Fizban/Zifnab/Paladine complaints
Richard Edwards
This post is mostly directed at Tracy Hickman.
Well, I just wanted to express my frustration, dissatisfaction, and just
plain negative feelings towards your decision to make Zifnab a lowly
Sartan. As a matter of fact, I refuse to believe that Zifnab is not
Fizban. I also refuse to believe that Fizban is only an avatar of
Paladine; in my mind, they are one and the same. Zifnab is Paladine,
Zifnab is a god, the Death Gate and Dragonlance universes are somehow
connected. Really, I'm right, you're wrong.
Okay, I'll be serious now. It's obvious that Zifnab is based on
Paladine. However, was Zifnab supposed to be only a Sartan from the
beginning? It seems to me that that decision was not made until later.
Reasons: Zifnab remembers Raistlin, Zifnab almost calls himself Fizban,
and Zifnab vehemently denies being a Sartan to Haplo until the later
books.
Basically what I really, REALLY want is a more detailed description of
Zifnab's connection with Fizban. Were they ever, in your mind, the same
character? Is the only reason they didn't turn out to be the same
because the Death Gate cycle isn't TSR? Was Zifnab a Sartan from the
beginning? Could Zifnab been killed (he sure seemed indestructible to
me)? Is Zifnab really just a measly mortal wandering around the labyrinth
with an insane look on his face now?
BTW, the first paragraph of this post is to be taken with a grain of
sarcasm.
Later,
Richard
Boris Klimovitsky
In article <4nc5in$3...@gateway.cis.ysu.edu>, ri...@cis.ysu.edu (Richard
Edwards) wrote:
> Okay, I'll be serious now. It's obvious that Zifnab is based on
> Paladine. However, was Zifnab supposed to be only a Sartan from the
> beginning? It seems to me that that decision was not made until later.
> Reasons: Zifnab remembers Raistlin, Zifnab almost calls himself Fizban,
> and Zifnab vehemently denies being a Sartan to Haplo until the later
> books.
Also, there is the small fact of age. When Samah asks Alfred how long they
have been sleeping (Serpent Mage, vol. 4), he says "I have a son who is
twenty. Would he still be alive?" To which Alfred replies that neither
Ramu, nor his children, nor his children's children would be alive. And
Ramu, too is a Sartan.
If Zifnab, like Ramu was alive during the Sundering, and must have been
considerably older (he was on the council), he should be dead if he were
really Sartan.
> Basically what I really, REALLY want is a more detailed description of
> Zifnab's connection with Fizban. Were they ever, in your mind, the same
> character? Is the only reason they didn't turn out to be the same
> because the Death Gate cycle isn't TSR? Was Zifnab a Sartan from the
> beginning? Could Zifnab been killed (he sure seemed indestructible to
> me)? Is Zifnab really just a measly mortal wandering around the labyrinth
> with an insane look on his face now?
>
>
> Later,
> Richard
Frankly, I doubt if Zifnab is the "higher power" discovered in the Seventh
Gate. But I also doubt that he is a mere Sartan. Zifnab's story would be
an interesting one to read about if Margaret and Tracy decided to get
together for some more of the Death Gate writing....
Boris
--
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist."
Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects
Tracy Hickman
I like to think that Zifnab is very well read.
Tracy Hickman