The Deed of Paksenarrion: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''In a sheepfarmer's low stone house, high in the hills above Three Firs, two swords hang now above the mantelpiece. [...] The other is a very different matter: long and straight, keen-edged, of the finest sword-steel, silvery and glinting blue even in yellow firelight. The pommel's knot design is centered with the deeply graven seal of St. Gird; the cross-hilts are gracefully shaped and chased in gold. <br />''

''[Old Dorthan reminds his grandchildren] of the day a stranger rode up, robed and mantled in white, an old man with thin silver hair, and handed down the box [with a scroll] and the sword, naked as it hangs now.<br />''

''"Keep these," the stranger said, "in memory of your daughter Paksenarrion. She wishes you to have them and has no need of them." And though he accepted water from their well, he would say no more of Paksenarrion, whether she lived or lay buried far away, whether she would return or no.<br />''

''The scroll Dorthan reads is headed The Deed of Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter of Three Firs, and many are the tales of courage and adventure written therein.'' |Prologue, ''Sheepfarmer's Daughter''}}

'''The first series written by [[Elizabeth Moon]], first released in 1988, '''The Deed of Paksenarrion''' is a work of [[Heroic Fantasy]] divided into [[Trilogy|three books]]:'''

* ''Sheepfarmer's Daughter'' - 18 year old Paksenarrion ("Paks" for short) runs away from home and an unwanted [[Arranged Marriage]] to become a warrior. She signs up with the mercenary company of Duke Phelan, undergoes training and fights in her first wars. She comes out relatively well for it but starts to wonder whether she's always going to be fighting for the right reasons and where her allegiances ought to lie. ''Sheepfarmer's Daughter'' is available for free (legal!) online reading at [https://web.archive.org/web/20080725060031/http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671654160/0671654160.htm Baen Free Library].

* [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]]: The kuaknom.

* [[Can't Argue Withwith Elves]] / [[Screw You, Elves]]: Human characters will express their opinion of haughty elves along the lines of the latter, but generally in private because of the former.

** Averted in that Paks spends at least half the third book arguing with elves, and does so without needing to enter [[Screw You, Elves]] territory. She even analyzes why she ''can'':

{{quote| '''Paksenarrion:''' (thought balloon) Humans need not, Paks saw, worship their immortality, their cool wisdom, their knowledge of the taig, their ability to repattern mortal perceptions. In brief mortal lives humans met challenges no elf could meet, learned strategies no elf could master, chose evil or good more direct and dangerous than elf could perceive. Humans were shaped for conflict, as elves for harmony; each needed the other's balance of wisdom, but must cleave to its own nature. It was easy for an immortal to counsel patience, withdrawal until a danger passed... She took courage, therefore, and felt less the Lady's weight of age and experience. That experience was elven, and not all to her purpose. {{spoiler|Kieri Phelan}} himself was but half-elven; his right to kingship came with his mortal blood. And as she found herself regarding the Lady with less awe, but no less respect, the Lady met her eyes with dawning amazement.}}

*** Though ''Kings of the North'' dives into "played straight" territory with the [[Screw You, Elves]]: {{spoiler|The Lady of Ladysforest refuses to help Kieri co-rule Lyonya as is her duty, tries to prevent one of the Kings Squires (Arian) from marrying Kieri by insulting Arian in front of Arian's father and an assembled court of elves, THEN gets herself trapped underground due to her rude behavior to the gnomes and tries to blame it on Arian. Kieri, Dorrin Verrakai, Arian and a dragon all call the Lady out on this, Dorrin especially: "High rank never excuses wrong behavior".}}

{{quote| '''The Lady:''' We singers of the world, who shrink from disharmony, may choose silence instead of noise, and not always rightly.}}

* [[Cold -Blooded Torture]]: A hobby of the priests of Liart, at at the root of at least one [[Crowning Moment Literature|Crowning Moment]] for Paks.

* [[Insignia Rip Off Ritual]]: A non literal example. To be turned out ''Tinisi turin'' is the worst punishment short of death for a mercenary soldier turned out of the force under disgrace: publicly stripped, a full-body shave, beaten, branded then expelled.

* [[Moses in Thethe BullrushesBulrushes]]

* [[Thieves' Guild]]: Plays an important role in ''Oath of Gold''

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