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Were-Wrath

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• Were-Wrath

  Lots-A-Watts > October 8th, 2022, 08:42 PM

  Introducing:
  
  Were-Wrath
  
  Andre's Reading Corner (andre-norton.com)

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Irene > October 9th, 2022, 09:15 AM

  Thank you

• RE: Were-Wrath

  rkomar > October 9th, 2022, 12:02 PM

  I liked the story, but I didn't really get it. "Two belts and a man, there was a meaning she could guess at." What was the relationship between the sword, belts and the Were? Where did the cabinet and its contents come from? I think we are supposed to be able to make some guesses, but I'm coming up with nothing.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Irene > October 9th, 2022, 06:26 PM

  To guess?
  A woman being chased into the haunted woods comes across a cabin/hut/hovel. Inside a cabinet. [Remember closets are quite modern.] The cabinet has pictures carved into the sides. A story not completed. Of course, there is a talking cat. Inside the cabinet, two belts. One fancy leather holding a sword, and the other belt, a pelt with a clasp as the head of a beast.
  
  By this point I'm thinking of THE JARGOON PARD. Sort of a testing of the pattern of Man/Were and the choices to be made.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  rkomar > October 9th, 2022, 07:20 PM

  The Were puts on the furry belt first willingly, and tries his best to avoid the belt with the sword. Later, when the fight is turning against him, he takes up the sword. Some reddish glow of power spreads from the sword to his body. After the fight, he touches the buckle of the furry belt and it disintegrates, falling off him. He puts the sword belt on in the furry belt's place, knowing that he is taking on something that will take over his life. I can't really understand what the two separate belts were about, and why they were stored together if the first was just going to be destroyed by the second. I'm sure this sequence of events changes his Were nature in steps, but it's not clear to me how. There seem to be intricate details that are escaping me.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Irene > October 10th, 2022, 10:00 AM

  Yup. And that is why they call it magic. My assumption was that he already knew about the belts and the choices.
  
  Note: I am reading the version from WIZARDS WORLDS. Possibly that isn't what Jay used to post.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Lots-A-Watts > October 10th, 2022, 10:55 AM

  As I do NOT have access to a copy of "Were-Wrath" as a stand-alone book I used "Wizard Worlds" as my source. (Of course, if I had a stand-alone copy, It would be too valuable to actually scan each page. I would have used "Wizard Worlds" anyway.)
  
  While reading the story I find myself not concerned about why the belts are there. By the end of the story, I was wanting the Cabinet to fill in the holes and complete the tale.
  
  But that is what is so good about shorts by Andre, everybody who reads it gets something different from it.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Irene > October 10th, 2022, 11:00 AM

  I wish I had time to compare the two to see if there are differences.
  
  But sadly, not today.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Michael > October 12th, 2022, 10:06 PM

  Thank you for this.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Marron4Gateau > May 22nd, 2023, 04:43 PM

  The gem buckle belt in this story is a bit like Kethan's from The Jargoon Pard. The belt with the sword is like Herrel's also from The Jargoon Pard. This may suggest that when Kethan has truly grown into his powers and when he's ready for it, the belt may dissolve and he may get a sword like Herrel's.
  
  For Kethan- the belt was awakening and freedom, then learning control. For Herrel, the sword was acquired sometime between the two books, it was about accepting his full power and using it to protect his family. Herrel didn't seem to need a gem belt as he was sent to the Were-riders as soon as his change manifested as a child. We haven't seen any of the other Were-rider children (except in short stories written by other authors) and maybe because they were raised by their fathers, they may not have required gem belts. Kethan and Farne are exceptions because they weren't raised by their Were-parent and seem to have needed the belts to awaken and learn to control their powers.
  
  In the case of Farne's gem belt and sword...
  Farne is faced with a choice here: has he matured enough to accept the responsibility of the sword (and the curbing of some freedoms and safety that entails) after having enjoyed the awakening of his powers and the freedom to learn control safely gained from the gem belt? I guess the deeper meaning is a bit obscure if you hadn't read The Year of the Unicorn and The Jargoon Pard beforehand and picked up on that subtext.
  
  As for the cabinet, it shows Farne's life story up to this point. The belt and sword are future choices so they don't appear carved into the panels yet.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  rkomar > May 22nd, 2023, 07:49 PM

  Thanks for the explanation! I read The Year of the Unicorn and The Jargoon Pard many decades ago (probably in the 1980's), and don't remember much about them. I'll put them on my TBR list for re-reading and get back to the short story after that. I'm keen to understand better what was happening in the short story.

• RE: Were-Wrath

  Irene > May 23rd, 2023, 06:18 AM

  Perhaps you should think of this as 1) an idea that Andre had, and 2) two different renderings of the idea.
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