Brad DeLong wrote:
>> Charlie Bell wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> ----- > >> I still can't figure out whether _Consider Phlebas_ has a happy
>>>>>> ending or not. In fact, I still can't figure out whether _A Player of
>>>>>> Games_ has a happy ending or not...
>>>>>>
>>>>> It's easy. NONE of his books has a happy ending.
>>>>> That said, _A Player of Games_ doesn't have a sad ending.
>>>>
>>>> Spoiler space...
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>>>>
>>>> Genocidal war in the Magellenic Clouds? I'm not sure what Special
>>>> Circumstances expected Gurgeh to accomplish, but did he accomplish
>>>> it? And what was the cost to Gurgeh?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Brad DeLong
>>>>
>>>> GCU Categorical Imperative
>>>
>>> Gurgeh turned out OK... shaken but not stirred. And the purpose was to break
>>> the game, to cause the fall of the empire from within. Gurgeh did what
>>> they'd hoped he could, but less than they expected, I think.
>>
>> But there's the comment in Excession about not wanting a rerun of the
>> Azadian debacal. This suggests that either it didn't go to plan, or the
>> plan was considered inappropriate by the rest of society (my interpretation).
>>
>> Claire Bickell
>
> What, then, does the rest of the Culture think that Special
> Circumstancse should have done with Azad?
Followed the establised procedure rather than a few Minds interferring on
their own initiative and possilbely against the decisions made by the
relevant committees. There's a strong sense of a conspiracy with SC in
Flere Imsaho's rationalisation and justification at the end, and during,
PoG. Whether you think they were right or not is another matter, but I
think it's fairly clear that, by the time of Excession, what was done was
considered to be wrong on some level, at least within SC itself.
Claire Bickell
