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queenluaso guys i really really don't know how to meta but
i'm nothing if not a crowd-follower
and anything that involves filling my f-list with beautiful beautiful posts is something i want to be a part of
so yeah i'll try doing this thing a little bit!
* * *
So there's a general trope in fantasy stuff where the prominent "psychic" character—the mind-reading character—is either (a) mystic, weird, possibly crazy, and distanced from the main action, or (b) serene, calm, positive, and Sees the Good in Everyone TM. The latter, I think, stems from a pretty optimistic view of humanity—the idea that, if you or I could see everyone's thoughts and memories clearly, we would totally understand why people do what they do, and realize that they're just trying their best, and thus we would forgive their faults and love them. But maybe that wouldn't happen. Maybe we'd just see everyone's thoughts and realize everyone is insufferable and petty and self-centered and grow annoyed with them; maybe we'd want to stop being able to read minds altogether (see the empath in this excellent Le Guin story). Or maybe—most likely—what we saw in others would, to some extent, reflect our own biases—we would see the good in people we already liked, see the evil in people we already dislike, or whatever.
Anyway, the general heron archetype in Tellius seems to be (b), the serene goopy people-lovers, but the first and most prominent instance of the herons we're given is—Reyson. Who has far from a warm-fuzzy view of humanity as a whole, and who's far from a passive observer. Even Rafiel, who most closely fits the archetype, is not all warmth and forgiveness—his torn reaction to Hetzel and rejection of the man is a really fascinating bit of character development for the dude (considering he seemed to be mostly empathy and kindness and "praise the goddess" and such prior to that point).
I think this upending of that usual archetype is pretty cool. Really, to an extent the whole mind-reading thing may be underutilized. I think being able to read people's thoughts may have a really profound impact on one's psyche and it would've been cool to see that touched on more. (Admittedly, during most the games there's war and chaos all over the damn place, which probably explains some of its lack of prominence...) And on a political level, being able to determine, with absolute veracity, when people are lying or telling the truth, and read the content of people's thoughts, could be a terrifyingly strong power in the right hands. Herons as some kind of absolute-order-enforcing judicial group within some larger society could be incredibly interesting and possibly creepy. (Corrupt heron-enforcers, after all, may not have incentive to be truthful about what they see in people's minds. Someone they don't like goes to court, and is innocent, but they could say the dude's lying and send him to prison anyway—who's going to call them on it? Something something who watches the watchmen, and so on.)
I actually once spent an afternoon trying to cobble together some plausible scenario where a heron, or a group of herons, or the herons as a whole would be put in that position—idk maybe Tibarn gets murdered shortly after FE10 and Reyson goes all batty and installs himself right beside the next bird-king as Judge & Juror for everything in the united bird kingdoms? or maybe there's some random survivor-heron in Begnion who gets captured and is forced to perform judgments in this capacity? etc. It ended up being too tricky for me to figure out something like that, but I still think it was a neat idea-direction and whatnot.
i'm nothing if not a crowd-follower
and anything that involves filling my f-list with beautiful beautiful posts is something i want to be a part of
so yeah i'll try doing this thing a little bit!
So there's a general trope in fantasy stuff where the prominent "psychic" character—the mind-reading character—is either (a) mystic, weird, possibly crazy, and distanced from the main action, or (b) serene, calm, positive, and Sees the Good in Everyone TM. The latter, I think, stems from a pretty optimistic view of humanity—the idea that, if you or I could see everyone's thoughts and memories clearly, we would totally understand why people do what they do, and realize that they're just trying their best, and thus we would forgive their faults and love them. But maybe that wouldn't happen. Maybe we'd just see everyone's thoughts and realize everyone is insufferable and petty and self-centered and grow annoyed with them; maybe we'd want to stop being able to read minds altogether (see the empath in this excellent Le Guin story). Or maybe—most likely—what we saw in others would, to some extent, reflect our own biases—we would see the good in people we already liked, see the evil in people we already dislike, or whatever.
Anyway, the general heron archetype in Tellius seems to be (b), the serene goopy people-lovers, but the first and most prominent instance of the herons we're given is—Reyson. Who has far from a warm-fuzzy view of humanity as a whole, and who's far from a passive observer. Even Rafiel, who most closely fits the archetype, is not all warmth and forgiveness—his torn reaction to Hetzel and rejection of the man is a really fascinating bit of character development for the dude (considering he seemed to be mostly empathy and kindness and "praise the goddess" and such prior to that point).
