Why Conjouritis, Why??

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Why? why???

Harry normally acts under some injury or other, but why this silly, silly made up disease? Has Harry run out of bits of anatomy to be shot in?

It is in my opinion only justifiable if it has some prolonged impact upon Harry, for example that wizards do not come into their full power until they have got over conjouritis. The wizard population is too small and too spread out for it to be a virus or bacteria, it just couldn’t spread enough to continue within an active population, unless vanilla mortals are asymptomatic carriers, but then Harry would have picked it up years ago. This suggests that it might be a developmental condition related to magic users rather than a disease, like descending testicles for mortal men, part of the maturation process.

The only other distinguishing point physiology speaking Harry has in relation to other wizards is that he is Starborn, which gives protection over Outsiders. Is his delayed Conjuritis related to that?

But why??

[Regenbogen]

I thought that disturbing, too. I was hoping it was an early sign of conjuring and shape shifting abilities. And not some children's disease. But it could still be. I'm not giving up hope. Also, I can't imagine, Harry has never heard of that. Except, someone manipulated memories, either Harry's or those of everyone else, so that they told him, it was a disease and not some curse or some new abilities. As to why, I have no idea. Let's wait and see.

OK, maybe one idea: it could be developing a new talent, that would make him more dangerous, if he concentrated too much on it to learn to master it, so some adversary tries to make it appear as something else. Maybe a talent that isn't practiced, withers and dies, or one does never gain control over it.

I was thinking on manipulation of memories that have knowingly occurred in the books until now.
There was the missing blasting rod and therefore fuego in Small Favor through Mab and the memory manipulation by Molly in Changes, so that Harry forgets that he has hired a killer.
I counted only manipulations directly involving Harry.
And there were the mind magic attacks by corpsetaker in dead beat.

[mrbassman]

People have drawn parallels with Tavi.

He made the bargain with Lea and never fulfilled it. Lea told us at the Red Party that it affected his power.

With him taking the Winter Mantle all bargains are fulfilled and he has access to his full power for the first time since adolescence. Without Bob or someone else to explain when "young wizards" usually get it will have to guess. After no sign of it with Molly and she was a wizard in her late 20s.

[Mira]

  Weak attempt at comic relief?    Other than that is seemed pretty pointless except maybe to
point out that Harry is still a mortal.  He may have a mantle that numbs him to physical pain, but
he still can get injured.  He is a powerful wizard and a star born, but he is still human and not immune to catching the same things that the rest of us are, i.e. allergies, colds, and yeah, childhood diseases.  We all know there are vaccines against the likes of measles and mumps now, but some do not get them and if an adult catches one of these diseases it can be lot more serious than in their kids.. 

My theory is little Maggie had it, we know that she has talent from the short story, but Harry doesn't.
If she had a very mild case, especially since he had never had it before and doesn't know she has
talent yet, he may have thought it was a mere cold and he simply caught it from her.  Welcome to the "Parent's Club" Harry, we share a lot with our kids, and they share a lot with us, that includes any contagious diseases that we don't have an immunity to.  So I think it was thrown in there simply to underscore that little Maggie has talent, she had the wizard's childhood thing, Harry didn't recognize it, caught it, got sicker because childhood diseases are almost always harder on adults.

[ClintACK]

People have drawn parallels with Tavi.

He made the bargain with Lea and never fulfilled it. Lea told us at the Red Party that it affected his power.

With him taking the Winter Mantle all bargains are fulfilled and he has access to his full power for the first time since adolescence. Without Bob or someone else to explain when "young wizards" usually get it will have to guess. After no sign of it with Molly and she was a wizard in her late 20s.

I like it.

I also think his experiences in Ghost Story (where he learned how ghosts can make stuff out of memory) could give him a unique perspective on conjuritis.

Controlled conjuration, with the stabilization technique Eb uses on the bucket in the cornerhound fight, could be a really powerful technique.

[Mira]

With him taking the Winter Mantle all bargains are fulfilled and he has access to his full power for the first time since adolescence. Without Bob or someone else to explain when "young wizards" usually get it will have to guess. After no sign of it with Molly and she was a wizard in her late 20s.

Or like Harry she simply wasn't exposed or allergic to what ever causes it.  Lots of people for example are immune to poison ivy, then as adults upon exposure find themselves with a massive case.. Conversely some people grow out of their allergies, as I kid strawberries gave me hives, they don't any more.  Some kids can be around other kids with chicken pox, never catch it, but to their dismay catch it as an adult.   

