I keep wondering what sort of King Liam will be. :) His behavior at the Killijalay suggests he can definitely rise to an occasion. And ordering his uncle impaled shows that he can muster the necessary ruthlessness. His time in Gwynedd may temper that, but I wonder if the friendship will continue, or if old hostilities and suspicions are too deeply rooted in both Gwynedd and Torenth. Of course, rid of Mahael, Teymuraz and Morag, Liam has a better chance to do things his way. But his younger brother Ronal may still represent a future threat. Perhaps he's the next Wencit of Torenth, percolating along right under Liam's nose. And of course, Teymuraz isn't dead, he's still out there capable of making trouble...
Melissa
With Teymuraz killing Morag near the end of KKB, I'm not sure how much of a future threat she would have made. Morag would still need to be watched, but she did seem to soften somewhat in her preception of Kelson. She might have eventually become an ally, albeit one to be watched. With Teymuraz on the run, Ronal would have to be mentored by Matyas to try to keep his nephew as an ally.
I haven't read that part again, so I can't say.
Maybe, we have to push KK to write a sequel ;D
Are you absolutely certain that she isn't already planning the sequel? ;D But then. I could probably read the Deryni books for the rest of my life. LOL
Steffy
I think she has said somewhere that she currently has no plans to write anything past KKB (although I'm sure that could change if an interesting idea presented itself).
Codex 2 does offer some hints what the future may hold (noncanonically). According to the timeline, in November 1128 the betrothal of Liam and Eirian is announced (marriage to occur in 1138) and also that of Eirian's brother Payne to Liam's sister Stanisha (marriage to occur in 1136). The alliances are celebrated in both countries. Seems to bode well for Liam maintaining close ties with his foster family. And seeing how Kelson risked his own life to defend Liam may have prompted re-evaluations by more people than just Morag. I think Liam learned a lot of valuable lessons from Kelson and Nigel and will work to apply them. Hopefully, he won't try to move faster than his people will be able to accept--I'd hate for him to meet the same fate as King Javan.
I hope he won't, too Braniana.
Alas, I don't think KK is currently planning any novels to fall after KKB in the Chronology. I'm actually less curious about Teymuraz than I am about Ronal Rurik. Will he and Liam be friends and allies as well as brothers? Katherine has dropped hints that the Furstans as a family are more in the mode of "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" rather than the happy wholesome family. Suspicion, rivalry, and having to fend off a challenge for his crown from his younger brother in a decade or two could make Liam's life very....interesting. Especially if Ronal feels that Liam is too friendly with the Haldanes to be a proper Furstan King....
Melissa
Count me as another who thinks that she has left too many threads dangling to abandon this time frame entirely.
Doesn't the Codex have Teymuraz heading to Byzantium, marrying, and producing heirs? Could it be that Byzantium might head west in the future, with the added complication that Torenth follows the same version of Christianity, while Gwynedd doesn't? There could be the seeds of a civil war in Torenth, down the road...
Quote from: BalanceTheEnergies on January 31, 2009, 07:28:43 PM
Doesn't the Codex have Teymuraz heading to Byzantium, marrying, and producing heirs? Could it be that Byzantium might head west in the future, with the added complication that Torenth follows the same version of Christianity, while Gwynedd doesn't? There could be the seeds of a civil war in Torenth, down the road...
It's interesting that the
Codex has both Kelson and Teymuraz becoming first-time fathers of pairs of twins; Kelson having two daughters and Teymuraz having two sons, within just a few months of each other. I wonder at the symmetry of those births. Could there be a marriage between a daughter of Kelson and a son of Teymuraz some 18 or 20 years later?
I think the events of
King Kelson's Bride, and the Torenthi/Haldane betrothals mentioned in the Codex as shortly following (Liam-Lajos & Eirian, Payne & Stanisha), do presage at least five years of peace. Meara is subdued, there are no more rebellious heirs of the original princely line (Brecon and Noelie seem more than happy to stay quiet and loyal to the Haldane Crown, especially with Noelie marrying a Haldane); the young king of Torenth and his favorite uncle have become friends of Kelson & Co. It will take at least a few years for Teymuraz to foment any wars against the Torenthi/Gwyneddian status quo; so our heroes can all sit back and enjoy a watchful peace - for now. But I definitely believe that Teymuraz will be back with a vengeance, aiming to kill Matyas and Liam-Lajos. And they should all watch out for little Ronal Rurik, who had no reason to like Kelson, especially since Kelson killed his dad; and who seemed to be partial to Teymuraz among his uncles (though that could change if he understands that Teymuraz murdered his mom). Fortunately, R.R. is very young; if Matyas and especially Liam-Lajos handle the boy carefully, he could grow up to be his older brother's loyal vassal rather than a would-be supplanter...
I feel sorry for both Eirian and Stanisha, though, who will be swapped out to their lands' traditional enemy, even if that enemy has become an official ally; there will be some hard feelings against them.
I wrote a fanfic on the Knighting of Liam where I presented my take on the answers to some of the questions in this thread, especially Ronal Rurik and his future and the evolution of relations between Torenth and Gwynedd. Hope some of you will read it and let me know what you think. DFK