First post
I strongly believe that the Quor/sven ga ri and the Dread will provide the focus for the next series. But i think the following question about the darkwar saga needs exploring first.
Why did the nameless one need to kill the Dreadlord? If the dreadlord invaded the 1st plane of reality then surely the nameless one could have used the spark it had planted inside Leso Varen to control the dreadlord? Surely the nameless one would want the dreadlord to carry out all that destruction... being the god of evil after all.
possible answers or implications
i) The dread are as alien to a god's influence as they are to life in all the various planes. Meaning that the Dread even pose a threat to the gods. Or, the dreadlord is simply too powerful for the nameless one to influence, even with the small spark of itself it had planted in Leso Varen which was on its way to the Dreadlord.
ii) Allowing the Dread to wipe out the planes of reality, represents a dire threat to the gods. It is made explicit that the god's existence is in some ways symbiotic with the sentient life that worships it. By wiping out all sentient life, the gods would cease to ''exist'' in the sense that there would be no use for them. With the god's losing their power, the nameless one would be able to escape from its prison... which would spell disaster for the remaining god's since the natural balancer for the nameless one, Arch-Indar, the goddess of good was ''dead'' or ''inert'' for want of better term.
Which leads us back to the question - why did the nameless one want to kill the dreadlord? If the above ii) is true, then allowing the dreadlord to invade the 1st plane of reality would have benefitted the nameless one in its thirst for dominance.
Now this is where my next thoughts become incredibly complicated... so bear with me.
Ok, now, keep in mind the various comments made throughout the books about the underlying battle between good and evil. But more important, the statement that evil cannot exist without good, and good has no meaning without evil.
This helps us understand what happened to the dreadlord and why, because the nameless one would not benefit at all from being completely dominant over the other gods... as much as its behaviour would suggest it might desire such a thing... the simple fact of the matter is, is that the nameless one is just as confined by its own nature as all other beings/entities... which is why Banath takes pains to remind Pug of the parable of the scorpion and the frog. By the nameless ones very nature, it will act in a way to overcome good, because that is its nature... mad... evil. But it is limited in this activity by the very nature of the conflict between good and evil... they would not exist without the other. The nameless one cannot help but act as it does because of its nature... and if something happens that might upset its nature then it will act to prevent that something from happening. In this case, its the dreadlord's invasion of the 1st plane of reality.
To sum up, although at a superficial level, you might think that the nameless one would benefit from the extinction of sentient life that is so vital for the other gods powers... at the deeper level... the nameless one would also cease to have any meaning as the god of evil if the other gods were to lose their meaning... their existence is interdependant. Although the nameless one is imprisoned and has a very small influence, good is not dominant because the goddess of good is ''dead'' along with the god of balance (ishap) who must have been responsible for acting as the god who prevented either the goddess of good or evil from becoming too powerful over the other. With these three extremely important gods ''dead'' or otherwise inactive, the underlying forces of order and chaos are the dominant ones... which explains why the overarching conflict is called the ''chaos wars'' the continual interplay between law (Pug and the conclave) and chaos (Leso Varen).
This suggests a level of coordination between the god of evil and the goddess of good and the god of balance, an act of coordination that is more an act borne out of necessity more than anything. The goddess of good by her very nature would not want the dreadlord to visit death and destruction on innocent sentient life. The god of evil, limited by its dependance on the existence of good, must also prevent the dreadlord from such an invasion. The god of balance's voice is the one that has the last say...
This is where Banath comes into play, because he alone is able to orchestrate the necessary pawns to achieve the plan made by the god of balance, he is the god of hopeless quests (but is it as hopeless as you think?). Banath by his very nature, breaks the rules, and is therefore the only one capable of doing things that the other gods cannot... since they are all bound by their designated roles. But another reason why Banath reminds Pug of the parable concerning the inevitability of ones nature, is that although his task is to carry out the task of coordinating the balancing act as defined by the god of balance... he may go about it in very circuitious ways. Banath is also in charge of the mantle of the god of knowledge until the true god of knowledge returns... he seems ideally suited to the task of coordinating balance in the stead of Ishap, giving Nakor a unique insight into the true nature of the universe and magic.
In keeping with that coordination, the nameless one had given up part of itself to be used as a weapon to kill the grossly superpowered dreadlord. It probably didnt understand why it was doing this... at the superficial level it looked like all the death an destruction caused by Leso Varen was the real objective... but it was all some ploy to allow the gods to maneuvre the godkiller weapon to get unnoticed and close enough to the dreadlord. IE. allowing the dreadlord to create the vast rift between the 2nd and 1st planes... and making it drunk with power so that it did not notice the weapon that was designed for its destruction entering the rift. Nakor was planted by Banath on the behalf of the other gods to wield the godkiller as a weapon in its pure form and not let the dreadlord simply devour it along with everything else that was falling through the massive rift. I am making the assumption that in order for the spark of the nameless one to become the godkiller weapon it had to be removed from Leso Varen. If that wasnt necessary, then nakors role wouldnt have been necessary. That nakor was so perfectly suited to confrontating Leso Varen and dealing with him in quick fashion, leads me to believe that his act of extracting the spark of the nameless one from Leso Varen was planned and necessary.
So what now?
