Author Topic: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]  (Read 66820 times)

Offline Quantus

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #75 on: June 25, 2015, 12:28:58 AM »
I believe Jim has a quote out there somewhere about a body only being able to contain so much. If Big-Ds were a mantle, they'd be enormously powerful, so I don't see any body containing more than one for any length of time.
Only if they are all equal.  I mean, a Queen can hold her own mantle and the Knights.  And I wouldnt put it past Mother Winter to be able to hold the Lady Mantle at least for a while, if no host were immediately available

Plus, that WOJ was in the context of a Mortal taking multiple Mantles, whereas immortals have other rules. 

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I'm only going to consider anything a mantle when the books say or imply they are. Just because it's the Big New Word as of Cold Days doesn't mean everything has to be shoehorned into it.
Im currently proceeding under the assumption that any actual Immortal (per the new CD definition) is a Mantle, based on my read of Bob's explanations about Halloween, conjunctions, etc.  Outside of that the only creatures we have confirmed to be Mantles are the Eldest of a given Race of Fae, per WOJ.  So yes for Sith and Gruff, No for Lea (by specific WOJ), all others by measure of True Immortality.

I do btw, agree that post-CD Mantles became annoyingly prevalent in every new theory.  Including a few of my own :P
« Last Edit: June 25, 2015, 11:59:34 AM by Quantus »
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Offline peregrine

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #76 on: June 25, 2015, 12:34:59 AM »
If we've got Mantles not belonging to an Immortal (Knighthood) I'm not sure that we should assume that Immortals all have Mantles.

Offline Second Aristh

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #77 on: June 25, 2015, 12:42:56 AM »
If we've got Mantles not belonging to an Immortal (Knighthood) I'm not sure that we should assume that Immortals all have Mantles.
I agree in the spirit of there being too many mantles, but Bob specifically associates true immortality with having a mantle in CD.  They go trick or treating on Halloween to try to add to their mantle.  I'm reluctant to go against Bob without more support from somewhere.
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Offline namkcas

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #78 on: June 25, 2015, 01:57:36 AM »
That makes an assumption that all immortals that are killed on Halloween will actually have their "mantles" transferred.  We have exactly no evidence of that.  What Bob actually says is that the immortals take small amounts of power from one another (i.e. They Trick or Treat).

Offline Eldest Gruff

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #79 on: June 25, 2015, 02:07:10 AM »
I agree in the spirit of there being too many mantles, but Bob specifically associates true immortality with having a mantle in CD.  They go trick or treating on Halloween to try to add to their mantle.  I'm reluctant to go against Bob without more support from somewhere.

Could we not just chalk that bit up to a Fae specific conversation since it surrounds Harry having to kill one? And he says 'add power to their mantle' not 'mantles' which would lump them all together more. As in they add to their usually unmalleable state of immortality, their power in general. We find out later in the book at least one immortal feels no need to differentiate between a mask and a mantle, so if Bob is using the more general meaning as opposed to a specific 'everyone's got a mantle like the Fae do' definition then we've got our flexibility even within the same book.
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Offline Second Aristh

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #80 on: June 25, 2015, 02:14:20 AM »
That makes an assumption that all immortals that are killed on Halloween will actually have their "mantles" transferred.  We have exactly no evidence of that.  What Bob actually says is that the immortals take small amounts of power from one another (i.e. They Trick or Treat).
Here are Bob's exact words, my emphasis:
Quote from: Cold Days Ch.11
"Halloween is when they feed," Bob said.  "Or... refuel.  Or run free.  It's all sort of the same thing, and I'm only conveying a small part of it.  Halloween night is when the locked stasis of immortality becomes malleable.  They take in energy--and it's when they can add new power to their mantle.  Mostly they steal tiny bits of it from other immortals."


Could we not just chalk that bit up to a Fae specific conversation since it surrounds Harry having to kill one? And he says 'add power to their mantle' not 'mantles' which would lump them all together more. As in they add to their usually unmalleable state of immortality, their power in general. We find out later in the book at least one immortal feels no need to differentiate between a mask and a mantle, so if Bob is using the more general meaning as opposed to a specific 'everyone's got a mantle like the Fae do' definition then we've got our flexibility even within the same book.
I don't think so.  The paragraph before, Bob says that "Everyone--everything--standing in this world is mortal on Halloween."  Bob isn't just talking about immortal faeries.
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Offline namkcas

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #81 on: June 25, 2015, 02:26:01 AM »
I really think you are placing too much on the mantle word.  So, if Hades dies does the person that kills him absorb the Mantle?  I do not believe that every immortal being (remember that Naagloshii are immortals) are mantles. 