[toodeep]

I had assumed that at some point in the story (or battle ground) that he would need to create an object (like the bucket for the gasoline, but more serious) and we'd see him hoping around trying to make himself sneeze so he could make it - without having to see him learn how to conjure items out of the NN suddenly.

Of course, after having it, he should realize it is totally in his power to conjure items out of the NN and we might see him add that to his list of skills.

Though the whole spider thing bothered me because he also somehow conjured minds for them, which seemed odd. 

[didymos]

Though the whole spider thing bothered me because he also somehow conjured minds for them, which seemed odd.

Maybe conjuritis includes summoning stuff.  In that case, they already had minds; he just called them here.

[Maz]

Yeah, while reading it, I totally assumed it was somehow a major sign of a geasa lifted or some type of time/power tweak, the fact that young, developing wizards got it and Harry was getting it then.  As silly as it is, I suspect it is actually rather significant. 

A worst case scenario would be Jim split the books and needed filler for the 1st one but that just does not strike me as Jim.  And I love the idea that it would enhance his understanding of summoning / creating via NN.

[Mira]

Yeah, while reading it, I totally assumed it was somehow a major sign of a geasa lifted or some type of time/power tweak, the fact that young, developing wizards got it and Harry was getting it then.  As silly as it is, I suspect it is actually rather significant. 

A worst case scenario would be Jim split the books and needed filler for the 1st one but that just does not strike me as Jim.  And I love the idea that it would enhance his understanding of summoning / creating via NN.

  Or like mood swings that come with puberty?    As we all know there is a wide age range for it depending on a lot of things, my youngest son had the voice change etc at eleven my older son not fully until he was almost sixteen.  We adopted both kids, they had different ethnic backgrounds, one small and slight of build the other very tall and stout..  Maybe because he is so powerful, and larger than average his wizard hormones took longer to fully kick in?

[BrainFireBob]

Put me in the Maggie camp.

There was a frying pan in the first few chapters Harry didn't conjure but turned into ectoplasm. My vote? Maggie did it.

His noticing Hope Carpenter gaining a figure was part and parcel with him realizing she's only a few years older than Maggie.

Same with Ivy.

Eb's objection to keeping with Maggie was that she didn't have her power yet. This stops being a bone of contention between grandfather and grandson if her power is already manifested- it's a moot point. Harry would then gain a new apprentice- or maybe as a peace offering, Eb will.

[Mira]

Put me in the Maggie camp.

There was a frying pan in the first few chapters Harry didn't conjure but turned into ectoplasm. My vote? Maggie did it.

His noticing Hope Carpenter gaining a figure was part and parcel with him realizing she's only a few years older than Maggie.

Same with Ivy.

Eb's objection to keeping with Maggie was that she didn't have her power yet. This stops being a bone of contention between grandfather and grandson if her power is already manifested- it's a moot point. Harry would then gain a new apprentice- or maybe as a peace offering, Eb will.

 I agree, as a parent and a grand parent, I understand fully the impact of the "daycare plague."  Not for nothing did Jim write that short story about little Maggie, clearly some of her powers have awakened, which means she could of had a mild case mistaken for a cold by Harry, who didn't even know what conjouritis was never having had it, until he caught it at a really bad time.

[Second Aristh]

The first few times I figured it was Bonea trying to be helpful in a toddler way.  Overall the comic relief element of it fell flat for me most of the time.  You can have it be annoying for Harry, but when it becomes a helpful bucket, I think it's too far.

[Bad Alias]

It would make sense if it was a tip off to Maggie having talent. We don't know whether or not she does. Zoo Day doesn't tell us. Maggie got the book from the Carpenter kids who do not have talent. Being able to fight the monsters from the book is about being a kid and having knowledge. Not have wizard powers.

It makes sense that Harry, and to a lesser extent, Molly never got it. Harry was extremely isolated from other wizards. He didn't go to Council meetings with his master, either one. Harry explicitly says that Molly will be expected to go with him whenever he goes to Council functions. Harry never had that when he was an apprentice. The only Council functions he goes to until becoming a warden are his trials. After he goes, he's seen less than any wizard except for Rashid.

Are we told it's a childhood disease, or just a young wizard's disease? Because young means something very different to wizards. It could mean by late twenties or even early thirties. It could be like the "Sight coming in" thing. Harry was in his early thirties when that happened.

[Grifter]

Yeah, the Maggie thing works.  She's got talent, and got conjouritis at the right age and talent level.  She made the pan.

And Harry got it too, just like a parent getting chickenpox as an adult when they didn't get it as a kid, because their kid brought it home.