I believe the entire point of these wars is the continual reminder that the current order as maintained by the active gods, is probably not a permanent one. The ''dead'' gods are doing their best to do the jobs defined by their nature, just by indirect means because of their lack of influence. Good is being done by priests etc, balance is being maintained by Banath and his involvement in the various wars, evil is being done by the agents of the nameless one. The dead gods are doing their best to come back to life... and they are all probably doing so at an equal pace and perhaps that is necessary due to the nature of balance. Alot of evil has just been accomplished with the death of millions of Tsurani and Dasati and countless other beings. Alot of good had been done too... with the salvation of various races who lived on Kelewan on a new planet, the banishment of a dreadlord back to the void, and the return of the gods to the Dasati realm (who are the same gods in the midkemia realm but who had just lost their influence in the 2nd plane due to the invasion of the dreadlord and the erosion of the dasati culture that gave them 'life' and meaning). Work in the name of the god of good and evil has been done, and the attempts to balance those works is work done in the name of the god of balance.
I think we might be reaching a point in time where the revival of the ''dead'' gods is finally coming to fruition or at least making some headway.
What will this mean for the books?
The Quor and sven ga ri and the apparent crack in reality that links the realm of the dread with midkemia will probably be the focus of the next series. Pug and Tomas will probably venture out to discover where the crack is located and maybe even travel through the crack into the realm of the dread... and we will learn more about the sven ga ri and their link to the heart of Midkemia and wat role they have. There is very little information about that particular arc of the story so i can only guess at their true nature and meaning. But i do think its safe to say that the crack in reality that gives the dread access to midkemia will need to be sealed... it would probably be too easy to seal it from the midkemian side so we might see a journey into the dread realm, if thats even possible.
speculation of the sven ga ri:
If the dread are anethma to all life in the universe, i can only assume that the sven ga ri are their opposite... being linked to life itself. If we remind ourselves of the fundamental nature of balance... it would follow that the dread would demand an opposing force, otherwise they would represent an imbalance in an otherwise balanced equation. For whatever reason that caused the crack in reality to give the dread access to midkemia from their realm... the sven ga ri must have appeared to help counter their incursions. Once the crack in reality is sealed the sven ga ri could return to wherever they originated from. The sealing of the crack and the continued resetting of the original balance that existed before the chaos wars may be an act of 'good' that heralds the final stages of the return of the goddess of good.
If the goddess of good sees a revival the need for the nameless one's imprisonment would be gone... since the goddess of good would only have real meaning if the god of evil was also active and no longer imprisoned. His existence is necessary to balance hers. Ishap, the god of balance would therefore see revival because he would be required to exert a much stronger influence to maintain a balance than what was required when the two opposing gods were ''dead'' or imprisoned.
We might see the books take shift away from the actions of mortals to the actions of the gods as they reassert themselves into the universe. We might see the gods making more direct communications with their mortal champions to do important work for them...
This might lead to another conflict with the Valheru... who are still imprisoned by the lifestone. The returning gods may wish to vanquish the valheru once and for all in order to ensure their continued dominance. Or they may even require their destruction in order to safely return. The valheru possess power that is almost equal to the gods... which is definately something that they would want to get rid of even if they are banished... they need to be destroyed.
Tomas would have a pivotal role in this... being the one valheru who opposed his race's apparent madness. Pug would naturally be his ally... we might see them both find out how to enter the lifestone an defeat the valheru in the realm of their imprisonment. Magnus's role is shrouded in suggestion... suggestion that is implied in Feists constant reminder that he might one day eclipse both Miranda and Pug in power.
Whoever is involved... I think we will see the gods resetting the balance that existed before the war with the valheru...
Once the gods reassert that balance i think the need for their pawns will be gone... Pug would therefore be freed from his responsibility and be allowed to finally pass to his next life or finally become the god of ''magic'' or maybe that is Magnus's destiny. Tomas would probably become human again and allow the soul and essence of ashen-shugar to finally be at rest since his duty to protect midkemia for the gods would be no longer needed with their true return.
I dont think the end of the series will end with good overcomes evil type ending... more that the events that transpired as a result of the chaos wars will be reversed... giving the fate of the universe firmly back into the hands of the gods.
How does this relate to Nakors theory that the universe is in fact one entity that is simply learning or dreaming?
Perhaps the 'Universe' with a capital 'U' is the umbrella entity that the gods, mortals, demons, etc are part of. The creation of the valheru was an experiment or maybe just a fun game started by the Universe, who wanted to see what would happen if balance was disturbed. It wanted to learn how to adapt. Or perhaps by challenging itself it would learn about itself more than it would if things were in perfect balance all of the time. Disrupting its own balance was the Universe's way of expressing its desire for self awareness... perhaps it has learnt that no matter what happens to the system it contains balance will always exist... just achieved by different means and actors. Perhaps it has learnt that it can relax and allow the system to regulate itself since it seems stable and adaptable enough to survive even major shake ups.
Why would the Universe care about learning this? I dont know, the problem is, even Nakor's attempt to anthropologise the Universe as a learning infant is doomed to failure as a point of perspective and understanding, simply because the ant will never comprehend the dragon who sits at the top of the mountain.
The end
sorry that was rather a long first post!
