Grey Lord? Dark Lord?

[a2history]

I've just finished re-reading the four books of The Interregnum in chronological order (more or less), and have a couple of questions:

1) In "The Peace", Chapter 4, there is a person mentioned who is identified as "the grey lord". These facts are presented about him:

-he is part of the royal family
-he enlisted some of the royal cousins to help
-he is friends of the Stoney tribe
-he is dressed as a fop, to disguise himself
-he is a Believer, praying for God's help in his plan
-he was in attendance when James IV was visited by Donal Tobin and told he had to step down

Has this person been actually identified yet in the books that have been released? Is he John Dominic? Seamus Meathe?

2) In "The General", Chapter 2, we have "the grey lord" wagering Graham; however, it appears that this person must be Donal XII (Sean Reilly). Is this correct?

3) In "The Exile", Chapter 16 and other places, there is a "dark lord" who is discussed. This seems to go on into "The General". He is:

-manipulating Driscol Derry, the new head of Security
-his father participated in the plan to depose the King in 1941
-he arranges for the "accidents" at the Glenfinnian games
-Michale Malone is angry with him
-Malone uses Mara's infection to identify him, through the messenger used to administer her "antidote"

It would appear from the conversation between Philip Desmond and Michael Malone at the end of "The General" that the "dark lord" is Thomas Monde. Is this correct?

[arjay]

In the Peace, The King himself identifies to the conspiracy as the Grey Lord, takes the conspiracy over and runs it to his own ends. This one (of the many) personna of the king ceases to exist at the deposition and does not reappear in any of the later books. As to who the king becomes after that.... Suffice it to say that there are a few dim hints, but he's in the stories quite regularly. Two of the main characters will eventually figure him out, but he's been practicing his deceptions for an extraordinarily long time, so it won't be easy.

In The Friends and The General, the former Sean Reilly, now Donal XII, is at least twice called the Grey Lord. Others have a tendancy to term him this because he is characteristically morose, cyclically depressed, slightly cynical, dresses colourlessly when not in his state robes, and keeps himself out of the media as much as possible. People who are introduced to him for the first time in his role of behind the scenes manipulator do not usually recognize who he is at once, thus the moniker "Grey Lord". In this, he is (partly wittingly) taking lessons from the king's example. I allow the reader to travel along in the headspace of characters such as Tad for a while until they realize who he is.

The Dark Lord is Thomas Monde, but without revealing a spoiler, there is more to his conspiracy than one man, quite apart from the fact that he is manipulating some of the MacCarthys. Monde is not acting entirely alone IOW. This will be hinted at in "The Nexus" and become more obvious in "The Builder" and/or "The Throne". Who his real partner(s) is/are....

Just one error in your summary: Malone arranges the incident with Mara at the games. Thomas is definitely NOT happy with him for doing so. Indeed, BYAM, he considered killing Malone for that. You see, he has a certain, shall we say, paternal interest in Mara. Also in Catherine, but that's for later.

[a2history]

So Thomas Monde _is_ one of the two Colonels that Katherina glimpses when they are experimenting on her before Glenmorgan. It is doubtful that the other one was, as she thought, Sean Reilly, considering his subsequent actions.

Regarding James IV - might he have some Metan blood in him? He seems fairly long-lived (though admittedly a lot of those Hibernians seem to retain their physical fitness longer than we fat Americans do)

Other identities of James IV - Turkistan O'Flarerty (sp) and/or Swordmaster Mahoney?

[rsutc]

So Thomas Monde _is_ one of the two Colonels that Katherina glimpses when they are experimenting on her before Glenmorgan. It is doubtful that the other one was, as she thought, Sean Reilly, considering his subsequent actions.

Regarding James IV - might he have some Metan blood in him? He seems fairly long-lived (though admittedly a lot of those Hibernians seem to retain their physical fitness longer than we fat Americans do)

Other identities of James IV - Turkistan O'Flarerty (sp) and/or Swordmaster Mahoney?

Well, Thomas was there all right. The other...

James' ancestry does include Metan blood. I revealed part of the truth in Angus' chat with Day. His grandmother Jamie was twin to James, and their mother the queen was Metan. However, there will be far more to say about this later (much of a book's worth, and then some). Orthans stay fit into their sixties, sometimes much longer. Metans live these days 250+ years, barring accidents. Regrow has an effect, there is more Metan blood around than they know, and a lot of genetic defects went down the drain during the biogenetic wars. [Sometimes only the very fit survive.] The king's descendents are special.

Are these alternate identities for James? Well, James has played the fop and the beggar at times, but he's a far trickier fellow than that. I've been writing up part of his history, either for The Throne, or a series of stories to be published separately, and find myself amazed at every revelation I dig from the Orthan archives.