Old Kingdom/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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* It [[Just Bugs Me]] how it completely sucks to be an ordinary person in this world. You're pretty much guaranteed to get screwed over whatever happens. Everyone's 100% behind the monarchy, because last time the country went without one (for 200 years) everything went to hell. Pretty much the only function of people who aren't one of the five great bloodlines (or, rather, three, because only the Clayr, the Abhorsen and the Royal family are still around {{spoiler|and the Wallmakers, but not until right at the end of the third book}}) is to get killed to provide mooks for the Abhorsen to fight. It's hardly surprising that some of them become necromancers, since (though Free Magic may well give you cancer), there isn't much else you can do except be doomed to a stereotypical fantasy role for all eternity. Sorry, you can't become a kick-ass Abhorsen, you don't have the right blood. You'll have to be a farmer instead. Maybe an innkeeper if you're lucky. It looks like you could have some fun as a Charter Mage, until you realise that all the most powerful books check for the right Blood when you touch them and ''will asplode you if you don't have it''. By the time the King's forbidden a bunch of books, the Abhorsen's taken away all the books on Necromancy and associated dark magics because they're cool like that and the Clayr have stowed the rest in their magical library pretty much all that's going to be left is My Very First Book of Charter Magic. Isn't life in a world where your entire future is based on being born into the right family fun?

** Yeah...welcome to [[Real Life|medieval society]]. It's pretty lame.

* The Clayr, being as they are sort of [[Blessed ~~With~~ Suck]]. Because they are so numerous, their powers have been extremely diluted to the point at which few Clayr will experience a full vision in an entire lifetime. Even when they all band together, their powers are limited. Despite supposedly being very clever and organised, it took them years to notice that they couldn't See anything near the Red Lake. It bugs me how much importance Lirael places on getting the Sight - sure, it's a sign of normality in the Glacier, but it doesn't really do much and doesn't impact much on most Clayr's day-to-day lives.

* The Clayr, being as they are sort of [[Blessed with Suck]]. Because they are so numerous, their powers have been extremely diluted to the point at which few Clayr will experience a full vision in an entire lifetime. Even when they all band together, their powers are limited. Despite supposedly being very clever and organised, it took them years to notice that they couldn't See anything near the Red Lake. It bugs me how much importance Lirael places on getting the Sight - sure, it's a sign of normality in the Glacier, but it doesn't really do much and doesn't impact much on most Clayr's day-to-day lives.

** I got the impression that the Red Lake thing had grown with time as the [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] was unearthed, but maybe that's just me. Also, part of Lirael's problem is that because the way the Clayr's society is structured, she is officially considered a child until her Sight awakens. Imagine being trapped in third grade until high school. That's why they arranged for her to get the Librarian job; it gave her something to do other than be around children and people who treated her as such.

** I got the impression that the Red Lake thing had grown with time as the [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] was unearthed, but maybe that's just me. Also, part of Lirael's problem is that because the way the Clayr's society is structured, she is officially considered a child until her Sight awakens. Imagine being trapped in third grade until high school. That's why they arranged for her to get the Librarian job; it gave her something to do other than be around children and people who treated her as such.

** Their Sight may not have a lot of direct impact on the Clayr's day-to-day lives, but it's definitely deeply ingrained in their culture. Lirael, though an adult by non-Clayr standards since she was fourteen, was technically living in the children's quarters with a group of pre-teen (and possibly younger) children up until she left the Glacier when she was eighteen. There are two or three places where it's stated that Lirael has been the butt of gossip and teasing and that the younger, un-Sighted Clayr gawk at her because they're mortally afraid they're going to end up like her. It's also said that the Clayr never go very long without turning the conversation to their Sight (which is why Lirael finds it painful to talk to them) and that their clairvoyance makes them rather indifferent toward individual people's problems (which Filris states as a reason for her absence from Lirael's life). It's made pretty clear that Lirael only places undue importance on it because everyone else in the Glacier does, as well.

*** Since the entire trilogy is something of a coming of age story for pretty much everyone involved, part of Lirael's desire to gain the Sight is completely explainable'. Getting the Sight would prove she is normal and allow her to become a part of the adult Clayr society, which she had basically been raised to expect to become a part of her whole life. Part of growing up is wanting to find your own niche in your community, so the idea of being a Sightless Clayr understandably nearly drove poor Lirael to suicide.