YMMV / The Legends of Ethshar

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Is Tabaea in Spell of the Black Dagger the villainess of the story, or the heroine? Is she a sociopathic serial killer with a megalomaniacal need to dominate others, or a basically decent person who genuinely wanted a more just, egalitarian government that would uplift the poor and downtrodden of Ethshar? On one side of the ledger, she did cold-bloodedly murder a whole bunch of innocent people just to gain power. Then when she took power, she badly injured a harmless, senile old woman who just wanted to sit in the "pretty chair" that Tabaea had just claimed in the name of the poor and downtrodden. On the other hand, she also abolished slavery, and really did try to save the city from the Seething Death. There's also the fact that, before she killed any people, she killed several animals first. On the one hand, that's exactly typical of a sadistic serial killer: they start by torturing and killing animals before moving to people. On the other hand, Tabaea had never even thought about killing a person until she killed some animals, and she herself speculated that she might have absorbed the predatory instincts of the animals she had killed along with their superior senses and reflexes. Was she wrong? And why did she become bored with ruling Ethshar? Was it because she's a narcissist, and narcissists are generally prone to boredom, or was it because she never really wanted power in the first place? Maybe she just wanted to be loved and cared for. This is a woman who was neglected and effectively abandoned by her family at a quite young age, who never had any friends, and who never really found a place in the world. Was she just a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds? Or a monster who showed her true colors the moment she had any power?
  • For that matter, what about Sarai in the same story? Heroine who liberates her city from a madwoman, or privileged child of an oppressive dictatorship who defeats a liberalizing revolution and restores the regime? Good detective or ruthless inquisitor? Consider that it comes as a complete surprise to her that an invitation by the Minister of Investigation and Acting Minister of Justice delivered by armed soldiers might come across more as a command than a request. Is she oblivious to how others see her because she is so privileged and powerful, or just because she's young and inexperienced?