Castleview Haloo

The short answer is "no." Unfortunately, you left out my very important caveat.

I suspect that if we could decide clearly who was and who was not Fay, the rest would fall into place -- at least, as much as you can expect things to do with Faerie to fall into place. Many of your questions either fall into that category or would most likely be answered as a side effect of answering one or more questions in the category. I guess I'm just comfortable with the uncertainties the book leaves -- I don't see them as puzzles so much as a direct result of the slippery nature of Faerie. The answer to the big question ("what's going on here?") seems to be: "Two factions of faerie-folk are fighting over something. At least a part of the subject of the fight is Morgan's wish to bring her brother (who is [in some sense] Shields) back to dwell in her castle." (Morgan's brother is, traditionally, Arthur; nobody ever seems to notice that if Morgan is fay, Arthur ought to be also.) One can ask the subsidiary question as to which faction a given faerie belongs to, but the question disintegrates: faeries are, by nature (or at least by tradition), treacherous; I suspect that they change sides much as they change clothes, and perhaps more often. Given all that, I'll attack at least some of those questions...

Flip answer -- "Yes, but he got better." Serious answer: Define "killed" so as to give the question meaning. In particular, define it as it pertains to a native of Faerie -- which Shields, in some sense, is. For that matter, define the word "really" (or "real") in that context...

I have no trouble saying, "Yeah, he's fay." The questions then become: "Which side is Liam Fee on when he wants to buy the house? And why does he want to?" I suspect that he doesn't actually want to buy the house -- I think that's a sort of reverse-Maguffin, something which has no real importance at all, but which a character (Liam Fee) uses to prod others into behaving the way he wants.

I think this is another question that needs to be taken into a different context -- again, the word "really" is perhaps not meaningful here. I mean: where do you get the idea that a faerie has a single, "real" form? We do not see the fair folk; we see what they want us to see. I don't know whether he's an alien or a monster, but he's certainly alien and monstrous.

I would say that, yes, there is a definite and deliberate resonance there. (Which raises the most interesting question of who reflects the Fisher-king role in this particular resonance-pattern ...)

Another faerie, I'm pretty sure. I'm not clear at this point which side she's on at any given moment.

Yes.

I'm inclined to agree - though come to think of it, I don't recall that we ever see them together 8*)

This is hardly a "just what he seems" kind of answer! I came away with the idea that this is as much his "real" form as the one he shows at home: nothing certain, but suggestive enough to entertain the idea that he's a Faerie-cat that Judy has (unknowingly[? but who knows what, in her so-imaginative heart, Judy really knows?]) taken in.

Cool effects? Sorry, flip again. Try it this way:, who took (blanking on his name) from the museum and why, and why'd they let him go -- especially out near-or-at the camp? Is he fay? (And on which side?) I'm not sure. But clearly at least some of the characters who want us (or who want the residents of the town, or whom Wolfe wants us) to think they're mortal aren't, and he's not a bad candidate.

This is a "damifino" question. I forgot about it completely.

-- and the Lady of the Lake, who is not always the same person as Viviane. I gather that "identity" is not the same thing to faeries as it is to us -- you may be me tomorrow?

It kind of looks that way. I wouldn't want to stake money on it, though; the story ends with no real sense of what is going to happen afterwards.

Did he? Are you sure? More important: Is Mercedes sure? Do we see Mercedes seeing what Mercedes sees? What does she see and when?

I suspect he's someone who's on neither side. I'm pretty darned sure that he has to do with the Wild Hunt. (H'mmm. Does the horned king show up again after Von Madadh appears... Is Von Madadh... Ah, never mind...)

Lucie, at least. And Shields, once he shows up there.

See above re: Von Madadh. --Dan'l

Indeed, I didn't realize how many of the questions you were going to be able to relate to this.

I see what you mean - but is she his full sister, or just half? Might she be half faerie and half human?

Now there's a notion. I'm trying to think of particular instances, but I suspect I would have to read the book again. Hmm - arguing against that is the fact that he kills Tom because he decides not to sell. The Roberts family seem to have close connections with the Castle, and the house itself has a tower like a castle. I wonder how long it has been there ...

That's just it; Fee is off his guard, stunned.

Agreed, and I'm sure Tony is right in suggesting that aliens and fairies are the same thing. [As an aside, I think this is literally true in the real world, too - they even look like elves. Actual extraterrestrial life forms excluded, of course.]

I agree that faeries are notoriously unreliable, but I don't think we need to assume they change sides in the story unless there's some textual evidence for it. Of course, I haven't been looking for it. Anyway, she's pretty clearly one of Fee's lot. He appears genuinely upset at her death. I don't think he's making that up, because no-one knows there is any connection between them.

:-)

Yes. He has history, too, in the form of family heirlooms.

Personally, I think all cats are like that. To suggest that GGL is somehow Special is to imply that other cats are Ordinary, and that hardly seems likely.

Bob Roberts. Er - yes, who? The troll turns up in both places. And there's the strange boy, too.

But then Sally and Seth would be fay too.

It always sticks in my head because it happens quite early on, before we have any idea of what's happening, and because it is so dramatic and inexplicable.

[*]

She certainly seems to believe it when they are all going home in the car. We don't see it directly, that's true, but isn't it a wolf-like creature that goes for him?

Rex von Madadh - King of Hounds. Of course. Dozy old Bear.

Vivian was trying to get Wrangler (as a descendant of Arthur), so if she had succeeded he would have showed up in her castle as Shields did. Lucie was trying to kill him too, but maybe that would have been different. Perhaps he would have become a vampire (or whatever) like her. But why not just knock him over the head or push him under a horse?

I'll bear that in mind next time I read it - you're right, I'm sure, but I can't put the pieces together from memory. Thanks. [*] Re being you - no, no. Completely impossible. Couldn't happen. SBear.