Annotated 9-20
…Okay, this is a re-read and the tags are honest, so I’m going to stop pretending we don’t know this is Gravedust. With that perspective, it’s highly unusual for him to be saying these things to Best. You can argue that he’s not technically lying if the other mystics have convinced him that reviving himself and his comrades is crucial to the fate of the Savasi (and therefore, arguably, the world).
But Gravedust doesn’t generally do the kind of ass-covering, no-prize-earning equivocation you get from Obi-Wan Kenobi (“What I told you was true… from a certain point of view”) or Spock (“A lie?… An error”). He knows this is at least a “ruse” and admits as much immediately afterward.
This is the beginning of a pattern for Gravedust, or at least the first time we see it. He has principles, they are important to him, and violating them will cost him spiritually. But if the greater good demands that he do that, he will do that.
Apart from emergency rations, this is why heroes have squires, Best.
It’s not like he hasn’t shoveled out before.
I think it’s required when you become a spirit that you speak in generalities and riddles rather than just come out and say whatever the hell people want or need to know.
It’s practically canon!
Spirits are kind of assholey.
Assholier than thou, for any given thou.
Ironically, this is a great service to Arkherra. Whether it’s Best’s greatest service is arguable (though it probably was, since it facilitated the other candidates), but still a great service.
It’s just that Gravy didn’t know he wasn’t lying, yet!
Wait, that was gravy? I thought it was HR.
I mean, technically, they’re standing over a grave, so grave dust is pictured…
Why be honest when you can be coy?
In ‘Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan,’ Spock’s line is not “An Error” to Saavik:
Saavik: “You lied.”
Spock: “I exaggerated.”
Correct. But in Star Trek VI…