Mystic Ward
16 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
I'm sure Glynn is the unraveller and Ember is the other whatsit that is mentioned in the song, can't remember what the title was. Ember is there to confuse the chaos spirit so Glynn can rescue Lanalor, then hopefully slap himout for being a prat.
Heheh, Deb. I think that's actually what her quest is really about, slapping Lanalor. :P
My theory was always that Glynn was the Unraveller and Ember the Soulsaver (is that the name you were thinking of, Deb?), because Ember just seems too obvious as the Unraveller and it's never outright said that she was, just implied. To me it also just seems to fit better.
But when I reread Darksong recently there was a segue chapter where Ronaall is thinking about Ember and it actually says something like (haven't got the book to quote, sorry) "the irony was that, to save his soul, Lanalor had had to draw attention away from the the other sister by making the Unraveller the focus", or something. Which I read as meaning that Ember is the Unraveller, but perhaps the role of the Unraveller is not as important as everyone on Keltor thinks? Perhaps the Soulsaver (Glynn?) is actually the one who'll undo most of the wrongs, while the Unraveller just does the one task of freeing the Unykorn.
Or...I don't know, the question of who the Unraveller is always gets me confused. :P But I gather that, as Deb said, Glynn is meant to save Lanalor's soul (hence Soulsaver) and Ember has to draw attention away from her, thus the reason she's always been sort of hidden away from the spotlight in her life.
Not sure that makes sense. And again, sorry if this has already been discussed.
Hi - I just finished reading Darksong (last might about 3am). Lol I now join the long and tedious wait for yet another "next book" in an unfinished book series. This thread looks a bit dusty - I guess I'm late in finding these books :D
I assume Darksong spoilers are allowed in this thread.
I always assumed that Solen was the Shadowman but I'm not as sure anymore. Does IC like to go for the obvious or does she like to give misleading clues? I cant really think who it might be - Lev maybe?
I think Bleyd is going to fall in love with Hella (and vice versa).
I had the impression that Tarsin was being fed something which made him a bit mad. Lol I could never quite understand why he never seemed to wash though.
I always saw the Unykorn as a symbol. Not that the unraveller would literally free a unicorn but that the unraveller would release(bring)....hope...compassion....love....empathy into the world and so would provide the needed balance to counter Chaos.
Maybe the Unykorn on Keltor will be real but the effect on our world will be an increase in the good feelings which are desperately needed to rebalance Chaos (despair, loss of faith, selfishness).
I always guessed that the halfman was from our world.
I think that Ember will eventually die.
I hope that there are still some people around to talk about these books with me! :)
Mystic Guilden
15 years ago
Mystic Guilden
Mage
Ok, reviving an old thread once again...and probably re-hashing old theories, but I am building up info to add to the encyclopedia and wanted to get my theories out of my brain :P
Since my last post in here I have changed oppinion. Ember is the Unraveller, the book pretty much says it stright out towards the end of Darksong. It then goes on to alude to the fact that Ember is sheilding her "stronger twin" who has another task to forfill. I also dont think that they are exactly one in the same, as the book states "The Unraveller and its sister" which indicates they do not quite interchange rolls.
Where the Legendsong says 'Without darkfall mark' I dont think it necissarily refers to silverblindness. In Embers false vision (Made up to implicate Alene), she mentions seeing (not a direct quote) a forehead with blue markins...meaning a Soulweaver was involved. Ember doesnt have those markings....and even with a silvernblind eye, without having both eyes that way, she is merely marked a stranger and not a Soulweaver.
So that counters all my previous arguments :P
I dont think that Tarsin is the Shadowman. One of the 6 gates of Madness is Jealousy...and someone says something (around the time Glynn goes to ivoke the darklin for Tarsin) that the Holder began his downward spiral after seeing a vision of Alene (whom he loved) with Argon White-Cloak. This makes me believe he is truly mad, and open to the Chaos Spirit, which manipulates him, but that he still retains some piece of the man he once was...which is still in line with why he was chosed Holder.
I am curious about Solen. I dont think he is the Shadowman either, because we know that darklin visions are not always true, and that the future re-shapes itself constantly. But another of the 6 gates to Madness is Love. His love for Glynn is so strong and steadfast that I cannot help but feel that the goodness wont last, and something will occur to dissolve it, whether its the death of one of them, or some other form of parting :(
The Unraveller/Soulsaver is contuniually mulled over. I wondered at one point if perhaps as well as her task set by Ronaall (who is Lanalor) Glynn must also save Embers soul.
