OOTS #1121 - The Discussion Thread

[Fish]

I've been making a list of all the details I could extract from Durkon's flashbacks. I'm going to put them in a spoiler box, not because they're spoilers, but because seeing them all in one place might give people ideas about the plot that they'd rather not imagine just yet.

Details are listed chronologically, as best as I can work out.

Spoiler

Show

After they are married, Tenrin asks Sigdi if she'd like to meet under "Thor's starry sky."
Sigdi prepares her party with flaming weapons against the dragon-blood troll.
When Durkon was a child, Sigdi says "your pa used to look up at the sky."
Sigdi risks her own life to save an unnamed dwarf from dying dishonorably (falling off a ladder).
Sigdi refuses to allow Thirden from telling the story of how Tenrin died, specifically whether he died with or without honor.
Sigdi didn't know how to cook ("can barely boil water") before Durkon was born. However, since Durkon's birth she has been holding dinners every Wednesday (the day before Thor's day).
Sigdi's name is on the list of "very rich donors" for Thor's temple, even though she can't afford the donation to Odin's temple to have her arm restored.
Durkon does not thank his mother for any specific element of his clerical training, the way he thanks others for training in mythology, use of armor, etc.
Sigdi doesn't look proud that her son was ordained a cleric of Thor. She passes this off as discomfort about the debt she owes for the dress.
Though poor, Sigdi didn't want the free dress she was entitled to by the bylaws of Thor's church. She accepted it as a gift from Shirra.

My conclusion:

Spoiler

Show

Durkon's mother was a cleric of Loki before Tenrin's death. She does not talk about Thor until after Tenrin is gone; she says "your pa used to look up at the sky," not we. Sigdi prepares her team with flaming weapons, where flame is Loki's personal trick.

Tenrin dies with dishonor, which Sigdi never cared about before as a devotee of Loki. (Perhaps that is why she doesn't want to discuss it — it's not part of her faith.)

After his death, she devoted herself to raising Durkon as a cleric of Thor (even though it made her miserable). She holds feasts on the evening before Thor's holy day. She even learns to cook (she says she can "barely boil water" before having Durkon — and what boils water? fire). Why did she learn to cook? Because as a cleric with two hands, she could create food magically (create food and water has somatic components; presumably can't be cast by a one-armed caster). She risks her life to save a dwarf from Tenrin's fate, death without honor, which is something she doesn't even believe in herself; she's setting a good example for Durkon. She's not proud when Durkon is ordained as a cleric of Thor, and refuses the dress she's entitled to (until it is reframed as a gift from Shirra).

And I think Durkon knows it now, too. He's watched all those memories again, and he's figured things out that he hadn't known or noticed before. Durkon is going to have reconcile his having placed her on a pedestal with her similarity to Hilgya.