Imagine you're Morgase an hour after fleeing Caemlyn. Where do you go? What do you do? Was Morgase's plan to go beg for help in a country where she cannot legally enter truly the best plan? (In hindsight the answer seems to be a resounding no. Despite her getting everything she could've hoped for in the end, of course)
Should Morgase, ashamed of her royal screw up with Gaebril, just have given up? Obviously a monkey would be a better ruler, she totally just rolled on her back when the gigolo came to town. After all, she had no idea Gaebril was using Compulsion. The tedious plot could have ended with her retiring, for example. She could have gone into hiding on some remote farm belonging to one of those minor Houses who love Trakand. That could have been the end of it. Galad and Morgase meeting was no way worth the dullness of all those chapters set in Amador.
So, what would you have done in Morgase's place?
Should Morgase, ashamed of her royal screw up with Gaebril, just have given up? Obviously a monkey would be a better ruler, she totally just rolled on her back when the gigolo came to town. After all, she had no idea Gaebril was using Compulsion. The tedious plot could have ended with her retiring, for example. She could have gone into hiding on some remote farm belonging to one of those minor Houses who love Trakand. That could have been the end of it. Galad and Morgase meeting was no way worth the dullness of all those chapters set in Amador.
So, what would you have done in Morgase's place?
I liked a lot of those Amador chapters, especially the growing respect and even affection between her and Pedron Niall (I really miss Niall; for all his faults it seems like he was the one decent and halfway wise Captain Commander). It also provided a convenient intro for full scale unambiguous Seanchan re-invasion. Anyway....
Morgase had few options, and none of them good; the one thing she (rightly) decided she could NOT do was stay anywhere in Andor, waiting for Rahvin to send out search parties to swoop her up and restore her as his figurehead. Beyond that things become difficult, as she also realized at the time; she could seek sanctuary as a relative of the Damodreds by marriage, but that opens the door for them to try using her in some convoluted plot to gain the Andoran throne, the Cairheinin, or both. Murandy was a disaster area even before the Dragon was Reborn and unlikely to change; Ghaeldan wasn't much better. Most of the west coast was under Seanchan control that was only increasing (though non-existence intelligence and "fog of Rahvin" probably meant she didn't know much of what happened after Falme or she'd have never gone to Amadicia). Rahvin had already turned her against the Tower, so the otherwise best and most natural option was also off the table. That pretty much leaves the Borderlands, Tear or Illian by default. I'd probably have headed to the Borderlands and hoped their respect for women and my title would prevent me being raped in the street, or forceably married to the first overambitious lord who found me, or his son. Probably her best bet would've been to go try to seduce King Paitar of Arafel, though it seems doubtful that would've worked. Let's not forget though, Rahvin was surprised she retained enough conscious thought to even manage escape, so just getting to Amador was a major accomplishment.
As it's explained later on, another nation's army would result in uniting the Houses to fight the invaders. It's in the bones of Andor. Morgase just could not seek the help of another kingdom (or foreign House, not that the Damodreds seem to be in any shape to provide her an army - their enemies would have taken advantage of this in the civil war). None of them would have provided her an army without important gains in trade or territory, and none of them would have remained around if it meant starting a war in Andor against allied Houses. If Morgase showed up with Cairhienin, or Murandians some of the Houses would have fought her before turning to fighting Gaebril, and it's not only Morgase who would have been finished, but her House too (the civil war would have happened sooner than later, once it became official Morgase had vanished. With her escape, he could no longer pretend she ruled and he could pick no other puppet, which was her little victory over him.).
Morgase needed a big army at her back for the civil war certain to come (it was a matter of months, the time for the Houses to negotiate and mobilize). She had to make a decisive move to retake the capital, and hope that when they saw her fight Gaebril, some of the Houses she had alienated would rally to her. She must have known her rule was in jeopardy and she might have no choice but to abdicate in the end - it's mostly Elayne's right to rule she intended to preserve, I think.
Her best option was to mobilize an Andoran army, but she needed a General. This option was removed from her when she couldn't find Bryne. Her compulsion prevented her from seeking the second best (of a series of all bad options) option, which would have been to seek the Amyrlin's help. Sisters would have been sent to negotiate with the Houses Morgase had alienated to make them help Morgase to oust Gaebril, and negotiate at which price. Morgase didn't know, but Elaida even had additional personal reasons to throw the weight of TV on her side (her foretelling).
Given that she could hardly achieve this with mercenaries (only a fool would attempt this), that left Morgase only one choice: the Children of the Light. She was well aware Niall was a rational man and fine political animal. She knew he had long wanted to increase his influence in Andor and undermine that of Tar Valon - and the deal she wanted to offer him did just that. He would not refuse her, it was only a matter of what price he would ask. If she played her game well, she might have Galad at her side, and as many Andoran Children as possible, when she returned to Andor. For Niall, Morgase might even set a positive precedent in calling to the Children to the help of a rightful ruler, the way a ruler might have sought AS help. An army of Children would not please the Houses, but not the same way a foreign national army would. They would be seen as mercenaries, not invaders, though they would worry a lot about the price Morgase paid for them. If they didn't force her to abdicate once Gaebril was gone, she looked for decades of work to undo the damages, but she knew all this.
In her position of weakness, the last thing Morgase could do was to go to Pedron Niall and beg. She had to make no offer, she had to let him know what she wished by askign someone else, and let him come to her and make her his offer. It was the only way she could regain a little of a bargaining position. That's why she went not to Niall but to his puppet Ailron. Niall saw right through her game, and let her stew. He demolished her bargaining position, and when she had none left, he did give her what she wanted.
What Morgase didn't foresee, and she can be excused because not even Niall and Balwer saw this coming (everybody thought Niall had those elements under control), is that her presence and the imminence of a deal with her would spark the rabid fanatics to move against Niall.
What do you think Morgase should have done?
16/05/2011 08:42:20 PM
- 2057 Views
Much as she did, really.
16/05/2011 10:34:11 PM
- 1069 Views
Agreed. Elayne's most unfortunate trait in ToM is excessive & impolitic loyalty
17/05/2011 02:39:32 AM
- 1022 Views
To be fair, I don't think Elaynes playing "Who's the daddy?" for political reasons.
19/05/2011 08:32:03 AM
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Re: To be fair, I don't think Elaynes playing "Who's the daddy?" for political reasons.
24/05/2011 02:50:30 PM
- 1018 Views
Honestly, Galad joining the Whitecloaks was indictment enough for me.
27/05/2011 11:15:54 AM
- 870 Views
The Children have been entirely seen through the perspectives of their enemies - hardly a fair shot
02/06/2011 11:48:53 PM
- 823 Views
Because the world conveniently divides into "the Children" and "their enemies", by mutual agreement.
03/06/2011 01:44:09 AM
- 817 Views
Re: What do you think Morgase should have done?
18/05/2011 12:32:30 PM
- 1179 Views
Well, Amador wouldn't have been my first choice.
19/05/2011 08:52:46 AM
- 997 Views
Re: Well, Amador wouldn't have been my first choice.
19/05/2011 12:43:21 PM
- 959 Views
I thought Morgase intended to not involve the Whitecloacks at all when she went to Amadicia
19/05/2011 02:08:40 PM
- 837 Views
Re: I thought Morgase intended to not involve the Whitecloacks at all when she went to Amadicia
19/05/2011 08:29:55 PM
- 881 Views
In terms of what I would've done, attempting to regain the throne would not have been it.
20/05/2011 12:21:05 AM
- 741 Views