#caurib

[mask131]

Shit, I utterly missed a Tolkien parallel in "The First Law".

No need to tell people Bayaz is an evil Gandalf, obviously. And an evil version of all the Gandalf copies in Tolkienesque fantasy, and of the pop culture 20th century Merlin, etc etc... Khalul, as the rival of Bayaz and the distant antagonist of the first trilogy, can stand-in as the Saruman equivalent somehow (but it is more of the "rival, evil wizard" type derived from Saruman). And I posted before about how the "third wizard" type present in Tolkienesque fantasy, derived from Radagast in the original LotR/Hobbit books, was split between Yulwei and Zacharus.

But I utterly failed to connect the dots when it came to the other and more obvious Saruman parallel in "The First Law"... Caurib. I missed her because I was focusing so much on the Magi themselves, but Caurib and her Golden Voice is literaly Saruman and his voice in the original book(s). The parallel gets even more obvious in the sequel trilogy, where Caurib's new, lower status after her defeat recalls Saruman's new life and identity after being defeated...

[xillionart]

"A sorceress said she could make me more ordinary, or she could make me less. Guess which I chose?"

6 Days Until The Wisdom of the Crowds

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Front: Rikke, Jurand

Background: Isern-i-Phail, Caul Shivers, Caurib

[nocontextfirstlawtrilogy]

'Gugh!' said Grim, throwing his bow into the corner of the room as if he'd suddenly realised he had a turd in his hand, then staring down at the arrow, baffled.

— Last Argument Of Kings, Joe Abercrombie

[xserpx]

"I am not your mentor, girl, nor your teacher, nor your wise grandmother. You want me to give you the rules, but there are no rules. You are like those old fools the magi, who want to chain the world with laws. You are like those old fools the Eaters, who want to cage the world with prayers. You are like these new fools who want to bind the world with iron and make it obey. The Long Eye is magic, girl!" She raised her withered arms, screaming it towards the mountains. "It is the devil that cannot be caged! It is the demon that breaks all chains!" She let her arms drop. "If there were rules it would not be magic."

The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie

[random-jot]

Reading Rikke’s chapters in The Trouble With Peace like