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

[Farseer]

That is a fascinating thought! One thing though, IIRC one of the things s/he says to Fitz is; "the others would not even have noticed they'd attracked you". Something like that, anyway, I don't have the book with me at the moment.

So that'd indicate that s/he's part of a group or race, not a single entity. But then it wouldn't be the first time that seemingly more powerful beings were regarded as gods by humans, and as the contact got lost maybe it developed into the belief of two dual-gender entities.

Yes, I remember that Chrischa! I also remember an opening of a chapter where Fitz talked about an ancient race that lived way beyond the mountains...an ancient race who he said something about being at one with the world or universe and therefore it eluded to them possibly being a Witted-like race (I am far away from my home at the moment so also don't have the books with me!).

In this, I wasn't sure if this race that he talked about was simply the Elderlings or was a different race of possibly ancient Old Blood-like ones (I do remember thinking at the time that it certainly didn't sound like he was eluding to the Elderlings, particularly as he spoke of the race as being far beyond the Mountain Kingdom (of course, the same could be said of Kelsingra but I got the feeling that Kelsingra, though definitely far north of chartered territory, was still quite a way south of where this ancient race had been known to dwell).

It is why I believe that we will yet see giants emerge in the upper regions of the realm's maps! Fitz's talking about giants in the quote at the beginning of this thread makes me wonder if not only will they appear but could they possibly somehow BE members of this older race, and this is why the presences are described as being 'immense'...not because they are necessarily dragons but large, as giants would definitely give off a greater Wit or Skill presence than any human or animal that was not a dragon.

I am still thinking on that 'giant' element but still believe there is an ancient race we have not, as yet, been properly introduced to. At the time of writing about them, Fitz was fully aware of Elderlings and that he didn't use the term 'Elderlings', but rather spoke of the people as 'an ancient race', made me believe it was another group of beings altogether. Possibly this ancient race is the where the 'others' from Chrischa's passage above came from (am not talking here about Others from Others Island...can get confusing can't it?!)?

From there, I then thought that possibly even Fitz himself could somehow be a descendant of the race (as well as being Witted, Skilled, a Farseer, dragon-kin etc) and all of these identities powerfully converged to make him not only a catalyst but 'Changer'....though this potentially would not work IF that ancient race were giants !

I do have another theory re the Skill and the identity of those 'others' but that belongs in another thread.

[Nuytsia]

Maybe the ancient race beyond the mountains was the race that the white prophets descended from?
That's probably a loooooooooooong way 'beyond' the mountains and I have no idea how it fits with what Fitz actually said about the 'ancient race'
Giants seems as plausible as any!

[Farseer]

The Outislanders are also a lot more religious then the people of the Six Duchies, aren't they? Do we actually ever see a priest of Eda, El or Sa in the Six Duchies?

I can't think of any instance where we are introduced to one (?). The closest thing I can think of are the women/mothers themselves. At one stage, when the correct etiquette for the drawing of runes on Out Island maps is described, it talks about the very old laws, and how "every woman with a good mother knows them already". As they believe such laws are from "god's own lips", possibly it is the responsibility of the Narcheska and/or each mothershouse head to oversee the spiritual side of things?

That being said it'd be interesting to know which religion they follow in Chalced, as a god with a female aspect usually reflects positively on the attitude towards woman in a society.

In GF, Chalcedian captain, Captain Slyke, wrote about Duke Sidder in his execution verdict after the event with Tintaglia in Bingtown. He wrote of him as being "God-born" and addressed him as "my most gracious and divinely just Duke Sidder". Not sure if there was anything else!

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Another couple of thoughts for the women-as-sort-of-spiritual-leaders idea in the Out Islands...what they do with the land "is not merely a matter of ownership, but a matter of Eda's worship".

There is also talk of a seer or an oracle on Aslevjal (much as what happened on Others Island, and who most likely, given what we've been told, turned out to be SWR) BUT the oracle of the Out Islands was said to be "raven haired and black eyed"...that she "lived for many generations, but remained young" (no doubt due to the Skill?). It goes on to mention how she came out to accept offerings of animal sacrifice and did so "in the name of the dragon" .

As an aside from the spiritual aspect, there are far too many instances of black-haired and black-eyed characters in the RotE, and I believe there is something in that eg a trait of a Skilled person/Elderling descendant?! It happens just one too many times for it to be a coincidence and I always mean to go back and begin compiling a list of characters with those features!! ***adding to research list***

Back to Aslevjal...it also suggests the possibility of an entire mothershouse full of oracles, with a Great Mother who passes on all of her seer duties to her eldest daughter. These daughters then went on to live beyond even the Great Mother's lifespan.

[Lord Punctual]

Would be be too much to suggest that the black haired, black eyed oracle of aslevjal is in fact the (black) White Prophet who lives there? The Whites seem to be rather hard to tell apart, gender-wise, and being female would give the matriarchal Out Islanders more reason so see him/her as an authority figure.

