Wednesday August 18th, 1999
Ray posted this very interesting bit about Arutha:
Arutha (the Prince) has no fear of personal failure, i.e. 'being good enough.' If he has a character flaw, it's a vanity, what middle management types call 'the error of preciousness,' the certainty that he's irreplaceable.
It comes from being very, very good when you're very, very young. He's learned a thing or two by the time we reach the Krondor series, which is why he's willing to delegate to James.
His only fear of failure is involved with not getting the job done, and that's not fear so much as concern that something might prevent him; he never for a moment doubts his own ability. His own wisdom, time to time, but never his ability.
Arutha Jamison lived in the shadow of two great men all his life, and as a result he took little pleasures in his own talents and worried about what he saw as lacks in comparison to his father and his namesake.
Further along in the post he discusses the conDion's values:
All three of Borric's sons were concerned with duty, not wealth and power.
Someone earlier in the thread alluded to the Kennedys. Despite their well publicized foibles, the fact is two of the brothers were war heroes, Joe dying in combat as a bomber pilot, and JFK's well reported rescue of his crew despite his own wounds on PT 109 during World War II. And despite wealth, most Kennedys are raised with an almost 'nobless oblige' a requirement to give service to the nation. Those that don't go into politics often work quietly for charity or educational foundations and institutions.
In a sense, that's much like the line of conDoins before the twins. They don't think in terms of personal wealth and power, but in terms of duty to the nation.
'Duty' if often overlooked in today's society, possibly because of our growing cynicism duringKorea and Viet Nam.
So in short (aren't you glad I finally got around to that?) The answer is 'those characters were driven by duty. Not honor, not greed, not a lust for glory, but rather to do the best they could by the people to whom they were responsible.
