charge of Humans. Now doesn’t that play merry hell with their prejudices? Just think your some Loreguard grunt or low level Loremaster and that little tidbit leaks: here the Masked, a group they haven’t been able to suppress and it’s being run by Arcans. Some will be able to follow the logic and come to the conclusion of “if they are wrong about Arcan intelligence, what else could they be wrong about?” Then you would still have the die hard Bigots that will spout the party line. Dissention in the ranks.

Then there is other things you can see the upper reaches of the Loremasters and the Loreguard will assume from those little scraps of facts. They would reasonably assume that the “Arcan Nation” will be set up like a human one, with a single leader or a small group on top, not realizing the Arcans don’t think that way. Then to military generals when they here the word nation they will assume that the Arcans must have a standing Army all along and they would be geared to conquer the human nations. Then with their prejudices they will probably think that the humans in the Masked had to have had something done to them by the Shaman. If you take that assumption they could follow a false logic trail wondering if the Shaman have suborned any of them. The Black Fox Shaman ghosted through Avannar for how long?

You can lie just as well if not better if you just tell the straight truth and let the other person warp the facts from their prejudices and views.

[ANTIcarrot]

What has changed is that he is no longer just risking his life for the duration of these events when he can be useful, he has now committed his life to the cause of those in need. An analogy might be that he has now made his priestly vows. In life or in death he now serves, his wounded ego at the Shadow Fox Spirit's manipulations simply doesn’t matter anymore.

Except he seems to have committed himself to help those at need at the specific direction of Shadowfox who has shown herself to be a lying cheating backstabbing narcissist. If he lets her decided what 'good' is then all he's doing is serving her.

[expedient]

Except he seems to have committed himself to help those at need at the specific direction of Shadowfox who has shown herself to be a lying cheating backstabbing narcissist. If he lets her decided what 'good' is then all he's doing is serving her.

Maybe. She does seem to be conditioning him to follow directions without hesitation or questioning. On the other hand she doesn’t explain herself because she wants him to think for himself and be fast on his feet. It’s almost as if she is pushing him to be independent yet directly under her control. A paradox from our point of view. The Shadow Fox Spirit is not human however, so perhaps what we are seeing is her alien nature in action.

I think that deep (really deep) down Kyven trusts her intentions. She does want to preserve life and stop another Breach. So maybe she is preparing him to act quickly and decisively through some very hard future choices and that is why she is pushing and twisting him so hard now. Not just him either, she obviously has some further need of Danna and Toby.

The Shadow Fox Spirit’s smug amusement at the results of her manipulations does seem to suggest that she has narcissistic tendencies. There is a possible alternative though: she predicts a time when Kyven and the others will have to make a decision concerning the Spirit World and she wants them to make the choice without the concensus of the spirits. Another drive to him acting independently. Guile and deceit.

Or maybe I'm clutching at shadows...

[ANTIcarrot]

The Loremasters have no idea how Shaman are picked, trained or how long it takes.

No, but they can make some good brackets on those things. They could for example correctly assume that the shamans have very little training in large scale warfare. They can also assume that if there were hundreds of shamans they'd have heard a lot more about them by now.

The Loremasters have no idea that the Shaman are limited not just in strength to make crystals but to types as well. They will have to plan for the worse thinking that there could be thousands of Shamans all cranking out Black Crystals for weapons and others that make ones for healing bells. Imagine how that will effect military planning.

And something else: "Assuming that this is true, this confirms something that we've hoped all along. That crystals can indeed be manufactured safely and reliably! Now all we need to do is build the machine..." This is also not entirely their first encounter with shaman. (They probably expected him to die, but escape would have been predictable also.) This may simply confirm their prior experience that shaman have similar limitations (range importantly) to crystal devices, and those handy dandy rifles they're getting will eliminate their potency.

Personally I'm more worried about how this (IMHO) foolish raid on the briton ship will go. If the britons get one sniff that this wasn't an accident it could go very badly for the arcan war effort. Clover was wrong when she said there are no rules in war. One of the big ones is not opening up a second front if you can avoid it; especially when you're already heavily committed to a prior engagement; and doubly especially with a nation with significantly more advanced military technology. I know Fel has said that the spirits believe they understand technology, and they might. A little. I'm just not sure they understand it nearly as well as they think they do.

Just think your some Loreguard grunt or low level Loremaster

Speaking of low ranking... What the hell were those two incompetents doing in charge of Kyven's interrogation?

here the Masked, a group they haven’t been able to suppress and it’s being run by Arcans.

Probably a rumor that wouldn't get very far; except as a joke.

small group on top, not realizing the Arcans don’t think that way.

I was under the impression the Haven council is led around by the nose by a relatively small number of spirits. Or maybe that's just my political opinion...

The rest of your speculation sounds plausible, but it depends on how competent, professional, and objective the loremaster military is. Fel seems to be flip/flopping on that issue of late.

[boballab]

The thing about the Loremasters is that they are not the Monolithic organization they seem to be. We have seen at the top of the Loremaster food chain that there is various power blocks, councils and groups. Each has their own view point (probably based just like we see in human politics today) based on how they amassed there own political power. Each one will come to different conclusions, each will plot their own path for personal power. Then on the other hand you have Loremasters like Yoris and the guy the guy currently posted in Atan. They were both older and seemed to be what the Loremasters were supposed to be: People looking to help the people of Noraam. Remember the Loremasters started out as academics looking to help bring humanity out of barbarism that existed after the great war, now they are controlled by the worst sort of fanatics and political hacks. Why do you think Yoris has not risen up into the hierarchy? He isn't a fanatic and he isn't interested in personal power either. As to leaks of what happened in that interrorigation, there was a lot of low level guards there and we know they will talk. So rumors will start there, then you know some Loreguard General trying to show off his importance will talk to an aide and take it from there. Remember Kyven learned alot from the Loreguard by just listening in the bars od Avannar, they can't get the concept of Opsec down.