Who: Bleys.
Then came a fiery bearded, flame-crowned man, dressed all in red and orange, mainly of silk stuff, and he held a sword in his right hand and a glass of wine in his left, and the devil himself danced behind his eyes, as blue as Flora's, or Eric's. His chin was slight, but the beard covered it. His sword was inlaid with an elaborate filigree of a golden color. He wore two huge rings on his right hand and one on his left: an emerald, a ruby, and a sapphire, respectively. This, I knew, was Bleys.
Why: Ambition and solidarity with his full siblings.
How: What would we have to change to make Bleys the villain?
We’d have to implicate him in a conspiracy to overthrow Oberon. Let’s say he, along with Brand and Fiona, made a pact with dark forces from the Courts of Chaos to that end.
...
What’s that you say? That already happened?
Oh, in that case, how about a scenario where he manipulates Corwin shamelessly, with the intent of throwing him under the bus the moment he stops being useful?
"You are a fool," [Julian] finally said. "You were a tool from the very beginning. They used you to force our hand, and either way you lost. If that half-assed attack of Bleys's had somehow succeeded, you wouldn't have lasted long enough to draw a deep breath. If it failed, as it did, Bleys disappeared, as he did, leaving you with your life forfeit for attempted usurpation. You had served your purpose and you had to die…”
For such a smart guy, Corwin’s kind of a sucker where Bleys is concerned.
"Bleys," she repeated, and Bleys, I said to myself inside my head, Bleys. I like you. I forget why, and I know there are reasons why I shouldn't-but I like you. I know it.
The fact of the matter is that we would have to change almost nothing. Assume that Fiona’s contrition later in the series is nothing more than a matter of self-preservation. She and Bleys were in it just as deep as Brand. We could suppose that Brand’s claim that he was imprisoned because he was the one who tried to back out of the conspiracy is true, but
Bleys, you are still a figure clad in light to me—valiant, exuberant and rash. For the first, my respect, for the second, my smile. And the last seems to have at least been tempered in recent times. Good. Stay away from conspiracies in the future. They do not suit you well.
What’s that you say? That already happened?
Oh, in that case, how about a scenario where he manipulates Corwin shamelessly, with the intent of throwing him under the bus the moment he stops being useful?
"You are a fool," [Julian] finally said. "You were a tool from the very beginning. They used you to force our hand, and either way you lost. If that half-assed attack of Bleys's had somehow succeeded, you wouldn't have lasted long enough to draw a deep breath. If it failed, as it did, Bleys disappeared, as he did, leaving you with your life forfeit for attempted usurpation. You had served your purpose and you had to die…”
For such a smart guy, Corwin’s kind of a sucker where Bleys is concerned.
"Bleys," she repeated, and Bleys, I said to myself inside my head, Bleys. I like you. I forget why, and I know there are reasons why I shouldn't-but I like you. I know it.
The fact of the matter is that we would have to change almost nothing. Assume that Fiona’s contrition later in the series is nothing more than a matter of self-preservation. She and Bleys were in it just as deep as Brand. We could suppose that Brand’s claim that he was imprisoned because he was the one who tried to back out of the conspiracy is true, but
Bleys, you are still a figure clad in light to me—valiant, exuberant and rash. For the first, my respect, for the second, my smile. And the last seems to have at least been tempered in recent times. Good. Stay away from conspiracies in the future. They do not suit you well.
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ReplyDeleteWas just looking for the text describing Bleys' trump and stumble on this What If. I like it! =3
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