Let's talk about heroism

[rolanni]

This post potentially contains spoilers for Liaden Universe® novels: Mouse and Dragon, Fledgling, Saltation, Ghost Ship. . .I think that's it, but there may be more.  Probably best not to read the following unless you've read most-if-not-all of the Liaden novels.

Spoiler space.

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Possibly the most maligned figure in the Liaden Universe® is Daav yos'Phelium, deadbeat dad, slacker, and false kinsman, whose existence is entirely and only in service of his own pleasure.

For those with foggy memories: Before Val Con takes up the Ring, his father, Daav, is delm of Korval; a position he finds burdensome (see "Who wants it least will do it best").  It can be argued that he's not a very good delm of Korval, but he's certainly far from the worst.

He becomes a far better delm once he has lifemated with Aelliana Caylon, and has access to her support, advice, and unique view of Balance and society.  With her connivance, he is able to fulfill some of his personal goals, and avoid being consumed by the delm's melant'i.

During his brief marriage, in fact, he becomes very much reconciled to the necessity of standing Korval.  By the time we're nearing the end of Mouse and Dragon, he's actually quite content with his life, clan-bound though it is.

Tragedy then strikes:  His lifemate is gruesomely killed before his eyes, having made and acted upon the split-second decision to literally take the bullet that was meant for him.

In other parts of the universe, it has been made clear that there is a set, or possibly more than one set, of Very Bad People out there and they are specifically gunning for, as it appears, Daav.  The possibility exists that this/these set/sets of VBP are gunning for Korval as a group -- in fact, it is later revealed that they are -- but at the point when Aelliana is murdered, this question is up in the air.

A third attempt on Daav's life (this after Aelliana's death) seems to pretty positively pinpoint a Terran group as the single set of VBP, and that they are after Daav.

Daav, with input from Er Thom and Anne -- for he did not decide on this plan on the spur of the moment, or all by himself -- and with the necessity of Balancing Aelliana's death in the manner Aelliana would wish it Balanced, decides that he can perhaps reduce the danger to others of the clan by removing himself from the field.  In order to make his exile from clan and kin productive, he will pursue Aelliana's Balance, which is, yes, a very long-sighted, subtle and essentially non-heroic Balance.

I point out at this juncture that, to a Liaden, to be clanless is to be dead.  Daav, having been a Scout, has some counter-conditioning to this cultural imperative, but even as a Scout, he had been the head of a team, the members of which he treats with as extended family.  Further, except that people are shooting at him and by that tendency endangering the people he loves and is responsible for, he is not burdened by his family; his family is what kept him from committing suicide in the immediate aftermath of Aelliana's death.

Everybody with me so far?

OK.  I'll try to wrap the rest of this up quickly.  Oh, and in case I didn't say, there is textual evidence for all these wild claims being made by the author; though you (Universal You) may have to read closely and think a little.

So! Decision taken, Daav leaves the clan, fakes his suicide and emerges as his alter-ego, in pursuit of Aelliana's Balance.  It is his intention to dedicate himself to this Balance, making the Balance his life.  Becoming, in essence, a Balance-monk, where nothing that does not directly serve the Balance is permitted to distract him.

Aelliana, as we know, scotches that business.  She knows that Daav needs "clan" and she provides "clan" so that he can function, and live as full a life as possible, given the very great losses in his immediate past.

Which is how Jen Sar Kiladi comes to take a mistress (or, to be taken by a mistress) with whom he eventually has a child, and has a comfortable, even pleasant life while pursuing Aelliana's Balance as she wished it to be pursued.

Now we come 'round to it; the heroism thing, that some folks want to talk about.

We are not here talking about the folks who think that Daav "abdicated" his authority so he could have a "pleasant life."

Nor the folks who think that Daav "abandoned" his son into the care of unfeeling, abusive strangers.

But the folks who think that Daav's self-exile from clan and kin in pursuit of Balance is not heroism.  Who think that it's A WASTE.

Which is to say -- his choices are unheroic and self-serving; built purely on selfish foundations.

Apparently, the only way one may be a hero is to go out, lasers blasting, and kill the bastids.  Or figure out a way to take all their money.  Expose them to public ridicule.  To Make Them Pay Right Now.

Making them pay (much) later is not heroic; it's. . .lazy at best and reprehensible at worst.  A hero's only coin is immediate gratification.

Clearly, I reject that.  I see Daav as a hero -- and a particularly tragic hero at that.  He leaves everything he wanted and cared about.  That he comes to have a liveable life does not negate his losses or his sacrifices.  He does not have "everything" he wants (see, "I want my father back, you son of a bitch," for more on this concept); he would have been far, far happier had his lifemate never been murdered.  He would have been far happier if murderous people didn't make a decision to leave his support structure and his son seem not only rational, but the only good decision available to him.

