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Obverse & Reverse Ch6 page 28

Obverse & Reverse Ch6 page 28 published on 20 Comments on Obverse & Reverse Ch6 page 28

We’re back at Fingol! There’s only a few pages left of this chapter, I hope you’re enjoying it!

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20 Comments

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my mother about 50 years ago when I first noticed my uncles habitually made specific exceptions to their general prejudices (“Oh, he’s OK, but he’s not like the rest of them….). That’s the day I learned a new word: Hypocrite.

Points to Mary for not brushing off Lorne’s worries with misdirections or platitudes.

Mary also said that Eleanor could be raised to not be violent ‘like the adults’, like they were dealing with a problematic breed of dog.

She’s trying, and her rationale to Lorne is at least sensible (if they can’t blend in, it could put everybody at danger), but let’s not pretend she isn’t also a product of her upbringing.

“She’s just a child, Roald. She has time to grow up and not be a danger like the adults are.”

As far as I recall, at no point did Mary say that the bandersnatches were violent. Just that they were ‘dangerous’, and her reasoning is that it’s hard to hide a bandersnatch since they can’t look human.

That and their fiery nature could set things alight that they don’t want lit.

But that’s really not the whole truth is it? Weren’t Nemeans originally categorized as monsters until a Spinx broke the rules?

Almost – it was two sphinxes: https://www.skindeepcomic.com/archive/illumination-3-page-6/

… of course, if we were to take all the words from way-back-when up to the current day as gospel, we’d eventually get to the conclusion that it’s all the sphinxes’ – these two (and their offspring) included – fault, as there wouldn’t be any monsters at all if only they had just strewn medaillons around to everyone like confetti in a Mardi Gras parade …

Perhaps the Sphynx in general, but we know that these two WERE trying to strew the medallions around like beads at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, minus the breast flashing. Problem is, the Dragons wanted the front of the line when the other Sphynx denied them, and they heard that THESE sphynx had no problem making medallions for everyone.

Things took a turn when the dragons failed to take into account the pair were working more or less on a first come, first serve basis and NOT as a ‘priority for the greater perceived need’.

So when they started DEMANDING… instead of being patient…

They didn’t break the rules. They had their own rules.

They said ‘medallions for everyone’ so there wouldn’t be any Monsters. Without favoritism, without bias. No line jumping.

The pair were presumably working as fast as TWO sphinxes could in an area with untold THOUSANDS of medallions to be made.

Problem is that the Dragons demanded Favoritism. They were the ones who wanted the front of the line because every other monster’s plight was secondary to their own. After all, the larger dragons are harder to hide than a human-sized nemean.

So, in the end… no new medallions. And the only way to get medallions now is… well, Michelle ending up like a Santa Elf. Only being the SOLE santa elf. And making toys for every single ‘good’ kid on earth in a year.

I have to wonder: if humans are especially vulnerable to transformation magic, and a godlike being such as Ravi can also bestow magical abilities onto people, then what’s to stop him from ‘repopulating’ the sphinxes (even if it only lasts one generation and doesn’t change their inner nature), and letting them be able to make more medallions? After all, Ravi’s own motives and methods do seem to be, shall we say, somewhat ‘meandering’.

Presumably because while they would be granted the form of a Sphynx, they’d have no actual link to the ancestral Sphynx powerset.

Just because you put on a robe and a wizard hat, that doesn’t make you a wizard.

As for Ravi, well, he said it himself. He loses track of time. His ‘short term break’ actually ended up covering generations. So his plan for ‘eventually’ could cover a thousand years.

Here’s a question: if Nemean lions have to go through a lot of tests in order to get medallions, then how do unturned Nemeans even find out what they are in the first place? A lot of the Lyon brothers’ background and childhood is a bit murky beyond “not great”, but I always assumed they didn’t know what they were until Paul befriended Jon. I could absolutely be wrong about that, though, to my memory there’s no hard confirmation.
Still, it’s a question that this page leaves me with: how do unturned Nemeans find out they’re Nemeans, if the only way to break the spell is to get a medallion, and the only way to get a Nemean medallion is through the council? Seems a bit like a “key behind the lock” conundrum.

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