WAG: What Rashid's Eye Does...

[wardenferry419]

Save time, watch Dragon Ball Z Abridged.  You'll get more jokes and it's quicker.

I love the Vegeta parts. I am the Hype!

[Quantus]

I love the Vegeta parts. I am the Hype!

Ive said it before and Ill say it again: The single greated moment in Vegeta history is from AMV Hell 3

[Rasins]

I got the impression from the exchange in Cold Days that the eye aids him, but isn't definite.

Yeah, I think it is pretty definite..

Q - Could you post the brief exchange about this from Cold Days?

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Q - Could you post the brief exchange about this from Cold Days?

Here you go, from Cold Days ch. 34

I cut out the tangent where Harry offers help and Rashid asks permission to use his first name, but that's all that happens between the first eye mention and the actual functional Q&A.  That cover what you are looking for?

I looked around me. Yes, definitely. The other eye had been replaced with the crystalline material that was identical to that which had been used to create the gates and the walls around them.

“Steel,” I said.

“Pardon?” he asked.

“Your, uh, other eye. It was steel before.”

“I’m sure it looked like steel,” he said. “The disguise is necessary when I’m not here.”

“Your job is so secret, your false eye gets a disguise?” I asked. “Guess I see why you miss Council meetings.”

He inclined his head and ruffled his fingers through mussed, tousled hood-hair. “It can be quiet for years here, sometimes. And others . . .” He spread his hands. “But they need a good eye here to be sure that the things that must remain outside do not slip in unnoticed.”

“Inside the wounded,” I guessed. “Or returning troops. Or medics.”

“You’ve become aware of the adversary,” he said, his tone one of firm approval. “Excellent. I was certain your particular pursuits would get you killed long before you got a chance to learn.”

“Harry, I know you have questions. I can field a very few before I go.”

I nodded, thinking. “Okay,” I said. “First, how do you know if the adversary has . . . infested someone?”

“Experience,” he said. “Decades of it. The Sight can help, but . . .” Rashid hesitated. I recognized it instantly, the hiccup in one’s thoughts when one stumbled over a truly hideous memory gained with the Sight, like I’d had with—

Ugh.

—the naagloshii.

“I don’t recommend making a regular practice of it,” he continued. “It’s an art, not a skill, and it takes time. Time, or a bit of questionable attention from the Fates and a ridiculously enormous tool.” He tapped a finger against his false eye.

I blinked, even though he didn’t, and looked up at the massive gates stretching overhead. “Hell’s bells. The gates . . . they’re . . . some kind of spiritual CAT scanner?”

“Among many other things,” he said. “But it’s one of their functions, yes. Mostly it means that the adversary cannot use such tactics effectively here. As long as the Gatekeeper is vigilant, it rarely tries.”

[Rasins]

Okay, I get it.  The false eye can see nemesis if used.

“I don’t recommend making a regular practice of it,” he continued. “It’s an art, not a skill, and it takes time. Time, or a bit of questionable attention from the Fates and a ridiculously enormous tool.” He tapped a finger against his false eye.

What do you think he means by the bolded part?

[ClintACK]

The Fates are one incarnation of the Triple Goddess (like the Norns) -- the precursor to the Faerie Queens.

One version (from the Perseus legends, if I recall correctly) has them as three hags sharing a magical eye that they pass around between them.

Most particularly, when Harry "summons" Mother Winter, in Cold Days, two of the names he uses for her are Athropos (which I assume is an alternate spelling for Atropos, the eldest of the Fates and the one who cuts the threads of life) and Skuld (one of the Norns).

So... I'd guess that Rashid is saying he got the Eye from the Mothers when they assigned him his role as Gatekeeper.

[Rasins]

Sorry, I was really focusing on the Questionable part.

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The Fates are one incarnation of the Triple Goddess (like the Norns) -- the precursor to the Faerie Queens.

One version (from the Perseus legends, if I recall correctly) has them as three hags sharing a magical eye that they pass around between them.

Those are the Graeae, They were tricked into revealing the secrets to defeating medusa.  They were another example Triplet Goddess, but they didnt really get combined with the Fates (Moirai) until the Disney Hercules. 

Most particularly, when Harry "summons" Mother Winter, in Cold Days, two of the names he uses for her are Athropos (which I assume is an alternate spelling for Atropos, the eldest of the Fates and the one who cuts the threads of life) and Skuld (one of the Norns).

So... I'd guess that Rashid is saying he got the Eye from the Mothers when they assigned him his role as Gatekeeper.

Agreed, the Fates he is referring to are, I think, the Moirai of which the Mothers (one or both) are members. 

Sorry, I was really focusing on the Questionable part.

Id go with "Attention that is not clearly known to be benevolent."  As in "I made this Deal, and I dont know if it was a good idea."  You know, like becoming The Warden of the cosmic Supermax because you wanted a home court advantage in a single fight a few years back.   

[Zaphodess]

The Eye is something other than merely the Sight. The way I read this passage is that Rashid clearly talks about two diferent things here. The Sight can help, but its dangerous and not reliable. His Eye is the thing that gets the job done.

[knnn]

Sorry, I was really focusing on the Questionable part.

Remember that Mab calls Rashid "that desert Fox" back in Summer Knight?   Mab uses the same animal earlier in the book when she tells Harry about the myth of the Fox and the Scorpion (with herself as the Scorpion). 

Coincidence or reminiscence over previous encounters with the Gatekeeper?

[Quantus]

The Eye is something other than merely the Sight. The way I read this passage is that Rashid clearly talks about two diferent things here. The Sight can help, but its dangerous and not reliable. His Eye is the thing that gets the job done.

Certainly.  Though While highly Dangerous, I dont know that the Sight wouldnt be reliable, just that the fallout of Seeing Nemesis isnt worth it. 

[jonas]

It see's the course of fate for one. which apparently doesn't show an inactive binding to DR when Harry hadn't stepped foot there yet. makes me wonder how accurate that thing could be, or why a spiritus animus would so effect a change. Suppose it might be something to do with DR having power but no free will vs Harry having the free will to use that power.