So I was thinking about mythology and fantasy, and how mortal humans are said to be able to do things even gods can't, and I wondered, why should that be so? I et a biscuit and pondered, and the thought that came to was - even immortal beings can, according to the mythology, still be killed, if usually in overly complicated ways. That means death can touch them, even if they don't 'naturally' have a death... animals die, plants die, stars die, ideas die... mortals carry around a little bit of death, their own, hence the name, and so mortals can affect anything that can in any way die.
I concluded this was a load of cobblers, and et another bickie.
But it sounds good, what?
- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
It's a fairly classic high fantasy trope, actually.
I don't know that it's on the tvtropes page, but I've seen it in oh..four or five different novel series and possibly one or two other sources.
And several times in fanfic, including a classic that is now sadly hard to reread.
Right, that's what got me thinking about it. The why is rarely explained, just that they can.
- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
ClassicDrogn Wrote:Right, that's what got me thinking about it. The why is rarely explained, just that they can.
Well, are there any passages that you can quote or link us to?
gamlain Wrote:And several times in fanfic, including a classic that is now sadly hard to reread.
Bwa?
One of the reasons humans tend to get to pull stuff immortals can't is that said immortals are very much bound by their natures... and humans not so much. Immortals, left to their own devices, tend to operate in rather rigid behavior patterns. They are immortal due to perpetual motion an object in motion stays in motion and object at rest stays at rest. To be immortal tends to require them to make a very primal part of themselves permanently fixed. They are contract workers on a salary... Humans on the other hand are very much hired temps.
The very core of a human is flexible as mortals are transient. They come and go. Always in flux. This means they can change things as they are the polar opposite of the unchanging immortals. Mortals are the wet sponge thrown into the clockwork. Often it does rather little... sometime they get caught up in things they have no business being caught up in and snarl up the works. Sometimes they screw things up and the gears rust a bit. Sometimes they wash things already jammed into the gears out.
Basically, mortals tend to cause issues as they are an Out of Context problem. No matter how much you think you (an immortal) have figured them out... some random idiot will do something so inexplicable that it comes out of left and smacks you in the back of the knees... while playing pool in a bar.
The locked nature of immortals is the reason for bizarre weaknesses like being forces to count small objects if they are thrown on the ground in front of them. I've always wanted to see some immortal or another throw a precounted handful of small objects as a trap so they can flee and the human totally ignores it and a dozen other specific weaknesses that don't apply.
blackaeronaut Wrote:ClassicDrogn Wrote:Right, that's what got me thinking about it. The why is rarely explained, just that they can.
Well, are there any passages that you can quote or link us to?
gamlain Wrote:And several times in fanfic, including a classic that is now sadly hard to reread.
Bwa?
Ranma and Akane: A love Story rather prominently features this theme, fairly poetically played. The only place I know it's hosted appears to be permanently down.
Quote:Ranma and Akane: A love Story rather prominently features this theme, fairly poetically played. The only place I know it's hosted appears to be permanently down.
Ah, yes, the bargain regarding iron... yes, that would fit, wouldn't it?
Hm. Someone, if not Hallstrom, has posted it to fanfiction.net. The relevant chapter is
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/179718/5/Ra ... Love_Story]here. The original posts to the FFML can be found at %[link=http://ffmlsearch.inklesspen.com]http://ffmlsearch.inklesspen.com] with a proper search. Google Groups has up to chapter 5. In fact,
http://jusenkyo.wikia.com/wiki/Chiang_M ... _Sheng_Sho]this page at jusenkyo.wikia.com has links to multiple archives of the story, and while I haven't checked all the links, all the ones I did look at were still active.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
I've got chapters 1 through 7b, plus side-arcs 2a and 3a, sitting in my archives; in the unlikely event that they turn out not to be anywhere else, I could probably make them available, though it's not clear whether I necessarily should.