Here is why i thought it:
Ember is fighting a tumor that many have previously said is like Chaos. Indeed her indifference is an opening to the Chaos spirirt. This stems from fear which is another of the 6 gates of Madness. Glynn wished that Ember would forget she was dying. During the time Ember suffered amnesia, she was free of "Dark Ember" only feeling her as a niggling of her past life. When Ember recalls her life, some of her despair is sapped by the realisation that her twin sister is on Keltor and is facing a possibly death on a cliff. She klings both to the possibility of healing on Darkfall and the thought that she needs to help her twin. Darksong states (sorry, I lost my page reference) that the Unraveller (who is Ember I'm sure) will have to fight Chaos if she is to be healed and free the Unykorn. As she is so close to Myrmidor and Darkfall, I can only think that she has to fight off Dark Ember, and the indifference the fear creates in her. Holding on to the image of her twin fall from a cliff could surely be a talisman to help her fight off Chaos from taking her. I think Ember overhears in a vision someone talking about the White-Cloak that tried to heal her. It said something along the lines of her charkra being like a swirling vortex pulling him (the white cloak) in and any liitle energy he gave was sucked up by it. This leads me to believe Chaos is very deffinately within Ember.
I think by their being twins, brings the two hero's together into one....for as Ember sheilds Glynn, doesnt it seem as if only one does the work that infact two are completeing? Although I think Glynn has the more important roll of the two...hence why she is being sheilded by not only Ronaall, but Wind as well.
15 years ago
Sun Jul 20 2008, 05:22pm
lol, everyone wants to believe that Glynn is the one who saves everyone, because she is the best character. I really don't like Ember. I find her irritating, cold, weak... the list could go on. Glynn is by far the superior of the two, but that doesn't mean that she is the one who plays the most important role.
I agree that Glynn is the Soulsaver and Ember is the Unraveller. I think that the Soulsaver's role will be more important than anyone suspects, but I also think that Ember will be the one to free the Unicorn from its prison.
I like the idea that Ember will have to defeat Dark Ember.
I also think that Solen is the Shadowman, although perhaps that is too obvious. :P
True that - then again, fantasy is about escapism...if we wanted to read about weak cowards we would resort to realist fiction! ;P nah, just jokes....I actually find Ember's growth really interesting. Like you guys say, she is nowhere near as brave as Glynn but the fact that she is scared out of her mind and is still pushing herself along is kinda commendable. Plus, she is becoming less self-obsessed - it seems the amnesia did her some good! :-?
Thats true. She is a lot better then she used to be
In the Legendsong, there is mention of things called Powerstones, which Lanalor gave his sister Alyda until they were needed, and I don't think it means like Darklins or things like that. Maybe these powerstones are a part of the Unravellers journey (sorry if someone's already said this, I didn't have time to read all of this thread).
In a complete rehash of what everyone has pointed out at one time or another, I really don't think that Solen is the Shadowman- just because the Draaka said to the prime that she should look on her master doesn't mean that the Solen is the Shadowman, he could be the second in command- lieutenant kind of person. As others have pointed out, it is unlikley most people would have any exposure to the real Shadowman- I am thinking Ranoulf was a good candidate especially given his ship's name etc...
I also think that the point about Glynn being the soulsaver in the sense of saving Ember's soul is a good notion. For her to restore harmony to Keltor, she really couldn't be the cold, dark Ember she was when she crossed, her spiritual growth may reflect the growth and recovery of Keltor as it fights Chaos...
okay off topic but the Greeks had a chaos
14 years ago
Fri Dec 11 2009, 05:53pm
Glynn is a wonderful character. She is strong (mentally and physically) and selfless. I know a couple of people on here don't really take to Ember, but I love her character. She is depicted beautifully.
It is hard not to be self-obsessed when you have a chronic illness and are in pain most of the time. However, her overcoming of "Dark Ember" shows real strength.
Did anyone else cry whenthe fienna babies died on the ship? Maybe I am just a softie :D
That scene when Solen and Glynn were united by their link with the She-Fienna was amazing and powerful. It stays with me today.
Oh, Una I bawled my eyes out at that part! It was so terribly sad.
I agree with you, both of the girls are incredibly strong. It just takes a little time - and forgetting - for Ember to show her strength again. Sort of...when she wasn't weighed down by the possibility of dying, she became herself again.
I found myself identifying with Glynn in Darkfall, enjoying her story more so there, and Ember's in Darksong. I was fascinated by Ember's sort of transformation, the battle with Dark Ember, and how she started enjoying performing.
I am glad I am not the only one who cried at that part of the story! I just realised that I should have put a spoiler alert on my previous post. Oops! I will fix that after this post.
Glynn really inspires me :) I love how she is a female character whose main strengths aren't traditional feminine traits. For example, she is physically powerful and athletic and is very brave under some horrifying circumcumstances.
I also love how Ember is quite happy in her own (albeit 'black') world. I think everyone can, at some time, relate to that feeling of contentment in isolation.
