The Sword and Laser discussion

I have no idea what to feel about the character of Vikram. He's coarse, dangerous, and his morals are other. But then he's noble and dedicated. He's painted up as this big badass, but then all his fights happen offscreen. He toys with the convert, but then is kind to her. He seems awesome, but then suffers from the Worf effect. I don't really have a good sense of what motivates him, other than loyalty to Azalel and personal glory. Did anybody else have this reaction? Maybe that's supposed to be his jinn nature?

In the beginning he has some sort of horrifying reputation to uphold, since apparently he makes a living providing protection in the underworld.

But mostly yea, he's a Jinn and very alien.

Agreed, we are human and can not understand what really motivates Jinn and think that is intentional.

Olivia wrote: "Kind of like a Q?"
I hadn't considered that when I was reading but that's a very apt comparison. We can only see him the way Alif, Dina, etc. see him the same way we only ever saw Picard and crew's perceptions of Q.

He reminds me of the character of Ryuk from Death Note.

James, you are not far from point in your comparison of Vikram with the Shinigami. So the story of Vikram and the vetal/djinn, as Alif reads in the Alf Yeom, is a very popular ancient Indian folklore, surrounding a 1st century BC monarch in India, called Vikram, and the dynamic between the vetala and the King Vikram, was not unlike Ryuk and Light in Death Note. They came from a Sanskrit compendium of tales called Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories), which might sound familiar to Salman Rushdie readers (Haroun and the Sea of Stories). This collection has a somewhat similar history and significance to the Alf Yeom in Alif The Unseen. An 11th century tome, compiled by a single Brahmin scholar, with culture-defining wisdom that have survived interpretation and translation into society over many centuries. Growing up in India, you hear many variations of the Vikram/Vetal story in illustrated children's books and magazines and TV shows. It usually works as a fable for mental prowess in a ruler and such, or whatever suits the intentions of the teller of tales. Each tale follows a similar cycle, described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baital_P...

"King Vikrama faces many difficulties in bringing the vetala to the tantric. Each time Vikram tries to capture the vetala, it tells a story that ends with a riddle. If Vikrama cannot answer the question correctly, the vampire consents to remain in captivity. If the king knows the answer but still keeps quiet, then his head shall burst into thousand pieces. And if King Vikrama answers the question correctly, the vampire would escape and return to his tree. He knows the answer to every question; therefore the cycle of catching and releasing the vampire continues twenty-four times."

Each riddle and its answer by Vikram ends in his futility but the punchline is the great wisdom of that individual tale. Somehow, his brilliance was his own downfall. This was perfect for standalone comic strips that I found fascinating growing up. In any case, the resolution of the whole cycle always felt kind of convenient and unsatisfying to me compared to the ongoing tales that come from Vikram's Sisyphean task. The Alf Yeom's revelation that Vikram and Vetal become one and the same made me squee in a bittersweet way. It feels like a more likely outcome, that the ruler would internalize the darkness and the dichotomy of good and evil. This may explain why some people don't know how to feel about Vikram. Not because he is a Djinn but because he is a Djinn AND a great and wise Ruler of old. He is literally two opposing powerful beings in one...BEING!! He is terrifying and mystifying yet noble!

In many ways stories from ancient folklore and Hindu mythology were my first taste of the Fantasy genre; so the throwback and revision to the end of one of my favorites to tie into this brilliant book, was the cherry on top!

Pujashree wrote: "This may explain why some people don't know how to feel about Vikram. Not because he is a Djinn but because he is a Djinn AND a great and wise Ruler of old. He is literally two opposing powerful beings in one...BEING!! He is terrifying and mystifying yet noble!"

Oh, wow, Pujashree! I had totally forgotten about the whole vetala story by the end of the book. Thanks for the background, it really improves my understanding of the character.