Lois McMaster Bujold Fans discussion

Caz's crow seems to be a major character in the story.

What role does he play? Why is he significant? Was he sent by the Bastard?

Do you think his missing tail feathers correspond with Caz's mutilated fingers? (this idea is from chapter 8 notes http://www.dendarii.com/reviews/tammy... )

There's never much of an issue made of Caz's fingers, so that doesn't seem too likely.

Is the crow sacred to the Bastard? I forget if that was mentioned. It seems like there's gotta be a connection between Caz's crow and the Bastard.

A nudge from the gods, surely. Because it seems to me that there is little space left for coincidence in Chalionverse.

I believe the crow is sacred to the Bastard. The merchant used a rat and a crow when praying to the Bastard for death magic.

(yes, here I found the quote: pg. 6 "Rat and crow, sacred to the Bastard, god of all disasters out of season...")

In another scene Umegat says that he believes Caz was sent by the Bastard to help with the curse and he (Umegat) knew because the crow basically jumped up and down on Caz's head and said "him"...

We know the gods can make saints out of people and they can use animals sometimes and plants with great difficulty. Do you suppose the crow might be a "saint" (opened himself up to the will of the Bastard) in the same way Caz is?

I don't think that animals need some special opening up to the will of gods, especially the animals sacred to a particular god, to that particular god. I think that only people can close up to gods.

On pg. 225 Umegat says "They [meaning the gods:] can seep in through the minds of animals, sometimes, with effort. Plants ... require much foresight. Or sometimes, a man may open himself to them, and let them pour through him into the world."

This seems to indicate that there is a difference in how the gods interact with animals and humans. It is seemingly just as difficult to get to the point of working through animals as it is people... but Umegat seems to be indicating a different quality to the relationship the gods have with animals they are able to "influence" (for lack of a better word) as compared to the relationship they have with people (perhaps it isn't "influence" in this case???, it is something more than that, completely different from that). This might be why they refer to the people as Saints and the animals as Sacred....

BTW, I love that line about plants requiring .... much foresight! LOL!!