Verw nadan

[bunn]

I was re-reading The Other Wind yesterday.  In The Other Wind, it is revealed that long ago the people of Earthsea made an agreement, the Verw nadan, that they would divide into two peoples based on a choice.

Some of the people chose to keep the power to make new things and build wealth.  They renounced the Old Speech, the Langage of the Making and of magic, in which the true names of all things are made, and they gave up the power to fly on the wind, travel far and live long lives as dragons.  Those were the humans.

The other people, kept the ability to be dragons and speak the Old Speech, and to keep these things, they gave up the ability to make things and stories.

Now I am wondering which I would pick.

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I'd be a dragon.

I think.

Until I change my mind ...

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

I'd be a dragon too. I don't think I'd change my mind, either; it would explain the writer's block, at any rate.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Of course.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I keep going back and forward. The ability to wither people with a single burst of flame is attractive, as is the flying and the general absence of paperwork and bureaucracy.

But not making things! I *love* making things!

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

I'd want to make things and tell stories, and I'd hope very much that my loved ones didn't want to be dragons.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Sounds like at least one person is definitely the correct species!

I don't mind losing the entrepreneurial activity, but making things and telling stories - that would be a great loss!