The fact that he has a life after surviving tragedy does not make him despicable; it makes him human. The fact that his Balance is a long one does not make him a self-serving wimp.

Heroism comes in many shapes and sizes.

I rest my case.

Comments?

Counter-opinions?  Note that I'm looking for closely reasoned counter-opinions, not knee-jerk reactions, based on current US "mainstream" cultural mores.

#SFWAPro

Comments

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

OK, so Daav did not abandon the field.

I have read all the books -- oh yes, more than once. He comes back into the main fray at Erob...but his time as Professor Kiladi does not seem to be spent actively pursuing balance for Aelliana. He helps Kamele with the documents problem; he trains his daughter Theo indirectly; I do not see these things as contributing to Balance, unless Aelli was all about having and training a girl child. Indeed, on Delgado NOTHING about that was really in his control. I do not find text evidence for Balance until he is called back and rejoins the clan at Erob, and then goes on to Surebleak.

If I have missed some evidence, you might tell me where.

:)

For the good of the clan.

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

I agree with your argument. Heroes are often not Rambo types. Case in point: The first responders at the Boston Marathon.
It is clear that Korval deliberately mislead Liadens outside the clan, but the clan was aware of and approved of Daav's motivation. Balance is after all a personal matter.
The thrust of Daav and Aelliana's Balance was teaching people to understand each other through "Cultural Genetics." This is a goal with no finite end. The quiet courage needed to pursue such a goal practically defines heroism.
I'm afraid I don't at the moment remember in which book I read it , but in one book Anthora is asked about the welfare of the members of the clan and becomes aware of one more than expected. I think that extra was Daav/Aelliana but probably not Theo since she had not been seen yet.
As a final argument for Daav's heroism. Who else would walk up to the Tree and promise to personally cut it down if ever harassed a pilot again.

[sb-moof.livejournal.com]

Darn it. Just lost my long comment. I'm not iPad typing all of that again. The evidence that it is balance is in Mouse and Dragon.

Re: For the good of the clan.

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

I meant to add that the Tree was apparently aware of Daav and Aelliana's continued existence.It showed its approval with those two seed pods.

[a-c-fiorucci.livejournal.com]

People really think that? About Daav?? That he's a selfish, bad person? Wow.
It had literally never occurred to me that you could read his character that way.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I agree. It would not be heroic if Daav went "all guns blasting on evil dudes" particularly with Aelliana residing in his brain. Because of his situation whatever he did had to be agreed upon by Aelliana and she wouldn't agree to more violence as balance. Vigilantism is not heroic!

When Daav leaves Delgado to join the fight at Nev'Lorn, he is seen as heroic. I think this is because the balance/fight is not personal vengeance.

I must say that I will be interest to see what changes Uncle has in store for Daav. We see him in one scene in Necessity's Child but it is a short walk on only.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

Helping Kamele with the documents problem ensures that the location where he pursues his Balance, Delgado University, is not harmed and will therefore continue to be the location where he pursues his Balance. Looked at very coldly, Theo is yet another carrier of his Balance: a half-Liaden child raised completely Terran. All of his (presumably) hundreds if not thousands of his students also serve to carry forth his Balance; they've been very carefully trained in Cultural Genetics by a Master, and likely subtly influenced to think about matters of culture in ways that the Terran Party would be quite dismayed to encounter. That he also inculcates his Terran students with something of Liad's culture would similarly dismay the Department of the Interior had he but known of them in his exile.

[xengar.livejournal.com]

I have not read Mouse and Dragon, but from the other books my understanding is that the majority of Daav's activities that constitute the Balance take place of screen as it were. Teaching the future teachers so that in a generation or two Terra and Liad might no longer be at each other's throats. Aelliana wouldn't want a direct Balance against those that killed her, but rather an indirect removal of the REASON they killed her.

Of course, since they didn't know about the Department of the Interior, they may have made the wrong decision, but that was the decision they made with the information they had.
---------
Unrelated, with Mouse and dragon being the only one I haven't read, I seem to have picked up most of the major plot points from the other books. I'm still going to read at some point to find out the surrounding details, but nothing so far in this post has been particularly spoilery to me.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

OK, I read that one only once, and only within this year. I'll re-read it.

[otterb.livejournal.com]

I also agree that Daav is acting in heroic fashion. He makes the best choices he can for Korval, since that is his duty as delm, even when those choices don't suit his preferences - see his turning down Aelliana's invitation to partner her off-world. Not knowing yet about the Department of the Interior, he thinks that ignorance killed Aelliana, and therefore he sets out to reduce the amount of ignorance in the galaxy.

