Sorcerer's House--First Read--Some Thoughts/Questions

Gwern Branwen · 11 Apr 2010, 03:30 · from 2010-April.txt.gz

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From: gwern0 at gmail.com (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:30:21 -0400
Subject: (urth) Sorcerer's House--First Read--Some Thoughts/Questions
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On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 8:42 PM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> Gwern said
>>
>> Killing George at the final battle makes more sense[snip]
>> But one would expect the killing of George to be significant: the left
>> behind body would be striking ('oh no, Bax is dead!' 'wait, but Bax is
>> over there with the fox sword!' 'eh?'), and the killing ought to be
>> major and marked out some way. [snip]
>> I don't have the text handy, but I
>> don't remember any werewolf (except Lupin) standing out.
>
> My working hypothesis is that the body Lupine was putting back together
> during the final battle was George's.
>
> Dave said:
>>
>> It's a reasonable idea, and it maybe goes along with the woman
>> George found who was his guide to the things of Faerie
>> (in this case being Lupine, who possibly made George into a werewolf).
>
> He might have already been a werewolf when he arrived and the note was a
> fake made by Bax
> OR
> the letter note from George might have been out of place.
>
> One thing though, I don't recall right now any indication that you can
> become a werewolf by being bitten. Lupine traded ("sold") her soul for her
> wolfskin. It's not an easy, quick process, I presume. But she might have
> taught George how to do that. It is striking that the is soul-selling in a
> novel with an Old Nick. I'm not sure I get the connection if there is one.
> Did she sell her soul to Zwart?

I think it's implied pretty strongly that whomever Lupin sold her soul
to, it wasn't Zwart. Zwart would hardly be telling his son to learn,
team up with his twin, become a great cunning wizard, travel far away,
etc. if the soul-holder were him. Unless of course Zwart isn't Zwart
but a distant wizard of the same name...

-- 
gwern

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