Mythical Creatures/Folk (Spoilers ALL Books, including Words Like Coins)

[Farseer]

I don't have the books with me to post a quote but have meant to jot this down somewhere for a while, and it seems to fit best here since I have spoken about glamours?

When Brashen recalled details about the recurring nightmares he experienced after his first ever confrontation with a serpent (think this passage was in 'Ship of Magic'), he mentioned looking into the eye of the serpent and then having thoughts that were not his own. This suggested that serpents were also capable of implanting a Skill suggestion (or something akin to it). I am not sure if he also viewed the serpent as beautiful in some way, and recalled it as though he had also been placed under a glamour momentarily...will need to check that.

Hmm...even if the latter is something I've made up in my head , the former DID certainly take place. Were there other times when serpents communicated in a Skill-like fashion to humans? She Who Remembers did so with Wintrow as far as I remember (when he saved her) but I can't think of any other instance?

I bring it up as I thought it interesting to know that serpents also did this as it adds yet another link between pecksies, dragons, Elderlings, Skilled ones etc...

[Farseer]

I have just remembered that Fool's sceptre was Ratsy, the rat. Fool also carved a marionette in the Mountain Kingdom that bore "an uncanny resemblance to Ratsy". This intrigues me as a possible link to pecksies (as well as cats) as they enjoy hunting rats?

In Fool's Errand, Chapter Four - The Hedge-Witch, it states: "Above the gate of the walled Eklse, she hung a charm against pestilence, and for many years the grain bins were free of rats and the stables clean of fleas and other vermin. The town prospered under this protection, until the town elders foolishly built a second gate in their walls, to admit more trade. This opened a way for pestilence to enter the town, and all there perished from the second wave of the Blood Plague."

This tells us that the Blood Plague reached, at the very least, the Six Duchies (from where this tale of Eklse was taken), Chalced, the Rain Wilds and Bingtown. Were other areas affected?

It also suggests a possible reason for the adage, "Where rats go, pecksies follow". Could it be that pecksies, through their hunting of rats, actually try to prevent future Blood Plague outbreaks? On that note, possibly it's time for another outbreak to occur?!

---

Just reading Chapter Nine in FE - Dead Man's Regrets (like I have nothing else to do!), and came across the section which covered Nettle and Burrich's sickness, and where Burrich likened their symptoms to the beginning of the Blood Plague. This is the incident which prompted Fitz to finally seek out Nettle etc and, on the way, Fitz noted the fresh graves and how wide-spread and destructive the sickness had been.

What did you assume when you read this? That it was indeed the Blood Plague, or some other epidemic?

[Farseer]

Still reworking on a Burrich post for this thread (that I accidentally deleted last night!) but thought I'd share this little ditty from Robin's site. She says, among lots of other things:

"This weekend, I hope to finish the short stories about the goblins that live under a city that is not London."

What short stories are these? Does anyone know?

This mention of goblins sounds very pecksie-like to me... ...like pecksies living under Kelsingra or something (it's just one theory I have but possibly they even live within the Skill River well maybe)? OR is this all just complete fabrication and fanciful wishful thinking of my part??!!

I know Robin once said she wouldn't be writing directly about pecksies again (at least like she did in WLC) BUT one knows that our Tangle Leader sometimes tangles words most proficiently!

Are there any ML stories about goblins? I don't think they've ever been mentioned with the RotE? So my thoughts that she may be hinting at pecksies here could be something?? Maybe it's something new?

I'm leaning toward pecksies...

[Mervi]

No ML stories about goblins as far as I know, but [[Grace Notes]] has a character that is kind of pecksie-like, only in our world.

[Nuytsia]

Still reworking on a Burrich post for this thread

Burrich is a mythical creature?!

In the Tawny Man trilogy I felt it was so sad that Burrich had never developed his Wit (as it seemed he was VERY powerful in it) BUT then re-reading the Farseer it's sooooo sad that he has to see how the fear of the Wit is used to destroy Fitz ...........after ALL his warnings....... oh the tragedy!

['thul]

you sure it wasnt developed?

[Farseer]

Yes, I agree with the 'thul beings. Burrich's Wit was most certainly developed, and to such a standard of skill that it amazed even Web (who expressed his sadness that his vast knowledge etc had not yet been passed on). It was via the Wit that he saved Fitz, for example, and this he wouldn't have been able to do if he had not developed it over the years? Burrich said to Fitz something like, "Knowing a thing is not the same as using a thing"...but Burrich still used it throughout his life, and even admitted this to Fitz at some stage (I think!). Not to mention he had bonded to a couple of animals (wasn't it a stallion first and then Vixen?) which would have developed his Wit simply via these two-ways connections just as it did for Fitz?

As for Burrich belonging here, well, he doesn't but something he does may? More soon!

---

Just quickly looked at [[Burrich]] in the wiki...he also bonded to a dog, Slash, when young. Better go!

[Nuytsia]

Oh I KNEW when I typed that word it wasn't quite right and would be picked up on!
I was too lazy to explain more ...... I guess I meant 'fully developed' ...... you know what I mean right? He could have done so much more with it, I mean exactly what Web said in the later books..... maybe he didn't need any more training but I have the impression he was fully 'self taught' and I wonder what more he could have done had he been with others of 'Old Blood'. ?
Also just the pure fact he rarely uses the Wit (only in times of extreme need)........

Yes he did bond to the street dog Slash, and later to a stallion (Neko?) (which was when he kind of got 'too close' and indicates he took on the animal's characteristics.... and I think it is indicated that his disgust at Fitz using the Wit is partly due to his disgust at himself becoming like an animal.....)

I think he may have been able to accept and use the Wit more comfortably and possibly more effectively if he had been part of a community which put strict guidelines on how it was to be used (eg Black Rolf etc).

[Farseer]

Oh I KNEW when I typed that word it wasn't quite right and would be picked up on!
I was too lazy to explain more ...... I guess I meant 'fully developed' ...... you know what I mean right? He could have done so much more with it,

I was feeling sorry for you and thought I'd just come back to say that I knew what you meant, but you beat me to it!

Yes, it was sad that he did not fully immerse himself in the magic and give himself over to it (kind of like drowning in the Wit rather than the memories). No time for anything else but I had to let you off the hook after toying with you a bit!

[Nuytsia]

Heheh, wow I'm such a whinger

I was just annoyed at myself, because it truly DID occur to me as I was making the the first post that I really hadn't explained my point fully and was hoping for some psychic message to reach the reader from my brain without me having to go to the trouble of selecting appropriate words and typing them in!