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[SPOILER] Click here to see my commentary for this page!
My comment for this page from Gaia: sic mundus creatus est:Lilith is casting the same spell at Eldor and her friends. I thought this was clear, but some readers thought she cast different spells because the spell is shown at an earlier state in the second panel.
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He could have averted all this. Viviana practically told him to explain and go over his math, during the room at he top of the castle tower scenes. What would have happened if Eldor had used Viviana to double check his work, or what would have happened if his goals had been explained fully? We never find out what Eldor wanted out of the TSS. What would have been answered if Gaia had had a sequel instead of Scarlet C. and the Machine of Eternal Summer? Or Sandra and Woo had continued?
Eldor wanted the time suspension shield gone so that Bhaal be able to gain control of the Spiritstream (see WBH 175). Whether that would have been beneficial to Eldor (either directly or morally) or Bhaal had just schwindled him for power is an open question and this ambiguity is part of the story.
I think is pretty obvious Bhaal is manipulating Eldor, he is doing the dirty work or simply the work Bhaal can’t do. Eldor’s reaction to Vivi’s objections make it clear. On the other hand, it is plausible much (even all) of Eldor power come from Bhaal, so actually he has no chance (for instance, his extended lifetime). In a world where Bhaal had regained the power presumably lost, surely Eldor would have a role even more subordinate than he has now (or would be dismissed entirely).
I mean, Eldor simply cannot admit an error. The task on him exceeds by far his abilities. Bhaal couldn’t find anyone better (and surely is as bungler as Eldor, at the end of the day Gaia scammed Bhaal).
Anyway, he is my favorite character. He is the most complex, and the most real, and the most human with his flaws and errors. For instance, he never lies, he says half-truths, sure, but I couldn’t detect any open lie from him. At many points early in the story you really doubt on what side the guy is.
@ Poyntre:
I think it is really unfair to Eldor to just dismiss him as having “no chance” or being “just a bungler.” He is an incredibly competent, perhaps even brilliant, individual. He achieved a massive amount. If he had set himself to pretty much any task, like merely ruling the world or setting up his own dominion or something, he would have had a very high chance of succeeding. He very nearly succeeded in this task. Having a few parts fail or not go as planned is just the way things go. Nothing ever goes perfectly according to plan. It’s probably actually a testament to him that he can have a number of things fail or go unexpectedly and still be in a position to achieve his ultimate aim.
It’s unfortunate for him that his plan needed a critical piece in order to succeed, and that critical piece involved creating someone with not just the raw talent to rival himself, but actually needed that potential refined and trained. He just succeeded a bit better than he knew, and, well, that piece has a will of their own, and are not terribly fond of the idea of dying or having their friends die… If he could have avoided the need to create, shape, or train Lilith, I suspect he would have won.
As an aside, I also find it impressive how loyal his people are to him. There’s virtually no fear there. Random people that come across as being, at most “senior technicians” have the confidence to report both failures and successes without fear of retribution, and even to gently chide him for not dedicating more of his time and skill to the project. They actually give the impression of enjoying their work and being committed to doing a good job, and being generally good people. Well, for the most part, anyway. Some exceptions, but those exceptions generally don’t seem like very important members of the overall organization… In any case, he seems to have created a really positive work environment, and that’s particularly admirable.
@ Zitchas:
Being a bungler is also, like many things, a matter of scale. And since we are human beings, there is always a point of no return where any temptative makes all of us bunglers. So the issue is identify that point, Eldor knows it perfectly, he trespassed it and left behind, in fact, far far far away. There is a lot of actual human historic facts which are essentially what I am describing. In fact, History *is* what I am describing, wirh the critical difference that in actual History, usually there is no chance to avoid trespassing that point and/or the point is invisible (even unknown) for those ones leaving it behind. That’s what make things in our time so different in comparison with the past, we currently know, if not all of us some of us, when for instance the viking colonizers deforested Iceland, destroyed the island making it a poor land for the centuries to come, they didn’t know what they were doing, they even hadn’t a chance, and yet the island was colonized. If they knew, things would have been very different. That point I am talking about is farther today than it was in the past. And we are still trespassing.
About loyalty, it is also a matter of PoV. That guy punished worse-than-death by Eldor said about “unloyals” that there were far too many. Loyalty is a composed word, it may mean love, fear, or both (and many more things). Not necessarily fear of being punished, but fear of a unknown future. For instance, not trespassing points of no return, when actually they are being trespassed.