I have read Darksong and Darkfall twice already and I am planning on reading them a third time right before I read Darkbane. But, I fear that won't be for a while! But, that is okay because, in a way, I think it will be sad to say farewell to the characters of Keltor (especially Solen |:( |;))
Much as I enjoy the main part of the story in Keltor, I also love trying to piece together all of the clues and signs shown back in our world.
I keep trying to work out how the comet, the concert and Ember's songs will fit together for the finale. My idea is that the comet represents the return of the Unykorn (or possibly the arrival of the Unraveller/Soulsaver). The concert would be a way of bringing everyone together and spreading what happens when Ember's songs break the hold of Chaos.
There are two ways I imagine this happening. The first, and most likely, is that the clarinet player goes against his instructions and emphasises the golden thread of Song in Ember's music. The rest of the band would be unable to stop half way through and would then also be affected. This would also help explain why he was prompted (by Wind?) into officially joining the band.
I briefly toyed with the idea that perhaps Ember herself would play at the concert. I thought that as par of her battle with Chaos, she appears onstage as some sort of ghost or reflection and sings the song the old greek man was playing just before they first crossed over into Keltor. I'm not sure how this would work or fit in with the story, but it's a nice idea. ;P It is even possible that this song would help wake Lanlor and bring him home; but that might sort of defeat the purpose of the Soulsaver.
I like those theories, Bibliophile :) I 100% agree with you about the clarient player (a lovely character). Ember's music gave him some hope in a seemingly hopeless world.
I cannot wait to see how all of these things tie together in Darkbane.
The comet is an interesting mystery. I also think it is a symbol of the connection between the two worlds. Comets are beautiful, yet slightly ominous. And, this is exactly how IC has portrayed it in the books. I am not sure if the comet means good or bad things for Earth/Keltor
On another note, do you get the feeling that IC sees so many things wrong with society today? I am just thinking of this one passage, for example, (wish I could find it) where she says that love has been destroyed by the commoditisation of the body (or something like that).
It's those sorts of insights that make me so attached to the Legendsong series. I feel as if IC is trying to say that while humans are capable of good and evil - evil is the more prominent character.
Mystic Ward
14 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
I love that this thread has had a few visits but I think I need a re-read before I make any useful comments. I was just thinking how much fun it will be to speculate closer to the release of Darkbane after we've run out of things to say about Obercrons.
Most people here and the Draaka for that matter, seem to take Glynn's betrayal of Ember/Unraveller literally. But what if it's just in a sense that Glynn does something ... well bad.
Ronaall says to her that she's going to betray everyone, or something along those lines anyway. And she'll most likely have to save Lanalor's soul if Ember fails. I'm thinking that there's going to be a lot of foul play involved in that since Lanalor/Ronaall will be breaking his contract with the Chaos spirit; and Keltans take their contracts pretty seriously. So she betrays Ember because she does something wrong, whilst Ember really needs her to remain stable for her.
13 years ago
Fri Nov 05 2010, 01:27pm
I've just started reading Darkfall again (for the ? th time) and had an idea. What if Ember gets to Darkfall and discovers the Signe isn't able to heal her after all, only slow her dieing? I'm thinking that perhaps it is at this time she completes her quest as Unraveller (hence "lives yet sings the deathsong", alive but on the brink of death) and frees the Unykorn. In gratitude, it then heals her as it once healed Shennavyre and perhaps takes her as a new companion. It would be ironic that she spends all of Darksong racing to get to Darkfall, and using the promise of Signe to hold off Dark Ember, only to find that she can't be healed.
This is my theory. I believe that Glynn is the watcher and Ember is the unraveller. BUt I also believe that Solen and Wind are related somehow. I can't wait for Darkbane. Mind you I haven't read the books seven times. Only twice. If I get bored, I might have to read them a third time.
12 years ago
Thu Jul 07 2011, 01:48pm
In my mind, I am playing with the idea that Glynn is somehow connected to Lanalor's sister.. Glynn being the soul saver is somehow connected to Lanalor's body.
12 years ago
Wed Jul 27 2011, 03:33pm
Some half baked thoughts-
There are many connections between the series and the Tao. Feng sui is the balancing of forces to achieve positive Qi.
In english it translates to "wind-water";
i.e. "Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water".
Wind is a very yang character... his golden arrow points upwards very high, indeed it seems lanalor's portals open themselves up to those who have that 'yang' yearning quality... which is balanced out by the still water. Interesting how Wind commits "suicide" in the water. Wind and water... feng sui... the balancing of opposites is all throughout the novel.. chaos and harmony... glynn and ember... love and madness... two different worlds... the watcher and the void spirit... yin and yang. Opposite things define each other... if you don't have one, you don't have the other either. Which is why Glynn believes if her sister dies she will too. Glynn understands it without knowing it. Which reminds me that Glynn's path and self development are focal to the evolving story.