There was a WoJ somewhere (I can't find it now) that talked about how he repetitively uses words for characters, in order to quickly invoke a particular recognition in the reader. He talked about silver eyes and others for Thomas, as well as other Wamps. The boards have noticed that mildewy and stale seem to be associated with Cowl's gates.
What I decided to look for was common usages of the terms applied to Outsiders, now that we've had more direct exposure to them. This isn't a definitive theory, so much as pointing out the possibilities.
KEY WORDSThe following words and combinations are commonly found describing Outsiders, Outsider magic, and mordite from the outside:
- '
cold and
greasy'
- '
cold and
oily'.
- '
familiar'
- '
nauseating'
- '
cloying'
- '
slithered'
EvidenceCD-pg. 223 (In regards to HWWBf's magic)
I hadn’t felt the cloying, somehow oily power slithering up to me— but I could sure as hell
feel it now as it recoiled and pulled away. I’d felt it before— and I suddenly knew what I was
dealing with.
CD-pg. 331 (In regards to the Outsiders at the Gate)
A cold, somehow greasy tendril of energy slithered around inside my head, something I had
felt before when...
CD-pg. 414 (In regards to HWWBf's magic)
And a wave of pure, violent, blinding, nauseating pain blanketed the face of Lake Michigan.
DM-pg. 310 (In regards to Mordite)
A wave of nauseating cold flooded out when she opened the box.
First, the world
cold is used to describe pretty much every dark magic in the series. So I only considered the word
cold noteworthy when in combination with the other words. The same goes for
slither, and all its variations. It has been used widely, whereas others, such as
oily and
greasy, are only used to describe people's hair or particular types of dark magic.
My opinion is that we may be able to differentiate those who have been infected by the use of these key words in the description of their power. Or the lack there-of, in some instances.
The Usual SuspectsKravos - Infection Possible. There were a multitude of times Harry felt Kravos' power, including consuming some himself, but only this instance of feeling 'naseuating' power. The other descriptions are closer to the dark, emptiness used to describe Mavra's style.
GP-pg. 142 (In regards to Nightmare/Kravos' dream attack)
Something rippled along my skin. Something cold and dark and nauseating.
Mavra - Infection Unlikely. While described as cold, the dark and empty connotations aren't used for Outsiders specifically, except for the speculated emptiness around Raith, and the emptiness around Mordite.
GP-pg. 252 (In regards to Mavra's magic)
Cold washed over me. I extended my senses toward that darkness, warily. And it
felt familiar. It felt empty and black, and like everything that magic isn’t.
Bianca - Infection Unlikely. While she may very well have been infected, the words used to describe her magic are like those of Mavra. It's not condemning, like those used to describe Outsiders themselves.
GP-pg. 364 (In regards to Bianca's magic)
She lifted her left hand, mumbled some gibberish, and I saw cold darkness
gather before her, a concave disk that met my energy lance and absorbed it, scattered it,
sent smaller bolts of fire darting here and there, splashing on the floor in small, blazing
puddles.
Elaine - Infection HIGHLY PROBABLE. Elaine uses magic several times in SK and WN, but the only time she uses magic for evil is when she casts the mind fog. In that instance, Harry notes feeling almost every single key word for Outsiders. What's more, he picked more of that same feeling (for the first time) when he returned home and found her under DuMorne's compulsion.
SK-pg. 221 (In regard to Elaine's mind fog magic)
It glided over my skin like a cold and greasy oil, something foul and cloying
and vaguely familiar that made me want to start brushing it off.
GS-pg. 267 (In regards to DuMorne/Elaine aura)
The house seemed too quiet, and an energy I had never sensed before hung in the
air like cloying, oily perfume. The second I walked in the door, I found myself tensing up.
Thorned Namshiel - Infection Possible. We know that Mab has assumed Namshiel worked with the other Infected to attack Arctis Tor and free Lea. In one instance of his magic use, Namshiel was described with some key words.
SmF-pg. 358 (In regards to Namshiel's magic)
Something that felt like cold, greasy piano wire wrapped around my throat, and
I couldn’t breathe.
Arianna - Infection Possible. A key-word combo was used for her magic in Ch. We know she had ties to Bianca, who had ties to Cowl & Kumori. Whether they somehow managed to get Arianna infected is questionable.
Ch-pg. 383 (In regards to Arianna's magic)
A layer of greasy black magic seemed to infest the air around her—the veil that
my physical eyes hadn’t been able to see.
The Well - Outsider Imprisonment Possible. Several key-words were used to describe the power of the Well in CD. Whether this was due to some Outsiders being imprisoned there, or simply a combo of all of the evilness, is up to interpretation.
CD-pg. 160 (In regards to the Well's magic)
The energy had no physical presence— but I felt a nauseating wave of greasy
cold flooding through me, the dark power of the ley lines that converged upon the island
breathing across me like a cloud of invisible smog.
Cowl - Infection Doubtful. Despite having personally helped infecting Lea, and knowing of Outsiders working with Ramps in DB, Harry's description of Cowl's magic specifically points out the lack of the tell-tale key-words.
DB-pg. 92 (In regards to Cowl's magic)
It was huge, and it was different from what I worked with, but it didn’t have
that nauseating, greasy, somehow empty feel that I’d come to associate with the worst
black magic.
Kumori - Infection Doubtful. Same for Kumori. Harry notes the lack of nastiness when it comes to her power.
DB-pg. 129 (In regards to Kumori's magic)
This was undeniably the same power, but it somehow lacked the greasy,
nauseating sense of corruption I’d felt before.
For me, the most condemning was Elaine's use of the mind fog. The others aren't too bad, with only one or two words in common. But Elaine's exposure under DuMorne, combined with the mind fog description, almost matches Outsider descriptions perfectly.
Make of it what you will. If we include the emptiness and darkness used to describe mordite and Raith's protection, then maybe Mavra and the others are infected as well. Or maybe there are only so many words that JB can use to describe nasty black magic, and there's no correlation. My current guess is that there's something to it, but we won't know for sure for a while.
