Hero in the Shadows by Gemmell... a question plus Spoliers!

[Wulfa_Jones]

I read this when it first came out and recently re-read it and there is one thing that has nagged me since reading it.

At the end of the book the Waylander is sent back to stop his wife and kid being killed by those raiders.

Which he does but then dies.

My question is (without being to much of a sad fan boy), since he saved this wife and kids he would never have become the Waylander and so this would have lead to all sorts of silly time disruptions.

The Thirty would never have been formed, the Bronze Armour would never have been recoverd, The Dros Delnoch would not have been built....

The enitre history of the Drenai would have been changed!

Anyone got any idea on this?

 

[Macros]

SPOILERS

Well, basically towards the end they said that the world would never be without a substitute Waylander (Grey Man) popping up. So, either somebody took over his role or something else happened that changed him into Waylander again. Either way, the ending to the book was more romantic then practical.

 

[Dystran Hart]

I think Macros made a good comment about the multiple Waylanders/equivalents.

I too think the end was meant for a nice, heartfelt ending to Waylanders life. He got to see his wife of which sent him on his jouneys over the last three novels - save her, and show respite to the enemies that he once took total revenge upon.

Personally i loved the ending , well as much as you can considering i wanted another Waylander novel

 

[kater]

I think the point also is that the reality Waylander was sent back to in all likelihood was a completely different one where Dakeryas family may have survived without Waylander's interference but with it they did, in Lion of Macedon its suggested there are an infinite number of worlds where every permutation of events and consequences is not only possible but likely which is how Parmenion gets to live happily ever after with another, non-blind Derae. If you like Gemmell check out this forum Wulfa http://gemmell.suddenlaunch.com

 

[ChrisW]

Yeah it was an alternate version of his world.

 

[Wulfa_Jones]

Thanks for clearing that up... One of the ideas I came up with was the fact that something else happens later in this life so that he ends up following the same path anyway. But this idea did not appeal because sending him back in time would not have made a difference to his life... I suppose the only thing is that he would always die thinking he had changed this path.

Never thought about the Alt world... suppose that would work!

kater - thanks for the link, found the site once but then lost it!