[vivaxardas]

Well, when you send such order, it means a guy is dispensable form the moment the order is received. But, as I see it, Shilard reasonably can't be dispensable until the summit. Plus, what's a rush with it to begin with? Realistically, why not to wait until he returns to the capital?

And you are right, there is nothing about a reason the emperor suddenly wants Shilard dead all of a sudden, even if it harms his own plans. Emhyr suddenly wants Shilard dead, realistically not for a reason Shilard decides to get rid of Gerald because it is easy to order him not too, but by some other reason. But it is actually a flaw in a story, things like this should have been explained. They are not, and I see it as a sign that the devs simply messed up here. May be they did not quite know how to make a hostage situation interesting and surprising, when Gerald went after Triss. In any case, if Gerald does not go after Triss, Shilard probably returns to Nilfgaard unharmed. I wonder whether they will elaborate on this situation in TW3.

[KnightofPhoenix]

And Renuald knows that and is not stupid. The emperor made it clear the order takes effect when it's deemed appropriate.

But you are right, Emhyr could have just ordered him not to. so I don't know, we will see.

[vivaxardas]

Yeah. Another thing that bothers me about it is that I do not want Emhyr to be reduced to a madman like Nero or Caligula. Does not matter what his reason was to kill Shilard, really. It was simply a very bad way to deal with the nobles. Historically it wasn't a good way to kill nobles in any aristocratic society and not expect a backlash. When Nero started to do this kind of crap, he was done. Emperor or not, you just can't order your bodyguards to shoot other members of a ruling class, there must be some form of legitimizing this. Nilfgaard seems to be heavily into laws and obedience, and just to order to execute a high official in a letter is not going to cut it. Without a proper justification given to a ruling class, to secure their acceptance, it is murder, plain and simple.

We are not talking about whacking a swineherd here. Arrested, accused, given a chance to defend themselves - it is a privilege the members of a ruling class always had. And if you try to take this privilege from them, it is going to end badly. Do you remember in A Game of Thrones people accuse Lannisters of raids? Ned Stark does not just send guards to whack Lord Tywin, but he orders Lord Tywin to arrive to King's Landing and defend his actions. Even Joffrey does not kill high nobles around him just for kicks, some sort of a trial was an order of the day even for an imbecile like Joffrey. He killed some people on a whim, but as we know he ended up dead because people were fed up pretty damn fast. Or what happened when the Mad King Targaryen ordered to burn alive Ned Strak's father, and to strangle his brother? We had Robert Baratheon's rebellion, the Mad King was killed by his own bodyguard, and all Targaryens were either exterminated, or driven from Westeros. Well, A Song of Ice and Fire is fantasy, but the societies and relations between people are pretty damn realistic, and social interactions between classes, rights and obligations of nobles are presented very well.

Realisitically if you do crap like this, no noble would feel safe, they wouldn't know what to expect, and when they have enough of this crap, they'll kill the emperor. Every ruler needs a support of at least a part of a society, and such illegitimate murders are not a way to maintain it. Especially if a man you order to kill is loyal like a dog. That's why I perceive this deal with the letter so negatively, it is strongly inconsistent with my perception of Nilfgaard, and Emhyr. Cognitive dissonance, as they say in psychology. I would prefer that this letter never happened, and that Gerald would simply kill him, or Shilard would have a heard attack or something. />/>/>

Well, I am kind of hoping Emhyr will be presented as similar to one of better Roman emperors, and not the bad ones. Because if they present Nilfgaard as an empire of evil, with a crazy emperor who really does whatever a hell he wants, they will loose me as a customer.