Yet Sonea is probably the strongest Magician to enter their gates for a long time whilst possesssing no noble blood. If your theory that all the magically powerful became nobility was true then Sonea would have to have some noble ancestors of considerable magical strength. Personally I doubt Kyralia is strong due to all their weak magicians being weeded out. It was probasbly just conveniant for the story that they be so or how'd they stop other countries from forming their own Guilds.

I didn't say that ALL powerful people become nobility. I also didn't rule out that strong magicians can be born in the slums, like Sonea, and not be detected.

It's being said that Kyralia is magically strong because their weak magicians were weeded out by the war with Sachaka ~ I say why aren't there more Naturals You(not you spoecifically) reply that there's loads but they're caught before they're powers naturally awaken ~ I say what about the slum dwellers You say all the powerful magicians are among the nobility ~ I say explain Sonea then You reply that a magician can be born outside the nobility Alright fair and fine but how could they be so powerful if they didn't have powerful ancestors and anyone of that powerlevel would likely have been a Natural themselves thus initiated into the Guild like Sonea or part of the nobility meaning Sonea should be nobility I'm saying the whole theory's bunk and the only reason their powerful is for plot purposes

maybe at one point there was no magic in the slums but as we can see there is magic in the slums now. Now you have to consider that noblies are very likely to use brothels and you can be sure some of them ended up pregnant.

Perhaps they did have powerful ancestors. It could also be that the madical trait is a recessive gene. I understand what you're saying, and it does seem kind of off. I very much doubt there is an explanation I can come up with, or anyone here for this matter, that will cover all the plot holes. This is all just speculation. And as for if Sonea should be part of nobility or not, it could be argued that it was made to seem like Sonea should have been nobility, but wasn't for the ignorance of the upper classes. It could be an intentional point. Lorlyn has another point that I didn't even consider. That could be a possible explanation as to why there's now magical potential in the slums. Perhaps there always was, I don't know. Anyhow, let's redirect this discussion, it's getting a little off topic now. I do agree with you that Kyralia does seem to be more powerful than the other races, but that could be more to do with the fact that they control a lot of knowledge to do with magic, and they seem to have been practising it for longer than the other races. It could just be the way it's worded in the BMT, but that's the impression I got. The only other race to have come close (and surpassed in many ways) is Sachakan magicians. It's said they're more powerful because of black magic, but we can't really judge how much power they would have if it weren't for draining slaves of their power. It might also be possible that the races mentioned in the books aren't the only races out there. There could be an even more powerful, more knowledgeable, better organised group of magicians.

So in other words it's a lie that the Kyralians believe and if the other nations formed a Guild of their own they'd rival the Kyralian one in the fullness of time assuming it wasn't stopped at it's inception. Basically they're strong because they know so much and they prevent the knowledge from spreading by shutting down any attempts to open other Guilds.

I'd agree with that, if you have magical ability but don't want to enter the guild, the guild blocked your powers. I think also that the reason its seen that magic is mostly if not entirely within nobility is due to the restricted sight of magicians seeing themselves above the slum people, they probably prevented many talented people becoming magicians simply because of Kyralias society and its taboos. Sonea woke them up by being too powerful to ignore and as was stated there probably are more powerful magicians in other countries but becuase Kyralia beat them to the punch as it were, they make sure they have magicians in those countries to send anyone with magical ability straight to the guild. I haven't fully read your comments so this may not make complete sense.

well we don't really learn about Sonea's parentage, so maybe she has noble blood - her parents could've been of the Houses? Or maybe she has Sachakan blood. If magic is a recessive gene or something then maybe Sonea, as like a twentieth generation or something, it has become dominant or something. i dunno - been ages since i did genetics!!

sachakan blood...now that's an interesting point. Though a sachakan likely would of been noticed unless it was right after the war.

If she was nobility I assume it would've been mentioned. I suppose her mother having slept with a nobleman isn't far fetched but the way she described her father suggests he's either most certainly not a nobleman or her mother lied to her which would've been revealed had it been the case

I doubt she has Sachakan blood, there would be some physical manifestation of being related to the Sachakans. Maybe generation 4 generations back or so it would be possible, but I don't think her parents or grand parents would have been Sachakan.

I have to agree there is no recent sachakan blood. At least not in Sonea.

About Sonea's father, do we ever know about him, I don't remember it. I do remember this from the Novice, though: Sonea says something like "My mother's dead, and my father...he went away"

Didn't she say he went away because he stole something from one of the family's they had business with.

Her parents were servants one of the families (or some poeple of importance), her dad was accused of (and probably did) steal something and Sonea and her parents wer chucked out into the slums. Her mother died when she was very young and her father left and he only ever turned up once again when she was about six.