Offline Eldest Gruff

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #82 on: June 25, 2015, 02:26:59 AM »
I don't think so.  The paragraph before, Bob says that "Everyone--everything--standing in this world is mortal on Halloween."  Bob isn't just talking about immortal faeries.

Yes, but he makes a point of reminding Harry a little later in the conversation that 'there will just be another Maeve'. That Harry kept thinking about the Ladies as people and they weren't, they are mantles of power. So yes, he lumps every immortal as a 'can die' on Halloween because they can. But that in and of itself, to me, does not require them all to be mantle bearers in the same sense as the Fae. That he chose to use that particular word the way he did is twofold, it keeps Harry and the reader on focus about what he'll be dealing with in Maeve...and it sets up the later point made by Kringle about there being no difference between a mantle and a mask. That one's 'identity', one's power, and one's self is open to a wide array of interpretation and malleability, given the right time and place.

Besides, if for instance Siriothrax was a mantle holder then Ferro has no need to be upset as his demise...there will just be another Siriothrax. If Odin were a mantle he couldn't reasonably be expected to hold a second, it would just have been added to his original base of power and augmented it, rather than being separate and apart.
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Offline Second Aristh

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #83 on: June 25, 2015, 03:41:37 AM »
I really think you are placing too much on the mantle word.  So, if Hades dies does the person that kills him absorb the Mantle?  I do not believe that every immortal being (remember that Naagloshii are immortals) are mantles.
If Jim didn't actually mean mantle when he said mantle, it's not exactly hard to come up with a different phrasing for Bob to use in that sentence.  I just think that the text and WoJ point more toward all true immortals having mantles. 


Yes, but he makes a point of reminding Harry a little later in the conversation that 'there will just be another Maeve'. That Harry kept thinking about the Ladies as people and they weren't, they are mantles of power. So yes, he lumps every immortal as a 'can die' on Halloween because they can. But that in and of itself, to me, does not require them all to be mantle bearers in the same sense as the Fae. That he chose to use that particular word the way he did is twofold, it keeps Harry and the reader on focus about what he'll be dealing with in Maeve...and it sets up the later point made by Kringle about there being no difference between a mantle and a mask. That one's 'identity', one's power, and one's self is open to a wide array of interpretation and malleability, given the right time and place.

Besides, if for instance Siriothrax was a mantle holder then Ferro has no need to be upset as his demise...there will just be another Siriothrax. If Odin were a mantle he couldn't reasonably be expected to hold a second, it would just have been added to his original base of power and augmented it, rather than being separate and apart.
Bob keeps saying things like everyone too much for me to buy he was only talking about faerie queens. 

As far as Odin goes, I see no problem in consistency with him holding multiple mantles.  Gaining a second mantle doesn't necessarily mean the two mantles will merge.  The ability manipulate and split mantles is consistent with theories on the emergence of the Summer/Winter divide.

Siriothrax is automatically a difficult question since a KotC was involved.  It makes perfect sense for him to be upset if a Dragon mantle is absorbed into and overpowered by an archangel mantle, for example.  That doesn't even consider personal attachments Ferro may have had.


I could certainly see there being a variety in how mantles are transferred.  If a random immortal gets offed, their mantle may not fly directly to the next person.  Perhaps if a skinwalker were to take a nuke on Halloween, his mantle would fly away and distribute itself evenly to all the other skinwalkers.  Flexibility in the transfers would give more freedom to play around with.
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Offline Eldest Gruff

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #84 on: June 25, 2015, 03:58:25 AM »
Bob keeps saying things like everyone too much for me to buy he was only talking about faerie queens. 

As far as Odin goes, I see no problem in consistency with him holding multiple mantles.  Gaining a second mantle doesn't necessarily mean the two mantles will merge.  The ability manipulate and split mantles is consistent with theories on the emergence of the Summer/Winter divide.

'Add power to their mantle'. Not split or manipulated the power into separate divisions of a mantle(s) to make a new one. They add to themselves. Power cannot be destroyed, only changed per the Einstenian conversation in SK. Kringle re-asserts this in CD, 'none of us are what we once were'. So adapting and adding the power to their own (stated) vs separating it into a different function per the same methods (theorized).

