TIG: Prologue

[David Sven]

Having read the book, I've gone back to the beginning and just thought I'd include a couple of quotes others may want to keep in mind as they read on. I found these few to be particularly thought provoking considering what follows.

"There was singing on the other side of the river too, he noted, listening to the enemy soldiers north of them. It was curiously hard to impute any absolute sense of evil to those harmonizing voices, or to hate them quite as blindly as being a soldier seemed to require."

Its initially easy to dismiss the enemy as being one dimensional - purely evil. Do Americans consider themselves evil for dispossessing the Indian nation. Or the Australians for dispossessing the Aborigines? We might say, "Oh that was wrong." But do when then right the wrong by packing up and going home and giving the land back - all of it? If not, does that make us as guilty as those who went before us?


‘They are good boys, both of them,’ Saevar offered. ‘I was thinking that I’ve never sculpted either of them.’
‘I’m sorry for that,’ Valentin said. ‘If anything lasts for any length of time after us it will be art such as yours. Our books and music, Orsaria’s green and white tower in Avalle.’

and

‘Oh, my friend,’ the Prince said, at length, ‘I think I knew you would say that. Oh, our pride. Our terrible pride. Will they remember that most about us, do you think, after we are gone?’
‘Perhaps,’ Saevar said. ‘But they will remember. The one thing we know with certainty is that they will remember us. Here in the peninsula, and in Ygrath, and Quileia, even west over the sea, in Barbadior and its Empire. We will leave a name.’

The consolation here for facing certain annihilation is that their memory will live on, not just in their children but in the minds of everyone of the Palm. They will make a statement that will outlive them.
Brandin's answer to this consolation therefore is particularly poignant.

And then

Our children’s children will remember us, and will not lie tamely under the yoke.

We would certainly hope not otherwise it would be a very depressing story indeed.


I like how the theme of this whole story is masterfully setup in the prologue. Easy to miss and dismiss the first time around.

[Stuart]

"The consolation here for facing certain annihilation is that their memory will live on, not just in their children but in the minds of everyone of the Palm. They will make a statement that will outlive them. Brandin's answer to this consolation therefore is particularly poignant."

It also sets up the points that the people of the Palm don't even realize the level to which they are outmatched (which comes up again later in the book), and how unprecedented and shocking the erasing of Tigana is.

Saevar and Valentin fully expect to lose the war, but they don't imagine what we already know (from the book blurb) that Brandin will do afterwards with his magical and military power - it is something that's not just outside their experience but beyond their ability to conceive. They are like 19th Century generals up against an enemy that actually has aircraft, and is going to firebomb their cities.

[Nimrod]

As I have mentioned before, I loved the pro-logue, it got me hooked right from the start!

One particular part I loved was that it was set in the after-match of the initial battle that Tigana had won, and it was right on the eve of the battle that started it all.

I kept thinking that if Tigana ever became a movie, this would be the same way it would start. In fact, through the reading of the book, I kept visualizing the world around the characters and it felt as if I had a movie playing in my head.
probably something I want to discuss later, as soon as the Tigana folder moves up to the main discussions.

[Tora]

Thanks for posting this. I listened to the audio, which is great, and I love audiobooks, but one downside to audio is not being able to easily go back and find specific spots in the book.

The prologue is great for its own sake--maybe a little too good, because it's hard not to wish we'd see more of the sculptor and the prince. But seeing how he set up the rest of the story, and the painful irony of their comments before the battle, makes it that much better.

[Scott]

Great post, thanks for this. Going back to the prologue is extremely fun. I re-read the thing after I finished chapter five. So many things I didn't pick up in my first reading.

[Vance]

Yes, I would have missed this as well!

[Charles]

I was aware of some of the plot before I picked the book up so I was aware of these as I read through the prologue the first time. I do like the use of irony though.