Even heroes sometimes fail - Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern

Heroes. We all have them.

Some are genuine military heroes who willingly put their lives on the line to defend a nation's ideals. Similarly, some are local men and women in uniform who put themselves in danger to enforce laws, protect the citizenry, and contribute to the general sense of well-being in a community. Others are social icons who, though they are just ordinary people, have been put on a pedestal for their clear thinking or their artistic talent, or their physical attractiveness. And then there are those who perform a single great deed – not because it was what they would have chosen for themselves, but because they were in the right place at the right time.

In some ways, the story of Moreta reflects a bit on each of these definitions. Unfortunately, Anne McCaffrey's attempt to flesh out the history of her beloved Pern also manages, unwittingly, to detail another aspect of heroes: the fact they the greatness of their deeds tends to grow over time.

In this prequel to the mainline Pern series, the story of Pern's greatest hero, is revealed. She is remembered in song as having saved her people; but none on Pern remember the details of her fateful ride, hundreds of years earlier.

The World
The planet Pern is much like Earth, and is, in fact, populated by humans. The humans share the planet with large, telepathic dragons who can chew a stone which enables them to breathe fire. These fire-breathing friends are especially useful in combating Thread—the showers of deadly, parasitic spores which fall into Pern’s atmosphere at regular intervals.

The Story
Disaster has struck Pern. Not the usual threadfall – people know how to handle that. Rather a runnerbeast has fallen ill, collapsed and died at the Ruatha Hold gather. Were it a single beast that contracted the mystery illness it would be a tragedy, but not much of a worry. However, the disease has spread to the human population as well. And because of the gather, people from every Hold, every Weyr, and every Crafthall take sick and start dying. The head of Pern's Healer Hall, Campian, has called for a quarantine while the healers search for a cure, but some Holders and Weyrleaders are too stubborn to heed his advice.

Finally, a cure is found. But in order to properly treat everyone with the illness, and vaccinate those who are not yet affected, a tremendous supply of needlethorn (a naturally growing hollow needle which can be used for injections) is vital. But since it is the wrong season for harvesting the life-saving plant, Moreta, the Weyrwoman at Fort Weyr and rider of Orlith, volunteers to organize the dragonriders to ride between times and gather the necessary supplies. Unfortunately, she can't do the job herself because Orlith is clutching and must stay to guard her eggs.

Before the job is complete however, the dragonriders have to go fight the eternal danger of Thread - a fight made harder by the loss of many riders to the ravages of the plague. A healer at heart, Moreta cannot abide the thought of people dying needlessly, so she hatches a plan with her friend and mentor, Leri. But when Moreta takes Leri's Holth to complete the mission of mercy, while the elderly Leri will stays at the Weyr to watch over the clutching Orlith, she unknowingly takes a flight into legend and history

My thoughts
The story should already be somewhat familiar to readers of McCaffrey's first two trilogies. Moreta's ride is legend throughout Pern and is referenced in her earlier works.

Unlike the Dragonrider and Harper Hall books, I had not read this one before. I was therefore very interested in learning the full history of Pern's greatest hero. While this book is as well-written and engaging as those that first introduce Pern, the story itself did little more than frustrate me.

Part of what I like so much about Anne McCaffrey's books are the strong, intelligent female characters. But while Moreta is certainly a strong and interesting character, I leave this book questioning her intelligence. Far from having made a noble sacrifice for her people, it seems to me that she made a foolish and extreme error in judgment that ended in tragedy.

I suppose that in many ways, that is in some ways similar to our own heroes. The history we believe in may not always reflect the truth of what really happened. In a sense the foolishness that Moreta displays makes her more human, more real. But I don't necessarily want my literary heroes to be merely human – I want them to be heros. Moreta may have shown extraordinary bravery on her ride to save the people of Pern. But she also showed overwhelming stupidity that caused her ride to be tragic rather than triumphant.

However, while initially I found this to be an unforgivable literary sin, I realize on further reflection that the story follows the pattern of classic tragedy. The hero's own fatal flaw is their undoing rather than insurmountable outside forces. I suppose this puts Moreta into the company of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, or Oedipus. Those were never my favorite classics either - I prefer the more 'mundane' tragic circumstances of ordinary drama.

While Moreta's ultimate fate was set in stone before this book was ever conceived, I fear that McCaffrey did her land's favorite heroine a sad disservice in the way details finally came together. Perhaps it is because I had built up my own mental back-story about what shape Moreta's heroism would take. Perhaps it's because, as an observer, I am able to recognize the fatal mistake that was about to take place and wished that characters in the book could do so as well. Perhaps I realized that the 'truth' of Moreta's fateful flight had been intentionally hidden from the population of Pern - an act that may be considered treasonous in our own society.

Regardless of how well-written this book may be, it will never be one of my favorites in the series. I give this book solid marks for the actual writing, but the story left me frustrated rather than satisfied. If you don't feel the need to read every book in the Pern anthology, this is one you can safely skip the Moreta pair without worrying that you are missing something vitally important to the series as a whole. However this book, read in conjunction with it's sister book Nerilka's Story, does provide some interesting background about life and culture on Pern.

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For a more complete look at life on Pern, check out this brief overview.

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Books in the Pern collection:

Dragonriders Trilogy
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon

Harper Hall Trilogy
DragonSong
DragonSinger
DragonDrums

Other Pern Novels
Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern
Nerilka’s Story
Dragonsdawn
Renegades of Pern
All the Weyrs of Pern
Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
The Dolphins of Pern
Dragonseye (U.S.), Red Star Rising (U.K)
The Masterharper of Pern
The Skies of Pern
Dragon’s Kin (with Todd McCaffrey)
Dragon’s Blood (by Todd McCaffrey—coming Jan. 2005)

Compilations
The Dragonriders of Pern (Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon)
On Dragonwings (Dragonsdawn, Dragonseye and Moreta)
A Gift of Dragons (short stories)

Related Works
The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern (ed. Jody Lynn Nye / Bill Fawcett)
The Atlas of Pern (by Karen Fonstad)
The People of Pern (a ‘portrait gallery’ by artist Robin Wood)