[Farseer]

Ok, this is what happens when one forsakes sleep for thePlenty...! Chrischa actually asked "Do we actually ever see a priest of Eda, El or Sa in the Six Duchies?"...not the Out Islands! You all knew that didn't you?! Oh, well, it still gave me something to think about !

[Nuytsia]

Lord Punctual you took the words right out of my mouth!
I was going to say :

the oracle of the Out Islands was said to be "raven haired and black eyed"...that she "lived for many generations, but remained young" (no doubt due to the Skill?). It goes on to mention how she came out to accept offerings of animal sacrifice and did so "in the name of the dragon" .

OMG PRILLKOP! Also a woman/man!
And I am not entirely sure I was joking......

[Farseer]

In The Golden Fool, Fitz gives Dutiful his first true Skill lesson in Verity's tower. As Fitz stated at the time, it was almost Dutiful's last lesson as he became unraveled within the Skill River and Fitz had experienced great difficulty in calling him back to himself.

When both were finally able to separate themselves from the Skill River, and thus return to their bodies, it seemed to Fitz that someone else spoke to him (via a distance echo of thought that was arrowed tightly to him alone). That person said, "That was well done. But next time, be more careful, with yourself as well as with him."

What are your theories on WHO this 'someone' was?

There is no mention by Fitz of a 'foreign' presence or even a 'sizable' presence at that time so this would suggest that, rather than it being the same sort of connection as what he and Dutiful had previously experienced on Others Island etc, it was instead someone or something that Fitz could easily expect to be there within the Skill River eg a human.

Could it be Verity, watching over Fitz from somewhere within the Skill River (with his anma being 'stored' there as he exists in the stone dragon); could it be Chivalry watching over him from afar, all the while still existing within the Skill River after having escaped there just before the moment of his murderous death when his bubble 'popped'; is it someone from the 'ancient race'...I am certain there is at least one other time when he is spoken to by this 'person' and not the foreign or sizable presence, so, who could it be?

ps I know you probably all want to talk about the RWC but I love Fitz too much to ditch him until his next appearance !!!

[Nuytsia]

I love talking about all the books!

Hmmm but I am not sure on the answer to your question. I don't have Golden Fool to read that bit (although you pretty well covered it)... but from what you've said I think Verity a distinct possibility with the concern shown for both Fitz and Dutiful by the voice.

[Farseer]

On a bit of a tangent, I know that lots of people tend to pronounce or interpret 'pecksies' as pixies. I don't, so haven't ever understood that at all, but I found it interesting to learn that Robin did actually have them in the forefront of her mind as her inspiration for pecksies.

Here's a little comment she made re pecksies/pixies from My Space

It's always interesting to see how words are translated.

I was, of course, trying to create a word that would suggest 'pixies' but in a slightly darker way.

Hmm...that tends to shed a little bit of an 'evil' light onto pecksies! I know that humans do consider them to be rather dark-intentioned but I found them to be the opposite in 'Words Like Coins'! Interesting!

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[Farseer]

Pecksies again...sorry, as I know a few of you have most likely not read 'Words Like Coins' so I wonder if this theory is not better placed there...still, it does run on from other posts I've made here and also helps make connections between pecksies and other such mythical creatures?

Once a pecksie is bound by a human into a state of servitude, it absolutely MUST do whatever it is then asked by the human, no matter the cost to others or itself.

Just as the presence of silver on a pecksie and then its continued transferal of silver onto objects, as pecksie dust, screams Skill to me, I believe that this having to do as a human orders is a direct consequence of a Skill command. The fact that a pecksie has no choice but to follow a human's words through to whatever end, tells me that it is much more forceful than a mere Skill suggestion. I think I have mentioned earlier but there is no direct suggestion of pecksies having anything at all to do with the Skill in the actual text...it's just my theories so I may be way off the mark!

Usually the person or being sending a Skill suggestion or command (or glamour !) has a Skill-ability however, in the case of a pecksie, I wonder if the human is not Skilled but it is the pecksie itself who is so Skilled that such a use of words acts as an unbreakable Skill command to them from the human....a command that not even the pecksie can break?

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When both were finally able to separate themselves from the Skill River, and thus return to their bodies, it seemed to Fitz that someone else spoke to him (via a distance echo of thought that was arrowed tightly to him alone). That person said, "That was well done. But next time, be more careful, with yourself as well as with him."

What are your theories on WHO this 'someone' was?

There is no mention by Fitz of a 'foreign' presence or even a 'sizable' presence at that time so this would suggest that, rather than it being the same sort of connection as what he and Dutiful had previously experienced on Others Island etc, it was instead someone or something that Fitz could easily expect to be there within the Skill River eg a human.

Hmm...assuming they do have a significant ability in the Skill and, as they are known to have a connection with Skill pillars (re when a human comes back from a visit to the pillars in a rather unwell state, such as Fitz did, they are then considered to appear 'pecksie-nibbled'), could it actually be a pecksie and not a human who speaks to Fitz from within the Skill River? Though I ask the question, I too believe it was more likely to be someone who cared for Fitz and also Dutiful by a personal association eg family.