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What qualities did Yerin have that made the Sword Sage take her on as a disciple?
This gets into spoiler territory, because I will be answering that question thoroughly in the series, but suffice it to say that she was born strong. And she demonstrated that at an early age.
Blackflame Emperor vs. Sword Sage
The BF Emperor is one stage lower than any Sage, and he knows that. If he were forced to do battle against a Sage, he would seek to die with honor and dignity, acquitting himself as well as possible.
I really wanted to ask you, how did the Sword Sage know about the Sacred valley?
Uhhhhh man that's a spoiler. That-that's a spoiler.
I recently re-read the Cradle series up until this point. It's one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series right now.
One thing that bothered me slightly on my first read-through and immensely on my second read-through is how the Heaven's Glory school in Sacred Valley were able to poison and kill a Sage. Will said himself that the Sword Sage was two levels above Underlord, and I can't imagine even an Underlord getting poisoned by them.
I wonder if it was just an issue of planning and Will not thinking that he would make the power levels so extreme in the future, but that point just always stuck me as bizarre.
Hey OP! I know it looks like power creep getting out of hand, but this actually isn't a mistake! Weirdly enough. Usually if I do something that looks like a mistake, it is in fact a mistake.
In this case, I know exactly what happened to the Sword Sage and how he was killed, but (back when I was writing Unsouled) I didn't realize how obviously out-of-place this would become to the reader in a couple of books. If I had, I would have made it clear in Book 1 that it should have been impossible for mere Jades to do this.
The reason why I didn't comment on it initially is because none of the POV characters know how weird it was. They just know that a Sage is a big, powerful guy from other lands, they don't know exactly how strong he is or what that means. Even Yerin isn't really sure how much stronger he is than they are, because she doesn't know enough about the sacred arts yet.
I wanted the reader to notice that they shouldn't have been able to kill the Sword Sage, but in a "Hmm, I wonder how they did that?" sort of way, not in a "Wait a second, this is physically impossible" sort of way. Even though under normal circumstances, it is literally impossible. I just didn't realize how quickly and how clearly people would pick up on that in the next couple of books.
So anyway, TL;DR - the mystery has an answer, it is an answer I have planned out from the very beginning, and that answer will be revealed in the series. Also, I regret not making it clear in the first book that this was an intentional mystery and not a mistake.
P.S. I'm probably going to include the Sword Sage's death scene in a Presence Report, just not in Underlord.
"Even Yerin isn't really sure how much stronger he is than they are, because she doesn't know enough about the sacred arts yet."
Seems she's quickly come round though, since she referred to Eithan as a 'mere underlord' compared to her Master in the very next book.
She can know the names of the ranks and which ones are higher without knowing what that means in practical terms.
She isn’t sure HOW MUCH stronger he is than they are, “they” in this case including Eithan. But she knows he’s stronger.
Underlords vs. Underlord+
The Sword Sage and Li Markuth are both roughly two stages above Underlord.
The three entities listed by Suriel as the top of the Cradle food chain are FIVE stages above Underlord, including one big leap (like the difference between Truegold and Underlord, it's only one stage, but it's a big one). The Dreadgods are a threat on THEIR level--and notice that Suriel said the 8-Man Empire, Sha Miara, and Northstrider could save Sacred Valley from them. She didn't say they could destroy the Dreadgods.
The BF Emperor is the one person in the Empire who is a level over Underlord.
The EE Emperor is about his level, although since they're using different magic systems, it's less about stages and more about what they can and can't do to counter one another.
Li Markuth vs. Yerin's master and Eithan
Yerin's master and Eithan take it. In fact, Yerin's master might be able to do it without Eithan's help. Maybe. He and Li Markuth are on a similar level.
Will, the Sword Sage praised the chief of the Heaven Glory school(not sure the name is correct). Does this mean that he has a perfect jade body, or whatever it is called. Or did he simply mean that his foundation is better than the ones of the other elders?
The Sword Sage didn't REALLY praise him, he just took it as praise.To a Sage, the Jades of Sacred Valley were like a bunch of blind monkeys swinging sticks around. He may have said "Nice swing," but he meant that in the context of a bunch of other blind monkeys.
Ooh, would it be really mean to ask what your biggest regrets in the Cradle system are? cough sword sage death cough
It’s not the Sword Sage’s death. My only regret regarding his death was not having Yerin in Book 2 clearly say “BOY THIS WAS SUPER WEIRD YOU GUYS,” just so people would know I didn’t make a mistake
I don't know, she doesn't really know what a Sage is capable of even still he doesn't seem like the type that would lecture a young girl on how his body works
Yeah, that’s why it wasn’t in there initially. But it confuses readers, which means I probably should have handled it differently.
The Emperor is way more powerful than a lot of people on the blog give him credit for!
How about him vs. Northstrider or any of those guys Suriel showed Lindon at the beginning of Unsouled. Actually I believe The Emperor would kick any of their butts one on one. How about The Emperor vs. the three strongest people on the planet Cradle? Besides Suriel because she is not a resident of Cradle.
Basically is anyone on Cradle on par with The Elders, or could The Emperor handily destroy anyone on Cradle?
Their powers work differently, but no, the Emperor would not be one of the strongest people on Cradle. The reason the Abidan value Cradle is because it nurtures and produces extremely powerful individuals.
A fight against Yerin's master would be pretty even. Depends on the circumstances at that point, like how well-armed the Emperor is and how seriously the Sword Sage takes the fight from the very beginning.
Additionally, those colored rings of madra that Lindon sees around the sword sages remnant! Those just little cool visual effects? Extra soul spaces (will yerin find some presents as she advances?) Or are they indications he has more than one path!?!
They are little extra powers that the Sword Sage gained over his long career that he had stored in his soul. They became part of his spirit over time, and merged with his Remnant when he died.The only spoiler is the nature of what those powers were.
Will those powers eventually affect Yerin or will she be able to access them as she advances?
Maybe, maybe not!
I have to ask Will, does the sword sage have a name? I’ve been assuming it’s Tim until proved otherwise.
He does. It is Tim.
(Not to take us too far back on topic, but just to be clear: the Sword Sage does have a name, it will be used in the series, and it isn’t really Tim. Let your meme-y hopes die.)
It’s Timothy. He didn’t like nicknames.
Will, the Sword Sage praised the chief of the Heaven Glory school(not sure the name is correct). Does this mean that he has a perfect jade body, or whatever it is called.Or did he simply mean that his foundation is better than the ones of the other elders?
Curses. If I'd known you were going to ask this on two different threads, I've responded here instead of on the other one.
Bottom line: the Sword Sage didn't mean anything by it. He was being minimally polite to a bunch of primitive savages. "That's a very nice sharpened stick you have there; it's almost as good as my attack helicopter."
How did the Sword Sage plan to get Yerin to Lowgold in Sacred Valley without dying and giving her his remnant?
Spoilers, RAFO (read and find out)
