Others' Island (spoilers all books incl RWC)

[Farseer]

That leaves the fingernails and we've been racking our brains for some connection between the Others prophecy, the outcome that we know and the fingernails, but couldn't find anything.

We've talked about fingernails to exhaustion but one thing I didn't think about until now is the old wives' tale that recommends the cutting of fingernails to free oneself of having been pecksie-nibbled (see Distribution).

Not sure if that means anything or not BUT a fingernail connection directly from the realm nonetheless !

I just came from reading that part in the wiki:

As the pecksie is thought to not be able to abide garlic, the setting free from a pecksie, or the presumed cure for being pecksie-nibbled, is to place the sufferer on a diet of mint tea and meat cooked in garlic. The daily consumption of this cure, as well as the cutting of the sufferer’s fingernails once long enough, is thought to cause the pecksie to ‘let go’.

:and thought I'd stumbled on to something major...only to discover I've already stumbled onto it all before! ^

EDIT: Not that there is any mention of poison but maybe it has something to do with Pecksies and the poisonous nature of the Skill to humans? All of which I think I discussed here very early on in the piece... END EDIT

Thymara's wings and that use of the fingernail analogy, to describe the bones/tips etc, though. I'm having thoughts that I've come across a few things even from City of Dragons recently so will have to have a re-look there with all of this in mind.

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There's not a lot out there on fingernails in mythology or fantasy but I did just find this from penddraig.co.uk. It is interesting because of the vampire connection of successful garlic consumption to the "pecksie-nibbled", as well as the cutting of fingernails:

In European and Slavic history, fingernails were thought to be one of the tell-tale signs that a corpse was a vampire. Vampires were thought to lose their old nails and grow new ones upon their entry to the vampiric world. An exhumed body that lacked nails or had grown new ones was summarily staked, and very often burned or reburied with garlic to seal the corpse within the ground.

Maybe we've covered this before also. I will have to gove this thread a thorough re-read!!