[ROTT SPOILERS] Volume 2, Chapter 3

[whataliethatwas]

I have finished Return of the Thief, and really need to process this section from V2Ch3.  I was commenting on the main book discussion thread and realized my question was rapidly becoming too unwieldy for a simple discussion and decided to post as a separate thread.  I have tried this multiple times and haven't been able to get a single cut to work

Comments

[checkers65477]

It was a confusing scene to me, too. Here's what I thought. Sounis (before the time period of TT) tried to get Helen to marry him by threatening to give the stone to Gen, sending Eddis into chaos and maybe civil war. It was the Magus's idea ("they both knew the mastermind of his uncle's plan.") Sounis knew enough citizens of Eddis didn't feel a woman should rule that she couldn't be certain of her holding onto the throne if that happened. Plus, everyone knew that the Thief was not supposed to rule; that was totally against the rules of generations of Eddisians. The magus didn't know Gen back then and didn't think he'd pass the stone along to Helen.

As far as the rumors of infidelity by Gen's mother and Helen's mother--it says "My father who was Eddis and Gen's father paid a fortune to the temple priests THAT YEAR to ensure THEIR SONS' naming ceremonies were uncontested." So it wasn't Helen's or Gen's legitimacy that was being questioned, it was their older brothers, born in the same year. Helen isn't a son, and she and Gen weren't born in the same year, so I assumed it was their brothers.