But then Daav has been one of my very favorite characters since I first read Mouse and Dragon.

[magda-vogelsang.livejournal.com]

Daav is one of my favorite characters in the series, and my understanding of him is very much as you have said. At first I believed that his grief for and need to balance Aelli's death (in a surprisingly constructive fashion of which she would have approved) was what drove him to leave his family, and while I understood it, I also found it tragic for both his sake and Val Con's. I was even less inclined to judge his actions harshly when I read Mouse and Dragon, and realized that he had believed himself to be the specific target of the assassins, and that he was drawing danger to his family by staying.

And yes, it is clear that it was Aelli who persuaded him that he (or rather Kiladi) still had a right to a life with people to care for. Nonetheless, when it became evident that his son was in danger, he dropped everything (including his balance) to discover what was going on, and what he could do to help.

For the love of Clan and knowledge

[dmellieon.livejournal.com]

Daav a child abandoning wastrel? 0.o?
Okay... Deep Breath.
I've been a faithful lurker for the past several months but I just had to make the time to come to the defense of my favorite character.

His Balance is Knowledge via "Cultrual Genetics". Getting people to understand the beginnings of their culture in relationship to other cultures is his weapon of revenge. Killing the mindless prejudice that was the force behind the killing of Aelliana is his life goal. This is in "Mouse and Dragon".

Could he have kept in contact with his family after faking his death? Sure, but what would have happened if just one pin beam or note left in a dropbox had been intercepted? Or one misspoken word by a child overheard? Then leaving the family would have been for nought.

In my eyes he is a hero not a perfect one -who is? - but a real hero. Quietly working towards his goal far from home and all he had known and loved. Finding love again, with a nudge from Aelliana, and raising a child in a different culture. Then supporting and taking pride in that child when she left all that she had grown up with (just as he did). Not flinching from Necessity when called back to being Daav, killing when he had to and facing his family and his new position within the clan. All of this without turning to drugs, alcoholism or other crazed escapism behaviors. That to me makes him a hero.
I do wish he had at least left a note for Kamele as Prof. Kiladi when he had to return to being Daav. I do wonder how he will react when Kamele catches up with him - provided he survives...

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I'm still boggled by the idea that there are readers out there who consider Daav to be a "deadbeat dad, slacker, and false kinsman, whose existence is entirely and only in service of his own pleasure."

(Honestly -- have these people read the same books I was reading?)

Which is a roundabout way of saying that you're not going to get much in the way of reasoned counterargument from me, because I agree with you.

Re: For the good of the clan.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Yah! What they said!

By which I mean I agree with Bookmobiler et al .....

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

(Honestly -- have these people read the same books I was reading?)

I know; it's like: I wrote down these particular words, in this particular order for a reason, you know.

But, yes. There are people who apparently believe that nothing can excuse a father's setting aside his child, and that anyone who does so is a "deadbeat dad" and worthy only of scorn.

I'm pretty sure that people who are cultural absolutists shouldn't be reading the Liaden books; it can't be good for them...

Re: For the love of Clan and knowledge

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I do wish he had at least left a note for Kamele as Prof. Kiladi when he had to return to being Daav.

Yes, but what would he have said?

"My very dearest Kamele, our life together has been a lie and a cheat; the man you loved and trusted is a figment, a phantom. A joke. Also, my lifemate has been living in my head and actively taking part in the relationship since before its beginning.

"Necessity now demands my presence elsewhere. I leave you everything accumulated by the man who does not exist, and the shame of having our relationship terminated by the lesser partner.

"Please believe that I treasure our shared past, and will always care for you.

Jen Sar Kiladi"

Re: For the good of the clan.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The Tree being the author of this particular bit of mischief, it had better acknowledge and approve of Aelliana's continued existence.

Remember all the times she assured Daav that she would never leave him...?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I'm still going to read at some point to find out the surrounding details, but nothing so far in this post has been particularly spoilery to me.

Good to know, thank you! It's obviously hard for me to know what's a spoiler. :)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

stands up and cheers

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Honest, I don't make this stuff up. Some people seem to discount the. . .effect of having had your wife assassinated in front of you. The fact that he would have engineered that so he could retire from being Korval. . .I don't think that I that bad a writer, but apparently there's a disconnect somewhere, because more than one reader believes this.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that people who are cultural absolutists shouldn't be reading the Liaden books; it can't be good for them...

No kidding. It's like they're living, breathing examples of why Daav chose the sort of Balance that he did.

heros

[ednaemode.livejournal.com]

"'But, yes. There are people who apparently believe that nothing can excuse a father's setting aside his child, and that anyone who does so is a "deadbeat dad" and worthy only of scorn."

