Gideon

Dave Tallman · 13 Jan 2009, 14:58 · from 2009-January.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:58:15 -0700
Subject: (urth) Gideon
In-Reply-To: <002a01c9753e$ed897300$0bd14a0c@rclackey>
References: <002a01c9753e$ed897300$0bd14a0c@rclackey>
Message-ID: <496CAC07.5050804 at gmail.com>

Roy C. Lackey wrote:
> I understand the distinction you mean, and we can call Cassie's change mojo
> or whatever if you like, but it still amounts to a glamour. It may not wash
> off, like Gil's, but the change wrought by Gid on her was not permanent and
> was never going to be permanent, even if she had not gotten herself stranded
> in harsh conditions on that island. And Gid had the power to reverse it.
> (81) What he did for her was much like what Talos had done with Jolenta,
> only the loss of the mojo left Cassie in a much worse physical state than
> she would have been in had she never had it. In other words, there was a
> price to be paid for the mojo that she didn't know about.
>   
The burnout problem gives us reason to think that the mojo trick will 
only work once. That was a creepy thing to do to a woman Gid professed 
to love, but he was never one to let love trump financial self-interest. 
If Cassie can't power up again, the Rian solution is out. That leaves 
the possibility of going "down" to werewolf level.

If my theory is correct, there should be literary clues as well as 
"real-life" clues. Here are a few I have found:

   1. Cassie/Margaret has a prophecy of doom that is not believed,
      making her a Cassandra, as Palma said (p. 64).
   2. Margaret is also like a banshee, predicting death. She is a Gray
      Neighbor (p. 64).
   3. The Klauser quote about temporal doubles is "The robin another
      robin fights in a clean window seems terribly real to him, too"
      (p. 298).
   4. Cassie is identified with Batman's Robin. She is a sidekick to a
      dark detective with a high-tech car. There are countless jokes
      about Robin wanting to drive the Batmobile.
   5. The "manbat" Visitors call Cassie their cub (p. 235).
   6. One food Cassie will eat on Woldercan looks like worms (p. 299).
   7. There is a character in Memorare named Robin Redd, who seems
      almost a prototype for Cassie. She is twice-divorced, and one of
      her exes is a criminal type. She also has an alliterative name and
      works in show business.
   8. The match from "Mariah Brownlea" to "Margaret Briggs" is more than
      just initials. It has the same first three letters in the first
      name and the same first two letters in the second.

It's possible that Margaret avoided a direct warning to Reis. I'm 
looking for other things she might have done to sabotage the plan to 
take Cassie to the Takanga islands. She may have taken the picture that 
revealed Gib as Gideon to the ATF. She had a camera and was present at 
dress rehearsals. She also warned Cassie that she was getting in too 
deep (p. 141).

The cycle may not be stabilized. On the next iteration, Cassie/Margaret 
can avoid repeating actions that didn't work the last time (like the 
picture, leading to the death of Scott). She may even succeed in the 
long run. I hope she does.

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