That Summer and Winter, (two already fundamentally opposing forces that could just as easily have been examples of those mantles that always existed per WOJ), possibly were founded that way based on an entirely different set of circumstances and power vector (the Stone Table) does not necessarily make it applicable to all or any other circumstances.

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Siriothrax is automatically a difficult question since a KotC was involved.  It makes perfect sense for him to be upset if a Dragon mantle is absorbed into and overpowered by an archangel mantle, for example.  That doesn't even consider personal attachments Ferro may have had.

Is it though? Why does a KoTC give an Archangel an avenue to absorb the power? They certainly don't do anything of the sort with anything else one of the Swords has killed...vampires, Fae, Denarians...none of them make the Swords stronger or have been shown to create a conduit back to the Angels with which to utilize such power. And did Ferro really strike you as sentimental?

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2010 Bitten by Books Q&A:
#189 “Was Sirothrax a major dragon like Ferrovax or a minor dragon?”
He was the real deal, though he was in some ways the weakest of the remaining great dragons.
Ferrovax wouldn’t have given a damn about some nobody minor dragon being slain. :)

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2011 Atlanta Signing
You mentioned that Mister Ferro won’t be back until the Apocalyptic Trilogy, right? [Jim: Probably not.] Will we see other dragons before that?
A: How many dragons do you guys want? [audience: “All of them!”] Actually, we’re darn close.  There’s only like three or four of them left in the world. Which is why killing one is kind of a big deal. Also, its going to totally upset all kinds of things if that happens.  So: of course. You can’t just go ‘I slew a dragon!’ ‘Greaaaaat. You did what?  You did what?’ That’s the kind of reaction you garner, especially from people who are defenders of the status quo, which is pretty much everyone.

So it seems the general principle is, Ferro has no reason to care since if Dragon's were mantles then the status quo isn't upset...and in that same spirit, Archangels would be loathe to take in such power as part of that status quo.

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I could certainly see there being a variety in how mantles are transferred.  If a random immortal gets offed, their mantle may not fly directly to the next person.  Perhaps if a skinwalker were to take a nuke on Halloween, his mantle would fly away and distribute itself evenly to all the other skinwalkers.  Flexibility in the transfers would give more freedom to play around with.

Which assumes a level of flexibility that, even under Halloween parameters, has never been associated with any known mantle.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2015, 04:16:21 AM by Eldest Gruff »
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Offline Second Aristh

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #85 on: June 25, 2015, 04:30:24 AM »
'Add power to their mantle'. Not split or manipulate the power into separate divisions of a mantle(s) to make a new one. They add to themselves. Power cannot be destroyed, only changed per the Einstenian conversation in SK. Kringle re-asserts this in CD, 'none of us are what we once were'. So adapting and adding the power to their own vs separating it into a different function.

That Summer and Winter, (two already fundamentally opposing forces that could just as easily have been examples of those mantles that always existed per WOJ), possibly were founded that way based on an entirely different set of circumstances and power vector (the Stone Table) does not necessarily make it applicable to all or any other circumstances.
Right... I'm not sure what you're getting at.  Mantles have to be able to be split somehow if immortals can steal tiny bits of power from each other.  It doesn't seem like they're all just swapping them around whole every time.  Maintaining the separateness of mantles in one vessel isn't that big of a leap.  There's WoJ that the Erlking could carve out a mini-Knight mantle from his own if he wanted to, but it wouldn't be as impressive as the Summer/Winter Knight.



Is it though? Why does a KoTC give an Archangel an avenue to absorb the power? They certainly don't do anything of the sort with anything else one of the Swords has killed...vampires, Fae, Denarians...none of them make the Swords stronger or have been shown to create a conduit back to the Angels with which to utilize such power. And did Ferro really strike you as sentimental?

So it seems the general principle is, Ferro has no reason to care since if Dragon's were mantles then the status quo isn't upset...and in that same spirit, Archangels would be loathe to take in such power as part of that status quo.

Which assumes a level of flexibility that, even under Halloween parameters, has never been associated with any known mantle.
Haha not sentimental, but prideful certainly fits his personality.  Someone killed his peer and an endangered species.  That's enough to piss him off.  It doesn't seem like he's mad enough to actually do anything about it, though.

Archangels are closely associated with the Swords regardless, and we don't have a good enough sense of scale to be able to tell the difference if chunks of power get added onto them.  If Siriothrax was going down and he was as huge a deal as he's been depicted, it makes sense that an archangel wouldn't be far away.  Something angelic was nearby with Murphy when the RC was getting taken down.  As far as being reluctant to take on a Dragon's power and responsibilities, we need more background information.  It may have been well worth the consequences.

