McCormac, Molitor, Cairncross and Magnusson all have different reasons for trying to become Emperor.(Molitor does more than try.)
We see Cairncross twice in soliloquy and twice in conversation, with Flandry and the Emperor, and that is it: an economical narrative. There is no final confrontation and we do not know what became of him:
"'At worst, the Merseians or a barbarian state will gain an able, energetic officer - who'll dwell for the rest of his years in a hell of frustration and loneliness.'" (XIV, p. 185)
That would have made a good story.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And it's possible Poul Anderson kept the ultimate fate of Edwin Cairncross "ambiguous" just in case he ever had a need for that character again. So, it may have been CAIRNCROSS, not Flandry, who left the Empire!
We do know what happened to the pretender Olaf Magnusson, he was killed by his infuriated men when they found out he was a deep cover Merseian agent. Apparently the details of how that was done were so unpleasant that Flandry said at the end of THE GAME OF EMPIRE that the Imperium decided to keep them unpublished.
Sean
Post a Comment