I think this upending of that usual archetype is pretty cool. Really, to an extent the whole mind-reading thing may be underutilized. I think being able to read people's thoughts may have a really profound impact on one's psyche and it would've been cool to see that touched on more. (Admittedly, during most the games there's war and chaos all over the damn place, which probably explains some of its lack of prominence...) And on a political level, being able to determine, with absolute veracity, when people are lying or telling the truth, and read the content of people's thoughts, could be a terrifyingly strong power in the right hands. Herons as some kind of absolute-order-enforcing judicial group within some larger society could be incredibly interesting and possibly creepy. (Corrupt heron-enforcers, after all, may not have incentive to be truthful about what they see in people's minds. Someone they don't like goes to court, and is innocent, but they could say the dude's lying and send him to prison anyway—who's going to call them on it? Something something who watches the watchmen, and so on.)
I actually once spent an afternoon trying to cobble together some plausible scenario where a heron, or a group of herons, or the herons as a whole would be put in that position—idk maybe Tibarn gets murdered shortly after FE10 and Reyson goes all batty and installs himself right beside the next bird-king as Judge & Juror for everything in the united bird kingdoms? or maybe there's some random survivor-heron in Begnion who gets captured and is forced to perform judgments in this capacity? etc. It ended up being too tricky for me to figure out something like that, but I still think it was a neat idea-direction and whatnot.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 05:14 am (UTC)(though, now that you mention this, I vaguely recall something like this coming up in Clement-Davies's The Sight—in that book, a wolf sort of developed mind-reading powers during the course of the plot, and at some point hunting got hard for her because right before the moment she'd lunge to kill a rabbit, she'd share their mind for a moment and the fear/terror/etc would freak her out and throw her off, iirc)
so yes this is my new canon
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Date: 2013-02-02 07:11 am (UTC)/worst person but I think the answer is "sure why not"
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Date: 2013-02-02 07:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 08:09 am (UTC)I've forgotten so much, sigh.
I wonder if that made them especially valuable slaves, beauty aside. If you could convince one not to die, maybe they had other uses: empathic ability, singing to your gardens, enhancing your virility with certain songs...
I bet Reyson could strangle his way to the top if something happened to Tibarn. XD But heron judges would be a pretty interesting direction to go for future!Begnion, actually - and I go there because pffff, laguz don't need judges! They always behave.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 05:45 pm (UTC)Lekain: And somehow, despite the extraordinary plans of great me, here you are
standing before my very eyes.
Sanaki: If Sephiran and I hadn't been freed... You were just waiting for your
chance to kill us? Just as you killed my grandmother.
Lekain: Out of respect for the imminently deceased, I'll be completely honest.
Yes, you assume correctly. Your assassination, and the plot to once again
frame the Serenes herons for it, was entirely my idea.
Sanaki: Yes... I thought as much.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 04:07 pm (UTC)re: archetype (b), Leanne might actually be the best example of this, despite Rafiel being the more serene/lovely/etc. one. As you pointed out Rafiel does have the interestingly conflicted reaction to Hetzel (actually I wonder if part of that was Nailah's influence Rafiel--i.e. Rafiel was more inclined to give Hetzel the benefit of the doubt until he met Nailah?), whereas Leanne has the moment where she defends Naesala from Skrimir because "Naesala suffers" and says he's a good guy ("I wish you would stop peering into my soul, Leanne, it's very rude of you." :P). Her seeing the best in Elincia seems to have helped Elincia while she was doubting herself in part 2, too. Though, interestingly, I could see Leanne as being the least actually bothered by battle. Maybe it's the child-like outlook.
Tangent: 'mind-reading herons as political judges/advisors' makes me think that sounds like something Kurth might employ. If he chose to harbor Lehran like his father did, and could maybe harbor Rafiel for a time while Rafiel grieves over Nailah's eventual death, he could maybe give them purpose through putting them to work that way, and have them sort of check each other--like, if Lehran is lying for the sake of an agenda, Rafiel can call him out, etc. Not a perfect system, but one I can see Kurth using. (Of course, it's more likely Rafiel would want to be with his family in Serenes, but I tend to have Kurth Harbors ALL the People headcanons for future!Tellius, aha).
no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-02 07:08 pm (UTC)