The flexibility in transfers is a hypothesis at the moment, but it doesn't seem to be based on unreasonable assumptions.  We have WoJ that not all mantles work exactly the same way.
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Offline Eldest Gruff

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #86 on: June 25, 2015, 04:57:14 AM »
Right... I'm not sure what you're getting at.  Mantles have to be able to be split somehow if immortals can steal tiny bits of power from each other.  It doesn't seem like they're all just swapping them around whole every time.  Maintaining the separateness of mantles in one vessel isn't that big of a leap.  There's WoJ that the Erlking could carve out a mini-Knight mantle from his own if he wanted to, but it wouldn't be as impressive as the Summer/Winter Knight.

That if they are adding power to their mantle, then by definition they aren't splitting it up into separate 'mini mantles' within their own power. If Odin is a mantle, and Kringle is a mantle, then whichever was there first ought to have had the other added to it. Changed, absorbed, rolled into...any which way you look at it...they get a piece and fuse it with their 'mantle' or established power base. That is how its done. If they keep them apart then it goes against the 'filled vessel' notion put forth by another WOJ.

The Erkling is taking part of his own established power and adding a piece to create his own 'Knight'. He isn't keeping that 'Knight' power for himself then. So if Kringle was a piece of Odin's power gifted to someone else, sure all good. But if he takes in power then it ought to be added to his existing 'mantle'. If Odin himself is a mantle too.

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Haha not sentimental, but prideful certainly fits his personality.  Someone killed his peer and an endangered species.  That's enough to piss him off.  It doesn't seem like he's mad enough to actually do anything about it, though.

Archangels are closely associated with the Swords regardless, and we don't have a good enough sense of scale to be able to tell the difference if chunks of power get added onto them.  If Siriothrax was going down and he was as huge a deal as he's been depicted, it makes sense that an archangel wouldn't be far away.  Something angelic was nearby with Murphy when the RC was getting taken down.  As far as being reluctant to take on a Dragon's power and responsibilities, we need more background information.  It may have been well worth the consequences.

Angelic presence or knowledge on the matter =/= taking in that Power. Again, nothing else the Swords have killed has been noted to follow this principle. Sword doesn't get brighter the more it kills, power isn't felt as being absorbed or transferred by any wielder or sensitive magic user.

But the idea is, if 'everyone' wants to keep the status quo as far as power bases are concerned, then so too would Archangels. The idea isn't they don't wanna take on the power and responsibilities because of what it entails (which as peer cosmological beings doesn't seem like it would clash) but because it goes against the status quo in general.

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The flexibility in transfers is a hypothesis at the moment, but it doesn't seem to be based on unreasonable assumptions.  We have WoJ that not all mantles work exactly the same way.

And I see plenty of flexibility in the use of the word 'mantle' as it was used by Bob that doesn't require all immortals to be held fast to it in the traditional Fae sense of the power. That not everyone or everything has a mantle based on this conversation.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2015, 04:59:05 AM by Eldest Gruff »
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Offline namkcas

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #87 on: June 25, 2015, 05:31:51 AM »
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If Jim didn't actually mean mantle when he said mantle, it's not exactly hard to come up with a different phrasing for Bob to use in that sentence.  I just think that the text and WoJ point more toward all true immortals having mantles. 

No I think it was a way for Bob to explain how the exchange power.  The conversation was heavily Fae oriented at that point and the Queens in specific, so I think Bob just carried along in the conversation.

So again, every Naagloshii is a mantle as well?  Outsiders as well or just Walkers?

To me, there are positions within the Universe that were set up that need to exist.  Then there are other structures that could exist.  Those that need to exist at all times are mantles (which is why Warden of DR can't possibly be a mantle).  Mantleship means that there is a position to be filled.  Not all immortals fill a position.  For example, non-Archangels.  Naagloshii.  Dragons.  Lea.  They are just beings.  Are some/all the gods mantles? Maybe.  But the implication in Norse Mythology is that if Thor took over for Odin, he would still be Thor and would not eventually be Odin.  There are some examples of this in Greek Mythology as well.


Offline Quantus

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #88 on: June 25, 2015, 12:04:30 PM »
There's a very recent WOJ about how the queens created their Knight/Champion mantles by carving off a piece of their own power.  The context of the question, iirc, was whether somebody like Erl could make a knight of his own, and I think the answer was yes but he's not really big enough to have that kind of power to spare, whereas the Summer/Winter knights came from the three queens. 

