Ivy has a vision of Aelfgyva, the woman in the tapestry. She sees Queen Matilda telling Aelfgyva that if she presses her son’s claim, as she wishes to do, that her son will die an early death, while if she steps aside he’ll live (“Not an easy life, perhaps, but a life” (p. 291)). What did you think of this scene? If you’d been Aelfgyva, would you have made a different decision?
I found the scenes where the author took a character back in time to ge annoying. Frankly I didn’t see how the Bayeaux Tapistry even fit this story there was so little of it in it.
I do think that our words and actions can influence other people’s lives - they’ll make certain life choices based on what we tell them and I think this is what Queen Matilda is eluding to. I remember when I was young my mom telling me how she had an astral chart made for me when I was born and how she was told that I would “break a leg” in my life. Every time I have a leg issue I remember that and sometimes I think it’s made my symptoms worse than what they really were because subconsciously I was projecting “my prophecy” basically.