I bravely admit my first reaction to Daav's leaving, after becoming my favorite character in Scout's Progress, was "how could he DO that", to his son, his brother, and his clan??? And, moreover, to HIMSELF? The "why" is the reason we keep reading, imho. I can't remember this minute the Liaden story where this "why" is stated thusly: "who can fully understand the necessities of another's secret heart?" but it is the crux of the matter. Otherwise, Jean Valjean is just a thief and a jailbird, our military heroes are just abandoning their families while they go off to "play soldier", and the Dad who works across the country from his family because that is where the work is is just another deadbeat.

Daav is a reluctant hero and sacrificed his entire life (potentially, events turned it into 20+ years) as Daav to achieve his balance. Was it necessarily the best decision, perhaps not. None of them were thinking all that clearly at that juncture. And the next meeting with Kamele is bound to be "interesting".

Re: For the love of Clan and knowledge

[dmellieon.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is the kicker! When I wrote that comment I was wondering what he would have said. More than "Gone for a pack of smokes BRB <3" but the "whole truth" as you succinctly summed it up wouldn't have been quite right either. I don't view his life with Kamele as a complete "lie and cheat". In that culture, in that time he was Jen Sar and he was there for her. Jen Sar, as Aelliana pointed out, is a part of Daav. Existentialism in the Liadian Universe 101 - sign me up! Anyway, to answer your question, something along the lines of "My life before I became Chair has demanded my return to my home world. I am so very sorry but I cannot take you with me. I have left everything of mine to you including my heart." Yeah, I know. Lame, painfully lame. I guess my heart goes to to Kamele, the one left behind. I've walked in her shoes and it is a slow painful walk, especially in the dark. Even a candle of truth would have helped. If she does catch up with him and the Clan I can see it being a very painful scene for her - how could it not? That situation reminds me of being with a friend who had been told earlier in the day by her boyfriend of two years (and hoped for fiance) that he was gay. He was gentle and truthful. Both had cried and hugged at the time but she was devastated by that evening. They went on with their lives and still remain friendly. I hope the same for Kamele.

I vote Daav is a hero

[ext-2097101.livejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Why Daav had to leave.

Daav chose to support Anne's research by releasing info from Korval's diaries that provided evidence of the common roots of Liadens, Terrans and Yxtrang. He sent this anonymously to Terra but somebody figures out that it came from him (DOI?)

After Aelliana dies in his stead, Clonak tells Daav that the assassain was sent by the Terran Party to kill him. He has a bounty on his head. He is now demonstrably a clear and present danger to his family, because the assassins won't stop coming until he's dead and they don't care about collateral damage.

Why does the Terran Party want him dead? Because they despise any hint that there is a connection between Terrans, Liadens and Yxtrang. So do Liadens but there response is to give the cut direct to Anne at a party. Balance is a double edged sword on Liad and Korval's blade is very sharp.

So all Daav knows is that Aelliana is dead, saving him. The threat is targeted only at him but if he's anywhere near his family they are also in danger. The threat is due to cultural bigotry primarily based on ignorance and the only real solution is a really long term goal of reducing bigotry by reducing ignorance about cultural difference.

After all, Aelliana would not have approved Korval declaring war on Terrans. A - a lot of non-responsible people would have died, B - it would only reinforce the bigotry which caused the problem in the first place.

Balance and keeping his family safe required Daav to give his son into the loving care of his best friend and twin brother. He didn't abandon him to mean strangers. Anne taught him to play music. Shan willingly shared his mother. His son was still in the care of the clan. To a Liaden your clan is your life. In a very real sense, Daav gave up his life, walked away from everything that he still had left after Aelliana's death - in order to save everything that he loved.

To me Daav is a quiet hero. The kind of hero that doesn't get a medal, or a parade - not even a pat on the back. They just do what has to be done and they personally pay whatever price is required.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

There was a recent TV segment about a Japanese woman living in Peru (it's part of a series where they chase down various Japanese living in odd parts of the world). This particular woman is in her 60s, if I remember correctly. And she is living in the worst part of the slums, accessibly only by walking quite a distance.

Anyway, they asked what she was doing there. She looked into the camera and said, "They killed my husband 10 years ago." Apparently she was referring to the local gangs and such. Well, but what are you doing here, you could go back to Japan, your family and friends would be happy to take you in?

"I am teaching the women to knit." It turned out that she has built up a group which knits leg warmers, sweaters, other fashionable goods. They use alpaca wool, and their products are sold in Japan and America. She goes to the wholesalers and gets the wool, she teaches them to knit, she designs and teaches her designs for the articles -- and she is slowly turning that little corner of the slums into a productive piece of society.

When I saw that and heard her explanation of what she is doing there, I thought of Daav and his Balance.