Author Topic: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites  (Read 11083 times)

Offline Kindler

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #30 on: January 15, 2018, 06:18:16 PM »
Lips heal fast and scar little, the wounds are painful though.

You're telling me. My mother's dog hated everyone except for my mother (typical behavior with border collies, I'm told), and I got too close to him and moved too quickly. Bit straight through both lips—total separation. It was really nasty and painful, but I slopped liquid bandage on it, and the next day it had already reattached, and the day after it was almost completely closed up. In a week, there was hardly even a mark. I have a tiny, unnoticeable scar from it—a paper thin vertical white line.

The dog was nicer to me after he realized he hurt me, by the way. (And if I'm honest, I'd rather a dog be too jumpy around strangers than too nice considering my parents' age).

Offline Dashkull

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #31 on: January 16, 2018, 08:55:00 AM »
The relevant passage from the books regarding this is in Proven Guilty, the scene right after Harry and Thomas leave Zero.

The phrase that sums it up best (IMHO) is when Thomas says the danger occurs when the Hunger is "close to the surface." This can mean several different things; that the Vamp is very hungry, that the Vamp is very turned on; that the vamp is actively trying to feed; that the vamp is actively using some of the Hunger's energy, etc.

My guess for something like the wedding ring scar is that Lara was using her power to try to seduce someone, the game and intrigue of the situation also causing Lara to get turned on herself. As part of the seduction, she goes to hide the wedding ring from sight, so the victim isnt reminded of his true love by the sight of it, and because her Hunger is so close to the surface the ring is able to badly badly burn her. Why that is a permanent scar vs Harry's kiss or what Justine does to Madeline seems to heal completely is not addressed at all, but that could be something as simple as how intense the love was or how young Lara was when it happened.


Offline Ananda

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #32 on: January 17, 2018, 12:02:32 AM »
We might have lost each other somewhere.

I think the white court vulnerability to real love, for those that feed on lust that is, is much like the black courts vulnerability to holy symbols. It is part of their story and nothing else. It is there because humans believe it should be there and all supernaturals depend on human stories to express themselves in the real world, the reason Mab values that Grimm book so much. If there is another logic to it than that logic just strengthens the story. That is my take on both the why and the how.
That was my first answer in this thread: it works that way because Butcher says it does and looking for much depth was the same as asking why leprechauns use pots and not magic bags. There is no actual answer because it’s all fantasy.  ;)

However, I did then add an additional bit about the biochemistry of “love” and suggested that one could use that as a foundation if one were looking for logic and depth (like Star Trek with a bit of jargon, some real theory and then quasi science). If it is an aversion to a biochemical state, could this state be reproduced artificially as the person in the short story was attempting.

Then, I asked if the white court who feed on pain, suffering, etc. were also harmed by “love” or rather by the inverse of their preferred meal (e.g. bliss (in which case, they ought to avoid people on ecstasy)).

Of course, I still think it’s tantamount to the leprechaun pot question. And, yes, I got your argument on it, I just think it’s circular logic. But, on a topic like this, there is no answer until Butcher writes it in the books.

Offline jonas

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #33 on: January 17, 2018, 12:15:17 AM »
The relevant passage from the books regarding this is in Proven Guilty, the scene right after Harry and Thomas leave Zero.

The phrase that sums it up best (IMHO) is when Thomas says the danger occurs when the Hunger is "close to the surface." This can mean several different things; that the Vamp is very hungry, that the Vamp is very turned on; that the vamp is actively trying to feed; that the vamp is actively using some of the Hunger's energy, etc.

My guess for something like the wedding ring scar is that Lara was using her power to try to seduce someone, the game and intrigue of the situation also causing Lara to get turned on herself. As part of the seduction, she goes to hide the wedding ring from sight, so the victim isnt reminded of his true love by the sight of it, and because her Hunger is so close to the surface the ring is able to badly badly burn her. Why that is a permanent scar vs Harry's kiss or what Justine does to Madeline seems to heal completely is not addressed at all, but that could be something as simple as how intense the love was or how young Lara was when it happened.
Yea it was iirc, in that same scene too.
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Offline Arjan

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #34 on: January 17, 2018, 05:15:45 AM »
That was my first answer in this thread: it works that way because Butcher says it does and looking for much depth was the same as asking why leprechauns use pots and not magic bags. There is no actual answer because it’s all fantasy.  ;)

However, I did then add an additional bit about the biochemistry of “love” and suggested that one could use that as a foundation if one were looking for logic and depth (like Star Trek with a bit of jargon, some real theory and then quasi science). If it is an aversion to a biochemical state, could this state be reproduced artificially as the person in the short story was attempting.

Then, I asked if the white court who feed on pain, suffering, etc. were also harmed by “love” or rather by the inverse of their preferred meal (e.g. bliss (in which case, they ought to avoid people on ecstasy)).

