Minaryth Blue revisited

[Joerg]

The revised hardback edition of King of Sartar has made a few small alterations to the Events of My Life list, including mentions of the Great Winter that were absent from the softcover edition.

It deviates from the information given in the Adventure Book - Minaryth claims that Fistivos, Colymar king before Kallai, died fighting Telmori, whereas the Adventure Book credits Kallai with killing is predecessor. Now what business would a Colymar king have fighting Telmori in1603? The closest ones would be in Boldhome, as part of the royal bodyguard, although the absence of a Prince might mean that the Boldhome contingent was absent prior to the discovery of Temertain. It surely would have been a bad environment for Goram Whitefang, son-in-law of Terasarin and connected to the House of Sartar through his grandmother Onelisin.

(There is a remote possibility that Fistivos may have been involved in the assassination of Terasarin's daughter Tarkala, or have given shelter to one of the assassins, and that Kallai assisted Goram in taking revenge. Fistivos' Seven Brothers clan is absent from the Colymar clan list, and his appearance so shortly after the Lunar conquest is suspicious, too.)

One entry I wondered about is "1607: Clearwine burned." This is in the middle of King Kallai's reign, with no mention in the Colymar King list or the history of Clearwine.

"Minara killed" (same year). There are a few deaths mentioned in the list, probably kinsfolk of the author, but he also keeps track of royalty. Minara probably is a fairly common name in Sartar. But this could also be the daughter of Onelisin, born in 1639 as the presumably youngest of the triplets born to Onelisin and Jostharl.

Another thing that is somewhat strange that Minaryth keeps accompanying his mother through her marriage to the Orlmarth. How does a Hiording woman end up in Tarkalor's Keep with a son not claimed by either the local clan or the Hiordings, or if he remained Hiording, why did he grow up among the Orlmarth and in those many places?

 

[scott-martin]

22 minutes ago, Joerg said:

why did he grow up among the Orlmarth and in those many places?

The "way with words" and cascade of sometimes factually incorrect or simply extraneous detail always makes me suspect this is a cipher document where the key has been lost. Of course this doesn't preclude any of the anecdotes from having at least symbolic importance . . . his itinerant and often fatherless boyhood feels authentic for an obscure prophetic figure, maybe one raised by a religiously atavistic mother or wanting to attribute magical significance to her life.

Blue may be a Matthias Stormberger figure. Which again doesn't preclude historical truth but forces us to take a slightly more cautious approach.

For all I know the entire Minaryth/a/ius complex is a complicated steganographic hoax. Who, what or where is Estkepo really? 

[Joerg]

The prophecies are made about M.Blue, not by him. The prophecy that none of his children will read doesn't really foresage the Illiteracy Era, as only Karendra doesn't die out of the four children born to him.

Estkepo is only mentioned in a Fourth Age document, which makes it rather unrelated to anything we know.

Unlike the report on the trolls with its "subtly hidden" secret message in bold typeface, this text is sigificantly shorter, has no obvious markings (which may admittedly have been lost in copying), and is dated to the eve of Phargentes' invasion of Dragon Pass.

 

The 1629 events are interesting, too. "We kill Dinacoli." They have always been a problematic tribe, and were part of the anti-Telmori alliance that became the Jonstown confederation (of six tribes if you include Telmori and Torkani).

"Telmori promise revenge, quarrel with Argrath." This is cryptic.

Revenge sounds like the wolf-skinning already has been done.

Do the Telmori quarrel with Argrath, or do Minaryth's company (that of Asborn Fourborn) or the Wolfrunners quarrel with Argrath after the wolf-skinning?