The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
We gotta talk about Margaret LeFay
Mira:
--- Quote ---My memory is thinking that Jim had written it very carefully so that Malcolm was clearly clued-in (more even than Harry) during their chat, but that he never started outright whether he learned that stuff in life, or after death.
--- End quote ---
I'm sure Malcolm learned a lot more after he died, but at the same time I don't think he was kept in the dark by his wife as to why she wanted to conceive a child at that particular time. What we don't know is whether or not there is ritual involved when a star born is conceived. I think there must be otherwise there would be thousands of star borns running around, I don't think there are. If there is a ritual, Malcolm would have to have some knowledge. Also is it the conception or the birth that is more important? Conception you might have some control, but babies tend to have their own way as to when exactly they are born,
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on August 20, 2024, 02:39:54 PM --- I'm sure Malcolm learned a lot more after he died, but at the same time I don't think he was kept in the dark by his wife as to why she wanted to conceive a child at that particular time. What we don't know is whether or not there is ritual involved when a star born is conceived. I think there must be otherwise there would be thousands of star borns running around, I don't think there are. If there is a ritual, Malcolm would have to have some knowledge. Also is it the conception or the birth that is more important? Conception you might have some control, but babies tend to have their own way as to when exactly they are born,
--- End quote ---
One issue is that we have so little info about what it means to be a "Starborn."
Maybe only wizards can be Starborn... if so, the natural rarity of wizarding talent means that most of the (potentially) relevant births are rendered irrelevant by their lack of magic.
Even of the wizard-born, some will just go crazy; some will go black-magic and get snicker-snacked by a greycloak; some will get moralistically-preached that "magic is bad" and suppress the gift, and likely there's multiple other ways for them to crash & burn.
But we don't know if any of that is true or relevant.
Thank you Jim. :o
Mira:
--- Quote ---Maybe only wizards can be Starborn... if so, the natural rarity of wizarding talent means that most of the (potentially) relevant births are rendered irrelevant by their lack of magic.
--- End quote ---
Maybe, but there is no evidence of that. Neither Listens or Drakul strike me as having been wizards at one time. However you could be right about natural talent.
--- Quote ---But we don't know if any of that is true or relevant.
Thank you Jim. :o]
--- End quote ---
:o Agreed.. The only hint I can glean, at least in Harry's case, what little we learned from Lash, that a conscience effort goes into conceiving a star born child. Now Listens and Drakul might be total accidents and that's why they seem character wise anyway different from Harry, or their parents had totally different intentions than Margaret and Malcolm.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on August 22, 2024, 04:34:04 AM --- Maybe, but there is no evidence of that ...
--- End quote ---
Yes, as I said.
Though I'd argue that the sheer lack of Starborn's is (at least circumstantial evidence). It seems to need something beyond mere "time of birth."
But the most detail we have, I think, is Lash's microsecond "Starborn for Dummies" from the Raith Deeps, but IIRC she only mentioned the time & "circumstances" of the birth; the whole Hagrid-y "Yer a Wizard, Harry!" might have been an obvious element to skip, given the brain-frying accelerated-mind effect (or Jim may have had Doylist reasons).
But also, that "time and circumstances" (my emphasis added) could be doing some really heavy lifting, here. What "circumstances" then, eh??!?
My own WAG is that Raith had put out a deadly entropy-curse on Margaret, but she had foiled it with a Winterfae-magic "can't find me" fueled by Lea and/or Mab, linked specifically to Harry, as part of the "Fairy Godmother" bargain. Foiled it, but not dispelled it: the moment Harry was born, the protection on Harry no longer covered Margaret, and Raith's lurking curse struck: "died in childbirth."
So maybe one thing to qualify as "Starborn" is "Outsider-Magic active during childbirth" or "survived a death-curse at birth" or etc... That would certainly increase Starborn rarity! There's a certain satisfying symmetry about Outsider-magic being part&parcel of Starborn origins...
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