Of course, I still think it’s tantamount to the leprechaun pot question. And, yes, I got your argument on it, I just think it’s circular logic. But, on a topic like this, there is no answer until Butcher writes it in the books.
I do not think it is circular logic. It is really humans who create the stories and shape the supernatural. The story was first, it is an expression of human free will. Without the stories the supernatural can not express itself and with the stories they are restricted by it. T is not circular because the stories come first.
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Offline Rasins

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #35 on: January 17, 2018, 06:18:13 PM »
The relevant passage from the books regarding this is in Proven Guilty, the scene right after Harry and Thomas leave Zero.

The phrase that sums it up best (IMHO) is when Thomas says the danger occurs when the Hunger is "close to the surface." This can mean several different things; that the Vamp is very hungry, that the Vamp is very turned on; that the vamp is actively trying to feed; that the vamp is actively using some of the Hunger's energy, etc.

My guess for something like the wedding ring scar is that Lara was using her power to try to seduce someone, the game and intrigue of the situation also causing Lara to get turned on herself. As part of the seduction, she goes to hide the wedding ring from sight, so the victim isnt reminded of his true love by the sight of it, and because her Hunger is so close to the surface the ring is able to badly badly burn her. Why that is a permanent scar vs Harry's kiss or what Justine does to Madeline seems to heal completely is not addressed at all, but that could be something as simple as how intense the love was or how young Lara was when it happened.

I would think the "lingering power" on an object like a wedding ring, or a rose would be akin to that of a threshold.  Power keeps getting pushed into it, through those in love (or those living in the home in the case of a threshold).  So that even when the person is separated from it, the power is still there to be able to harm a Wampire (or prevent a supernatural from entering a home with mal-intent).

I think, like a threshold, that when a Wampire isn't attempting to feed, or there is no mal-intent, it won't harm them.
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Offline Quantus

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #36 on: January 19, 2018, 04:39:05 PM »
I would think the "lingering power" on an object like a wedding ring, or a rose would be akin to that of a threshold.  Power keeps getting pushed into it, through those in love (or those living in the home in the case of a threshold).  So that even when the person is separated from it, the power is still there to be able to harm a Wampire (or prevent a supernatural from entering a home with mal-intent).

I think, like a threshold, that when a Wampire isn't attempting to feed, or there is no mal-intent, it won't harm them.
I think I really like that connection, actually.  Thresholds operate on the concept of Family, and the Love/Marriage bond is one of the most fundamental building blocks of that, and philosophically they are more or less subconscious applications of group Magic.  I could easily accept that the Love Energy that gets stamped into Objects would operate on similar principles and be fueled by the continued proximity and/or emotional Connection.  Put another way, it sounds like a very primal and unrefined equivalent to a spell that is anchored and fueled by a Bloodline, like LaFey's Curse that was anchored to he sons (and to a lesser and ill-defined degree anchored to their necklaces?)
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Offline Rasins

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #37 on: January 19, 2018, 07:58:06 PM »
Okay Q (and thank you for agreeing with me.),

If you have a married couple who are truly in love and stay that way until one of them dies.  Does the other retain that protection? I think the answer is yes, based on Harry's experience.

Now, would the residual effect of that love still linger on say, the wedding ring of the deceased?  Or on that Nick-Nack that the spouse gave them and they loved so much, even after their death?
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Offline Quantus

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #38 on: January 22, 2018, 01:20:10 PM »
Okay Q (and thank you for agreeing with me.),

If you have a married couple who are truly in love and stay that way until one of them dies.  Does the other retain that protection? I think the answer is yes, based on Harry's experience.
Subject to the normal "Loss via Boinking", Id think so.

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Now, would the residual effect of that love still linger on say, the wedding ring of the deceased?  Or on that Nick-Nack that the spouse gave them and they loved so much, even after their death?
After the first one Dies I think the answer is firmly Yes.  But once both are dead I dont think it would stick around (though it might drift away instead of blinking out).  In the same way Threasholds and Bloodline-anchored magic need a Living source, Id expect the True Love to fade once both halves have moved on.  Even if a loved-one kept the object and the memory, it would start representing a different bond, a bond of parent to child or whatever it is. 
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Offline jonas

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #39 on: January 22, 2018, 01:48:12 PM »
Q, asked this question on FB and got the response from someone that the ring was from a couple who'd been married 50 years imbuing it with the love cultivated in all that time.. Can you confirm the 50+ years thing cause i'd never heard and they couldn't directly.
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Offline Quantus

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Re: White Court Anit-Love and Blood Rites
« Reply #40 on: January 22, 2018, 01:55:10 PM »
Q, asked this question on FB and got the response from someone that the ring was from a couple who'd been married 50 years imbuing it with the love cultivated in all that time.. Can you confirm the 50+ years thing cause i'd never heard and they couldn't directly.
Cannot confirm or deny, that's a new on on me.  It fits with how I understand things in general, but I dont know of any specific WOJ that gave us more details on that ring. 
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