Goodbye Lord Eldus

Use this forum to discuss the October 2020 Book of the month, "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.
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Krista Ash
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Re: Goodbye Lord Eldus

Post by Krista Ash »

I was sad but not surprised when Eldus died. He was, in my opinion, the true main character of the book, even if Galen is the main character of the series. The book really centered around his plans for the town of Hillport, so I am disappointed his death will likely end those improvements. That said, when one lives only a short distance from the primary villain of the story, I don't have high expectations for his or her survival.
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Post by Claire Riddle »

I really liked Lord Eldus for his determination. I wanted to see how he takes Hillport to prosperity. But it was shocking to see he's killed by Riva. But I think this tragedy was in need to show Riva nature.
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Post by Marloo »

I did not want him to die at all! He was a good character. I hope we’ll get to see more of his son who had escaped. The whole blood bad was cruel! But it sort of fits that world. Double feelings...
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Post by BlueberryZ10 »

I felt sad for the demise of Lord Eldus is the story line, he had really big plans, that would have been wonderful if they had come to fruition.
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Post by Krista Ash »

Claire Riddle wrote: 04 Oct 2020, 21:29 I really liked Lord Eldus for his determination. I wanted to see how he takes Hillport to prosperity. But it was shocking to see he's killed by Riva. But I think this tragedy was in need to show Riva nature.
I agree that the event was necessary, although it was very sad to see my favorite character die. The massacre definitely showed why everyone in Voulhire is scared of the Riva.
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Post by Martina A J »

So much of the book went into building Lord Eldus's character, that the slaughter completely blindsided me. Book trauma is no joke. So much time spent on his character development and his family members.
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Post by PhoeNyxFrost »

Matthew Tysz is adept in creating interesting characters, and what I love about them is the way they create decisions and how it affects other things. The Voulhire series reminds me of a ripple. Each characters' actions creates a drop that ripples and bounces against other's ripples, therefore cancelling some. Lord Eldus' passing resulted from many ripples of others. In the story, those were Maido's whimsical power play, Riva's rebellion and other people turning a blind eye to it (wc will be revealed on the next other installments). Makes you think, "No matter how good or far or disconnected you are to other things- a stranger's decision can still affect you."
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Post by Krista Ash »

Mstrtim wrote: 03 Oct 2020, 11:41 Lord Eldus was one of my favorite characters in the book. Frankly, I would have enjoyed an entire novel about him and his ability to resurrect the town against adversity, and against the stigma of pedophilia and torture. This issue in itself is timely and worthy of discussion, so when he was eliminated I felt that the author no longer wished to deal with the topic, easily sweeping it under the carpet.
I suspect Eldus needed to be eliminated because he would give away too many plot twists. I haven't read the next books yet, but based on Book 1, I'm inclined to think Orlin was framed. Eldus was on the path to figure that out, so he had to die before he told us readers. I do hope that the issues of pedophilia and torture are discussed later on and that another figure will rise to help Hillport through the trauma.
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Post by luchi123 »

I was saddened by Lord Eldus' death too. I think he died because he didn't have magical powers. I expected his son Marshus to save his family, but I guess he only would have if he had developed his powers more. I think most members of the Eldus family preferred not to dwell so much on the reality of magic but pushed it to their subconscious mind. It reminds me of what is said in Christianity, that the spiritual governs the physical.
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Post by Karina Nowak »

I loved Lord Eldus! I kept thinking, why are the main characters not as interesting as this guy? I didn't mind him dying, I mean, that was the plot, so be it. He was my favourite character in book 1 though.
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Post by Krista Ash »

luchi123 wrote: 06 Oct 2020, 11:56 I was saddened by Lord Eldus' death too. I think he died because he didn't have magical powers. I expected his son Marshus to save his family, but I guess he only would have if he had developed his powers more. I think most members of the Eldus family preferred not to dwell so much on the reality of magic but pushed it to their subconscious mind. It reminds me of what is said in Christianity, that the spiritual governs the physical.
Lord Eldus did seem to forget Marshus's abilities (for example, his idea of an ice rink). If Eldus hadn't ignored magic, maybe Marshus would have had more training and would have been able to help defend Hillport.
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Post by Claire Riddle »

I agree that the event was necessary, although it was very sad to see my favorite character die. The massacre definitely showed why everyone in Voulhire is scared of the Riva.
Yes, I think all the readers absorbed the cruelty of Riva since they killed Lord Eldus. Being a cheerful person, he attracted not only the characters around him, but also the readers. That's why everyone considers Riva dangerous and heartless. About me, I even cried for him. 😭
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Post by blackjack1 »

I really liked Lord Eldus. I was annoyed at the author for having him die. I was also puzzled: if this book is a kind of intro to the series, why is it following someone about to die?
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Post by a_r_egerton »

blackjack1 wrote: 07 Oct 2020, 08:48 I really liked Lord Eldus. I was annoyed at the author for having him die. I was also puzzled: if this book is a kind of intro to the series, why is it following someone about to die?
[Game of Thrones[/i] did the same thing; Martin had used Ned Stark as a major POV character. He was sympathetic and readers were cheering him on -- right until he got killed.

My guess is that Tysz is demonstrating the fact that anybody can die in Voulhire. Galen is probably the only truly safe character in the series, while everybody else is vulnerable.
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Post by Kate Park »

The death of Lord Eldus came as a complete shock to me. I was not expecting it in the slightest. However, his son, Marshus, will probably play a part later in other books. The author would not have killed the entire family but one son unless that certain character had an important role to play. From Lord Eldus' sudden and unexpected death, we can probably assume that the characters do not last long in the Voulhire series without being killed.
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