The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
so ... soulgaze? the Sight?
Dina:
Also, no one wants the memory of whatever a completely gone warlock is fixed in your mind for ever. You only do it because you want to be absolutely sure you are not killing someone who has been framed or something like that. I suspect the Merlin did it because it came with the job, I can't think many people willing to do the soulgaze. Also, if there was a chance that the kid survived, it was not a good idea to have him seen your very soul.
So, soulgazes are partial, but true. So if what the Merlin sees is too horrible, is enough. It does not matter if you also love music and cartoons.
Mira:
--- Quote from: Dina on December 17, 2024, 12:02:43 PM ---Also, no one wants the memory of whatever a completely gone warlock is fixed in your mind for ever. You only do it because you want to be absolutely sure you are not killing someone who has been framed or something like that. I suspect the Merlin did it because it came with the job, I can't think many people willing to do the soulgaze. Also, if there was a chance that the kid survived, it was not a good idea to have him seen your very soul.
So, soulgazes are partial, but true. So if what the Merlin sees is too horrible, is enough. It does not matter if you also love music and cartoons.
--- End quote ---
What is odd about that is the Merlin didn't soul gaze Molly, who had less of a rap sheet than the Korean kid by a very long shot. Yet if Harry hadn't argued so strenuously in her defense before Micheal and a good number of the Council had returned, the Merlin would have happily seen her lose her head. I think there was a lot more to it, not that the Korean kid was wrongly convicted but that an example was being made for Harry. But it gets away from the original topic about soul gazes verses the sight.
Dina:
Yes, perhaps an example for Harry is a good explanation.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Mira on December 16, 2024, 12:46:36 PM ---Which is why given the Merlin's admitted prejudice against talented kids who screw up because dark magic is easier and they don't know better, he shouldn't have been the one to soul gaze the Korean kid. Because the Merlin believes that trying to rehab these kids is a waste of time and dangerous, he'd only see the worst and nothing redeeming about the kid. Why Harry didn't argue that point? ...
--- End quote ---
I have a rather-strong suspicion that the wizards themselves don't understand this point. NONE of us are really willing to face how biased we are, how much our "rational" choices are fundamentally based on irrationalities; why would wizards be any different, in this? Particularly since they incline towards both arrogance and a presumption of their own superior knowledge.
We have Doylist WoJ as to the variability / subjectivity of Soulgaze and Sight... but not much (nothing I have found) about Watsonian WC-awareness of same.
Mira:
--- Quote from: g33k on December 17, 2024, 03:13:31 PM ---I have a rather-strong suspicion that the wizards themselves don't understand this point. NONE of us are really willing to face how biased we are, how much our "rational" choices are fundamentally based on irrationalities; why would wizards be any different, in this? Particularly since they incline towards both arrogance and a presumption of their own superior knowledge.
We have Doylist WoJ as to the variability / subjectivity of Soulgaze and Sight... but not much (nothing I have found) about Watsonian WC-awareness of same.
--- End quote ---
I am inclined to agree with this. As for WOJs, yes, I know he is the author and should know what he is writing. I of course respect that and love his work. I worry that we can get too hung up on WOJs and it sometimes spoils the pleasure of reading the story and trying to figure it out for ourselves. Especially on something like sight verses soul gazing because it can give too much away if Jim tells us too much. That's why I think in the stories Harry is usually pretty vague about what others see when soul gazing him! Susan fainted, Molly felt sorry for him and wanted him to take her to bed, Eb saw anger and great talent, no word on what Thomas saw, Marcone got ideas of what he might be able to exploit, and a couple of others mentioned just not feeling afraid.. I think it is revealing that yes, Harry saw Murphy with his sight at one point in Blood Rites and saw her as an angel, that was before he made her a Holy Knight for a day, but the two of them never got around to a soul gaze, or even made a point of doing it even though they were lovers. I wonder what Murphy's take on Harry would have been had she been able to look really deep into him. Having the gaze begin just as she was dying was such a tease!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version