Posted by LP on November 17, 1997 at 14:50:05:
Posted by Cecilia on November 17, 1997 at 09:30:20:
In Reply to: Re: Thank the gods!! posted by LP on November 14, 1997 at 18:14:52:
: Okay, onto Santy. Santino seems to like playing mind games with people. That's what I got out of the books. And he is very
contemptuous of people as well. And he probably feels rather contemptuous towards his former protege. Well, picture the
scenario this way:
: Armand has probably spent a good portion of his 500 years thinking about the person who stole him away from Marius.
Wouldn't you, had you been stolen away from bliss, think incessantly about the one who took you way? Okay. So, Armand
is not all that stupid. He has probably realized that Santino was a great manipulator. So there can be several reasons for the
chess game:
: 1) If Santino challenged him: Santino was playing with Armand. Intimidating him, sizing him up.
: 2) If Armand challenged him: Armand was sizing up Santino, perhaps seeing who was best at the intricacies involved with
mental planning and the like in chess.
: 3) --"--: Armand wanted to see who was the better of the two. He might very well still be intimidated by Santino, after all,
who knows *exactly* how much Santino had changed, and facing a demon from your past can be tramatic in itself. Now,
where was I? Oh, yes. So Armand wanted to pit his mental skills against his old coven leader. See if Santino was still
(forgive me for saying it this way...) Master, Leader, or if he [Armand] had become the Master of the two
: 4) The two were really bored and were sick of being skunked by Khayman in chess.
I like all your possibilities.
: Now, what *I* really want to know is who won the damned game!!
Armand of course (grin).
Cecilia
(I moved this up so if others want to join in they may and can actually see this.)
*grin* Okay, I give. Why? Being a true believer in Santino-ness I must point out some of his finer points. He's crafty. Not only did he manage to take control of a coven in a very important city, but he was also able to keep control of that coven. Something Armand wasn't able to do with his, once the laws were challenged by Lestat and Gabrielle.
Santy, however, was able to:
1) create the Great Laws.
2) enforce the Great Laws (which must have been a challenge in the beginning, yet he manipulated (convinced--same difference) people into following him and his laws.
3) when he decided to leave the coven he managed not to be hunted down and destroyed, which is what I would imagine the coven members would do. That's why coven leaders always kill off the coven members. See Armand.)
4) Not get killed for being a 'rogue" vampire.
These things show his craftiness. For the first example, this shows incredible innovation on his part for keeping vampires in line, and keeping himself in power. Armand, in Stat's books, has never shown innovation of this kind.
The second example shows Santy's ability to manipulate and control people, be it through fear, or intimidation (throwing Armand in the fire for both of these, thus controlling Armand and the coven). Manipulation because in ruling any people there is always manipulation involved. And he kept them under control until he left. He was a leading influence. The coven was "lost" without him.
This shows the ability to plan, counter-plan, and strategical forethought. (I will admit his tactical thought is probably not very good since Marius did escape his little assassination attempt. But it is strategy, not tactics, which is involved in chess.)
Armand however has never been shown to think all that far ahead. Now, I'm not saying he doesn't think ahead at all, it is just his style is not as sneaky as everyone thinks. If the opportunity presents itself, he will take advantage of it. (His draining of Lestat for instance. Would he have tried seducing Lestat if Lestat had not been interested? No. Lestat was stronger, Armand knew this. Lestat was interested, Armand knew this. So go after Lestat and try and defeat him by seducing him.) He does not try and hide from the other vampires, he destroys them, and then refuses to have anything to do with the vampiric.
Armand takes advantage of the situation while Santino tries to create it; manipulate the circumstances to his own favor.
Staying out of the line of fire, not getting caught, may have been from Santy's staying "underground", or lack of interest, but I'm not so certain about that. He associated with other blood drinkers, though to what extent we do not know. I'm fairly certain that blood drinkers knew he was around, but they were never able to get him, just as vampires knew Armand killed the young vampires, but they could never get him because they were dead. Santy and Armand could very well be equal in this respect of avoidance.
Given all this I'm willing to bet that it was probably Santino who won the chess game. From what we know about the two of them Santy has a better head for strategy than Armand does. Also, Armand's modus operandi has changed very very little, if at all, from the time he was with Santino's coven to the time he was with Daniel. I can't say about Santy's mode of operation obviously, but if Armand's has changed little, Santino probably still knows how Armand's mind works.
Heh, heh. Challengers? LP, Guardian of Santino-ness.