Ill see if I can find it.  Serack, any idea where it might have been?
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Offline Second Aristh

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Re: He Couldn't Lose [SG Spoilers]
« Reply #89 on: June 25, 2015, 02:07:11 PM »
That if they are adding power to their mantle, then by definition they aren't splitting it up into separate 'mini mantles' within their own power. If Odin is a mantle, and Kringle is a mantle, then whichever was there first ought to have had the other added to it. Changed, absorbed, rolled into...any which way you look at it...they get a piece and fuse it with their 'mantle' or established power base. That is how its done. If they keep them apart then it goes against the 'filled vessel' notion put forth by another WOJ.

The Erkling is taking part of his own established power and adding a piece to create his own 'Knight'. He isn't keeping that 'Knight' power for himself then. So if Kringle was a piece of Odin's power gifted to someone else, sure all good. But if he takes in power then it ought to be added to his existing 'mantle'. If Odin himself is a mantle too.
Ah okay, yeah I agree with you there.  If immortals take a small chunk of mantle then it makes sense to merge it with a previously held mantle.  But if it's a larger piece of power, it may make more sense to keep them separate.  One face for one type of job.  For instance, it may not be a good idea to mix the Hercules mantle with a fae mantle if it means you would get an iron allergy all the time.  I don't think it violates the "filled vessel" idea to have separated mantles if their sum isn't going to overflow.  Odin uses his usual mask to dish out orders to valkyries and have fun battling rampires, but he uses his Kringle face when dealing with Winter.

Angelic presence or knowledge on the matter =/= taking in that Power. Again, nothing else the Swords have killed has been noted to follow this principle. Sword doesn't get brighter the more it kills, power isn't felt as being absorbed or transferred by any wielder or sensitive magic user.

But the idea is, if 'everyone' wants to keep the status quo as far as power bases are concerned, then so too would Archangels. The idea isn't they don't wanna take on the power and responsibilities because of what it entails (which as peer cosmological beings doesn't seem like it would clash) but because it goes against the status quo in general.

And I see plenty of flexibility in the use of the word 'mantle' as it was used by Bob that doesn't require all immortals to be held fast to it in the traditional Fae sense of the power. That not everyone or everything has a mantle based on this conversation.
If everyone was so bound to preserving the status quo, Michael wouldn't have been sent on duty to take down Siriothrax in the first place. 

Overall it seems like we agree in essence, but disagree on terminology to use.  Powerbases/identities/responsibilities/mantles are referring to the same basic structure, but in the event of an immortal death the transfer may not be uniform in following the fae pattern.




No I think it was a way for Bob to explain how the exchange power.  The conversation was heavily Fae oriented at that point and the Queens in specific, so I think Bob just carried along in the conversation.

So again, every Naagloshii is a mantle as well?  Outsiders as well or just Walkers?

To me, there are positions within the Universe that were set up that need to exist.  Then there are other structures that could exist.  Those that need to exist at all times are mantles (which is why Warden of DR can't possibly be a mantle).  Mantleship means that there is a position to be filled.  Not all immortals fill a position.  For example, non-Archangels.  Naagloshii.  Dragons.  Lea.  They are just beings.  Are some/all the gods mantles? Maybe.  But the implication in Norse Mythology is that if Thor took over for Odin, he would still be Thor and would not eventually be Odin.  There are some examples of this in Greek Mythology as well.
It takes a lot of logical acrobatics to argue that Bob was only talking about faeries when he says mantles.  The queens are very interested in preserving balance, so it doesn't make sense for them to be out trick or treating to gain and possibly lose power.  The simple explanation is that Bob meant exactly what he said.

So unless there emerges a compelling reason to ignore Bob, I'm going with Naagloshii have mantles for some unknown and possibly corrupted Purpose.  Outsiders are less likely to have to follow the rules of our reality, so they might not.

The way the DV is set up for the big leagues, Purpose and Power are two sides of the same coin.  The role, responsibility, and power to accomplish duties are all fused together.  For example the Purpose of an angel of death is to be a psychopomp and defend souls as they make their way to whatever is next.  We know by WoJ that Dragons were once "given authority over various portions of the mortal universe" which sounds too much like the duties of holding a mantle to be a coincidence. 
As slivers of power are traded around on Halloween, the associated responsibilities go with that power.  That explains how perceptions of the various immortals of myth change over time.
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