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---(SPOILERS FOR EXISTING ALVIN MAKER BOOKS BELOW)---
Now that we've seen quotes from OSC saying that he does actually have plans to write the last volume of the Alvin Maker series in the not-too-distant future, I thought it might be fun to have a little guessing game as to how the series will eventually conclude. Here are my guesses...
So much is happening in the Crystal City and across the North American continent that a lot of stories could head in a lot of directions, but we know that the general plot outline for the series is the life and death of Joseph Smith, right? So, I think by the time the book is over, we'll see the following:
- Calvin becomes Governor of the new U.S. state of Wobbish and somehow (probably in league with Rev. Thrower/Cavil Planter/Property Rights Crusade) unwittingly gets Alvin extradited to Carthage City, where he's killed by a "Confederate" mob during the Civil War, maybe led by Jim Bowie. (OSC has stated that the/a Civil War will happen during Alvin Master, and a town named Carthage is where Joseph Smith died... and Peggy always warned Alvin never to allow himself to be taken back to Carthage, or else he would die.)
- Measure somehow dies trying to defend Alvin, whether he's extradited with him or secretly visits him in jail, which is interpreted by the "mob" as an escape attempt. (Measure is, essentially, Hyrum Smith, after all)
- Since Vigor Church is more-or-less an adaptation of Kirkland, it stands to reason that the Crystal City is an adaptation of Nauvoo. (It is in roughly the same geographical location as Nauvoo, after all.) As such, most of its residents will probably eventually move away due to political/militant pressure.
- Arthur Stuart is made the new leader of the Crystal City movement after Alvin dies and he gives a speech during which he sounds exactly like Alvin (This mirrors one of the purportedly-supernatural occurrences that led many LDS church members to support Brigham Young, and it draws on the fact that Arthur long had a knack to sound exactly like other people until Alvin changed him... which might somehow come back after Alvin's death. Also, Arthur is biracial, which could help represent the multi-ethnic nature of the Crystal City community.).
- Tenskwa-Tawa invites the Crystal City followers to move into the Red lands west of the Mizzipy and they settle somewhere around the area we know as Far West, MO, where they help fend off the remnants of the Mexica, "converting" many of them into becoming residents of the new Crystal City.
- Alternately, the original Crystal City might remain, under the leadership of Verily Cooper, and Arthur Stuart might lead a "mission" group to start another "Crystal City" type place in the Red lands, maybe for the same reason that there's a separate loom weaver for the Red lands and the White lands in North America.
- Certainly Abe Lincoln is somehow involved in the Civil War... perhaps as the Governor of Noisy River Territory and/or an influential leader in the eventual victory over the slaveholders.
I'm using quotation marks above where I use terms for which there are not yet an equivalent in the Alvin Maker world... just to get the concept across.
There really are about 100 different ways it could all go, though... my guesses are primarily based on the fact that the plot skeleton is Joseph Smith's life. Thoughts? Other guesses?
Posts: 124 | Registered: Jun 2013
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I am looking forward to this book, although I'm trying not to dwell much on it because the wait could still be a long one.
I think it's safe to assume there will be parallels like the ones you've described, but the details could vary, of course. What you are proposing seems like a totally viable plot.
Arthur regaining some of his mimicry ability for such a scene DOES seem likely, now that you mention it (I hadn't thought of that before). Perhaps he'll progress as a maker to the point where he's able to see and then undo some of what Alvin changed in him.
And I would agree that there will be some colonization of the west. It wouldn't surprise me to see the entire community forced to abandon the original location where they hope to build the Crystal City.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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The theory about Arthur Stuart mimicking Alvin's voice is really cool. I don't know enough about Joseph Smith or Brigham Young to have realized that connection, but it makes a lot of sense.
Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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It's a commonly held story (I don't believe personally) that I think was seized on for two reasons.
1: It was a divine manifestation of God's will concerning the succession of Brigham Young after Smith's martyrdom. Giving those who followed Young vindication of their choice.
2: The succession was unusual in that Brigham Young was not ordained prophet over the church for several years after Smith's death, this story makes it seem like everything was still lashed together in a manner more similar to how all successions after that took place.
Posts: 1194 | Registered: Jun 2010
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