Ok, paradox aside, I have found some details in this story I just cant seem to make sense of..
1) Near the start of Pathfinder it is emphasized that the waterfall where Umbo's brother dies has been eroding away over the years such that it is lower and further back. However, when Rigg interacts with the past for the first time, the brother and the man assumed to be the wandering saint occupy the same absolute position. I think it is speculated that the man stood there about 100 years ago or so. So how is it that the wandering saint hung off the edge of a waterfall which in his time would not have been in that location?
2) When Umbo first tries to traverse time without Rigg whilst back in Leaky's Landing his early attempts put him a day in the future by mistake. Why is it that no one seems to care about this ability very long after? Neither training it up nor even speaking of it. In fact, I think Umbo even says something later in the story like (i'm paraphrasing) "Too bad I can't go to the future..".
3) I'm fairly certain that when Rigg pulls out the jewel in Coopers office that it is described as blue with a chip in it where it was knocked out of a crown or something. However at the start of Ruins when Umbo reveals his possession of the same stone it is described as red. Am I mistaken or is this a revision error?
Disclaimers & reasons I may simply be wrong: I am listening to the audible audio books and have not referenced the actual text. I also have not got very far into reading Ruins so if any of these are resolved later on I will find myself to have spoken too soon. Also I have not extensively scoured these forums so I apologize if I'm the 100th person to post these questions.
I spend too much time thinking of these things.. help set me at ease. TY in advance to any responders.
Posted by vineyarddawg (Member # 13007) on :
Good questions, and I don't think I really caught onto any of them. It's been a few months since I read those, so I might be mistaken, but, are you sure that Umbo takes the same stone that Rigg had, or did he just reach into the bag and pull out a different stone? All the stones don't look the same.
Posted by botticelli (Member # 13141) on :
3) is an editing error. I thought at first maybe it would be explained by some time travel stunt but my brother was reading the book at the same as me and his version refers to the stone as blue. I check several other copies, including ebooks, and they all say blue.
2) really bothers me. More than it should. But it seems like a huge oversight, too big to believe. I'm half expecting for it to come up in Visitors....
Posted by Marek (Member # 5404) on :
***SPOILERS***
One of the things that seems too out there as a coincidence, is the knife. In Ruins it is revealed that the jewels on it are miniature replicas of the ones used to command the 19 ships, and Rigg happens to take it off the first random person he follows in to the ancient past. We never even find out who this guy so long ago was, or why he had the knife, which i believe originated in another fold. *** end spoilers ***
All the twisting of time, the people with these gifts being drawn to each other, ok. The other jewels were assured to be Rigg's by his "father", but taking a knife off a random guy from centuries back, and it being so crucial for them, and so powerful. Is still hard for me to accept.
Posted by Marek (Member # 5404) on :
Also no, idea about the other contradictions, sorry to be adding my gripes to the list.