The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Are Soul gazes inherently subjective?
Mira:
--- Quote --- think the key issue is simply that the Council doesn't have enough people, or the right sorts of infrastructure. Even before the war against the Reds, and their struggles with the situations caused by a "Black Council" (who they wouldn't even admit existed), the wizards had no good way to spot any proto-wizards, nor to collect them for "proper" training.
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Nor are we talking about a litter of unwanted kittens in a world over populated by cats that need to be put in a bucket of cold water and drowned.. These kids are human beings, and it isn't exactly that there are not enough wizards to take them on as apprentices, but too many who don't want to take the time or subject themselves to the risk of taking on a troubled kid.
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But... what would Harry have done with the baby-wizardlings he found? Become an (unpaid!) schoolteacher? Become a mass kidnapper (because you know there'd be plenty of "oh HELL no!" parents).
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I'm sure there would be some of that, but most of these kids and their parents aren't even being given that option. By the time these kids come to the attention of the Council they have already experimented with their awakened powers, usually going down the dark side because they have no idea of the danger they are putting themselves in or others. Molly is a prime example of that, she was trying to help not harm her friends. By that time most are too far gone and the only thing to do with them is to give them the chop. Not saying it would be easy, but there has got to be a better way. That is what Harry was saying, that part of the problem is most experienced wizards won't take the trouble to take on an apprentice before they take that wrong road. How many wizard characters in the whole series has even mentioned having an apprentice? I'm not talking taking on a troubled kid under the Doom either, just an apprentice. Oh when Harry shows up at a Council meeting there are some sitting around in brown robes, but not all that many.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on April 09, 2022, 11:41:13 AM --- ... Not saying it would be easy, but there has got to be a better way ...
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Agreed! But I think that "better way" remains to be created. I don't think the White Council knows how to do it. I think mostly they're too hidebound to even think to want to.
There's another problem, too: finding/identifying these proto-wizards. Harry didn't notice Molly's talent, developing in his own (relative) back yard. I think there's no real way to detect proto-wizards, in general. The Sight might reveal them, I suppose; and of course physical, skin-on-skin contact. Hardly practical, either one!
Over in another thread, this same idea has come up. The most-obvious solution seems to be to use the Paranet. They are MUCH more widespread, MANY more eyes on the problem & boots on the ground. They doubtless include professional educators, too. Of course, the White Council considers them essentially non-entities (other than an occasional source of warlocks). But Harry knows better.
--- Quote from: Mira on April 09, 2022, 11:41:13 AM --- ... Oh when Harry shows up at a Council meeting there are some sitting around in brown robes, but not all that many.
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That could simply be a matter of statistics, of demographics. If any group of humans had a lifespan of 200+ years, the population would skew HARD to the older cohorts, with just a very few youngsters relative to the adults. It could also be the aforementioned problem with finding the damned kids before they've gone sithmode, and their apprenticeship would come with a Damocles warranty...
Mira:
Or like with a lot of other things the Council has let slide over the last couple of centuries.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on April 10, 2022, 10:34:39 AM --- ... over the last couple of centuries since time immemorial, probably since being founded.
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Fixed it for ya!
;-)
Seriously, I don't think the DV canon has ever showed us that the Council has ever had such an ID/educate initiative in place. Oldsters tend to lean on traditional ways awfully hard, so master-to-apprentice, and it's nobody else's business whether anyone takes apprentices or not.
The "Warden Boot-Camp" was a desperation-measure; but it may have planted a seed, at least...
Mira:
--- Quote from: g33k on April 10, 2022, 10:47:09 PM ---Fixed it for ya!
;-)
Seriously, I don't think the DV canon has ever showed us that the Council has ever had such an ID/educate initiative in place. Oldsters tend to lean on traditional ways awfully hard, so master-to-apprentice, and it's nobody else's business whether anyone takes apprentices or not.
The "Warden Boot-Camp" was a desperation-measure; but it may have planted a seed, at least...
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Yes, they have, remember "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"? That story is older and more widespread than the segment of "Fantasia" that features Micky Mouse. Wizards have always taken on an apprentice, that is part of the gig of being a wizard, times have changed though, and like with a lot of things the wizards of the Council have failed to change with them.
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