I'm an unashamed Gregor fangirl (if the Emperor was real, I'd be the kind to have a meticulously collected magazine clippings album, or the digital equivalent) so Vor Game is probably one of my favourite books, never mind the space battles -- which I had to re-read half a dozen times and *still* don't get, but that's me.
As tel pointed out, Gregor was still somebody's puppet in TWA (he thought he was Aral's, turned out he was Vordrozda's) and Vor Game is his coming-of-age story (may a bit like Memory will be for Miles). He finds his own strength when he faces Aral down and wins:
"The most morally dangerous moment for a guardian is when the temptation to become a puppet-master seems most rational. I always knew the moment must... no. I knew that if the moment never came, I should have failed my oath most profoundly." He paused. "It was still a shock to the system, though. The letting-go."
Gregor spends much of his first 25(ish) years being afraid -- first of simply being killed ("Are they going to kill me, too?" he whispered to her.), then of the Imperium descending upon him and suffocating him, then of being played and helpless (and then realising he actually was) and then finding out about Serg and realising that Mad Yuri's heritage is much closer than he thought. Him being watched all the time was a bit of a blessing, all things considered, because he might have done something far worse than just running away (which started, after all, as a suicide attempt gone wrong).
I doubt there's a time in his life where he *isn't* a bit nostalgic for the days he spent simply screwing in light bulbs (Queen Elizabeth II once said that the time she spent living with Prince Philip on Malta, before her father died, was the happiest and most carefree time of her life) but the events of Vor Game teach him that while he cannot escape the Imperium, or at least not without very serious consequences, he can actually *do* something as the Emperor. By the time Memory rolls about, or even earlier, he has not only grown into his role, he also changes the role to fit him and becomes the true leader of new Barrayar -- a Barrayar that Miles can finally accept, and vice versa.
LMB always does this thing, where a person's own perceptions of him/herself contrast sharply with the way others see that person. Gregor in Vor Game is smart, competent, well trained in every aspect, thinks on his feet, and overcomes immense mental and physical obstacles -- while he sees himself as useless, half-insane and weak. It's a painfully sharp contrast, and I would have loved to have seen more of the road in between.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 11:11 am (UTC)As
"The most morally dangerous moment for a guardian is when the temptation to become a puppet-master seems most rational. I always knew the moment must... no. I knew that if the moment never came, I should have failed my oath most profoundly." He paused. "It was still a shock to the system, though. The letting-go."
Gregor spends much of his first 25(ish) years being afraid -- first of simply being killed ("Are they going to kill me, too?" he whispered to her.), then of the Imperium descending upon him and suffocating him, then of being played and helpless (and then realising he actually was) and then finding out about Serg and realising that Mad Yuri's heritage is much closer than he thought. Him being watched all the time was a bit of a blessing, all things considered, because he might have done something far worse than just running away (which started, after all, as a suicide attempt gone wrong).
I doubt there's a time in his life where he *isn't* a bit nostalgic for the days he spent simply screwing in light bulbs (Queen Elizabeth II once said that the time she spent living with Prince Philip on Malta, before her father died, was the happiest and most carefree time of her life) but the events of Vor Game teach him that while he cannot escape the Imperium, or at least not without very serious consequences, he can actually *do* something as the Emperor. By the time Memory rolls about, or even earlier, he has not only grown into his role, he also changes the role to fit him and becomes the true leader of new Barrayar -- a Barrayar that Miles can finally accept, and vice versa.
LMB always does this thing, where a person's own perceptions of him/herself contrast sharply with the way others see that person. Gregor in Vor Game is smart, competent, well trained in every aspect, thinks on his feet, and overcomes immense mental and physical obstacles -- while he sees himself as useless, half-insane and weak. It's a painfully sharp contrast, and I would have loved to have seen more of the road in between.