Until that moment, in his entire life, Garion had been an honest and truthful boy…

Pawn of Prophecy – chapter 3

Synopsis

Old Wolf conceives of a trip to the nearby trip to Upper Gralt and convinces Pol to let Garion come with. During the trip Garion gives Wolf the name Mister Wolf and the latter is pleased and fills the time with stories, including those of his parents who he asked about. When arriving at the village (where Wolf discovers Garion can’t read and is displeased), they eat at a tavern and head to the spice merchant to get items that Pol wanted. There they encounter a Margo and Thulls, races that Garion has never encountered but Mister Wolf has. Wolf’s demeanor changes to one of servile stupidity and Garion follows suit, outright lying for the first time under the advice of the “dry voice” in his head. They turn back to the farm rather than stay in the village as planned. Wolf and Pol have a semi-private conversation about the meaning and implications of having a Murgo and Thulls so near. By morning he is gone.

Discussion

The story tells us that Garion is an “honest and truthful boy.” For the most part he seems so but he has skirted the edge of it in conversations with Pol, for example when Doroon broke his arm and he had to find Zubrette. He also steals from her pantry for Wolf so that he can “earn” stories from him. We still don’t know much about how Garion spends his days. His general demeanor is open and so we are left to believe the narrators interpretation for the moment.

Another major moment of honesty is where Pol is being vulnerable with Wolf about not being fit for the task of “raising boys.” We know she has raised many children from her book, so I imagine this comes from the understanding of what Garion will become. She may be apprehensive because he is literally being raised to kill a god and how much influence she will have on shaping into the person that he needs to be to accomplish that. But in order to do that both Pol and Wolf are keeping secrets. They can’t be honest. They are in hiding. What does this dishonesty mean for the farm? The people they have chosen to hide among? Was there another way and why didn’t they choose it?

There are smaller moments of honesty as well. For example, in the village when Wolf and Garion go to buy the spices, the merchant is honest. Everyone who is interacting with them gets their fair share.

One of the biggest moments of the chapter is the deception of Wolf and Garion in presenting who they are to the merchant, Margo and thulls. Wolf knows something and presents a different side of the world to Garion, one in which people, including ones he knows, may not be who they appear. Garion doesn’t question the need for this in the moment. He trusts Wolf and there may be an aspect where he wants to earn his respect and admiration so he also misrepresents himself. The “dry voice” advises him that this is a potentially dangerous situation and is more directly intervening, but there is a personal connection that I believe Garion is also leaning against.

From the other perspective, what is honest and truthful about the Murgo and Thulls? They travel in the open not hiding who they are. They are presented as suspicious, right down to their currency (something the reader would assume is inert). This is commented on by Wolf? There is a mystery to them and they remind me of the way Slytherin’s were first presented in Harry Potter. Similarly, that there is an arrogance, impatience, and disdain for anyone who isn’t like them. There is an honesty to this. But for the story and plot, we do not know who the Murgos and who they serve. We don’t yet know about the Thulls and their service either.

Personal Effect

It took a long time for me to figure out what I wanted the theme for this chapter to be. As I reviewed the places that honesty presented itself, more kept coming up as I thought about the definition and application of honesty and who it affected in the characters lives.

When I think about it for my life, I came up with a lot of questions that I’m not sure that I have the answers to. The first is What am I hiding compared to what am I being open about? What does being honest mean to me? I want to believe that I am honest, but when I look at individual scenarios, pure honesty isn’t there. I am sometimes protecting myself or my ego, protecting someone else, or avoiding and issue that seems inconvenient or inconsequential.

Culturally and socially, what does honesty mean now? Sometimes it is interpreted as “being real” but that can be an excuse to be unkind or careless. When is honesty necessary and what is the price? In these situations, should I be avoiding less and protecting myself and my ego less? Should I be protecting others less? If I’m not being honest (and about what), what is this doing to myself and the people I am around? 

At my age, I have developed a benchmark about where I should be “honest” or not, and I haven’t examined this directly, recently. I may be relying on habit that I developed in my twenties or thirties that may not be productive for my growth anymore. It feels like this answer would be on a continuum and rely on context. Since the situations I would apply “being honest” automatically have drastically changed from being younger to now, I should take more thinking this through and possibly building new practices for living and practices with honesty.

Blessing

Blessing for Garion’s parents who were honest, ordinary people and were killed because their lineage wasn’t.