[identity profile] windfeathercat.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] youngwizards_dw
Okay, I just read The Book of Night With Moon for teh third time and To Visit The Queen for the second. I was noticing some interesting things about feline wizards and cat's nine lives. So first of her are the facts I've gathered:

-Cat's have nine lives, and they can remember important things from their last lives. The tenth life comes if they've done more good than bad in all their lives.
-There is often a time between lives that they stay in limbo.
-Once a cat gets wizardry, they keep it all their lives (unless they mess up).

So here are the questions that have come up in my mind.
-Do cats keep their same gender and coloration all their lives? The only real examble of this we have is Sif/Siffha'h. Arhu said "Sif was my twin, she had my same spots." Sifha'h has Arhu's spots, but inverted (sort of like the ying and the yang). So did her spots cahnge? Arhu might be meaning just the inverted spots. Basicly, we know that she kept her gender and at least the same coloring, if not pattern (though the way black and white cats turn out in terms of spots is determined by variables in the womb... but nevermind). But this could have to do with the fact that Arhu and her are twins.
-Feline wizards keep their powers for all their lives. The Wispering says so to Arhu "You will be strong forever. Strong for all your lives." But then there is also the fact that it is also mentioned at Saash and Rhiow began working together about couple years after both of their ordeals. I don't think that they started working together lives back, and I also don't think that Saash, who was on her ninth live, would have started wizardry then. But you never know. There isn't much detail on Rhiow's Ordeal, and none on the rest of teh team (beside Arhu, duh.) It may have been in a past live, or do you get a sort of 'tester' Ordeal every time to see if you're still up to it, or do you just get a garantee to be asked to be a wizard once agian?
-Do cats keep their names through their lives? Sif kept part of hers, do mothers know about their kittens past lives, if vaugely? Urruah is original, I think, he says his mother liked puns. I also think Sifha'h may have named herself in some way, maybe she lost her mother early.
-Also, this isn't really a question, but I noticed that Ffairh's real life coloring was different from when he was Downside (he turned to brindle). So maybe some cats just don't get their soul's 'true color'.

So, what do you think about all of that? I really want to hear.

Date: 2004-03-02 04:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] persephone-kore.livejournal.com
Well, overall, of course I don't really know. I shall, however, speculate very happily. *g*

The impression I got, I think, was that the aspects Sif kept when she became "Sif all over again" may have been largely because she had things yet to do with Arhu -- that it wasn't standard, exactly. It was mentioned that she was reborn very quickly due to having unfinished business, wasn't it? Speculated by one of the characters, maybe, or was it more authoritative? I'd say the name and spots are especially likely there; the gender... I keep thinking there's mention at some point of a cat vaguely remembering having been the opposite sex in a previous life, but I really am not sure about that. At any rate, there are only so many choices on that one -- I think her keeping the coloring and name are probably more significant.

The Ordeal question is interesting. That line of the Whisperer's didn't register with me as meaning it would be wizardry all through the lives, though I definitely see where you're getting it. (And what was that about the wizards in the feline Choice getting born repeatedly -- I mean yes, of course they'd each have nine and perhaps likely ten, but I assume there are more wizards than just them or it seems as if they'd run out too soon.)

I would guess, though this is more of a feeling than a reasoned opinion, that there's an Ordeal each life except possibly the tenth (hmm, first nine lives as Ordeal for the tenth?) -- but I'm waffling on it, because while you don't keep all the memories, you don't quite become a whole different person either, as far as I can tell. Of course, this is where we're introduced to the idea that an Ordeal can be passed but partially incomplete, have things hanging that still need to be resolved before it's really finished, so maybe all a feline wizard's Ordeals are connected somehow?

Date: 2004-03-02 05:10 pm (UTC)
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)
From: [personal profile] azurelunatic
I think it all really depends. You obviously get unique coloring, naming, and associates the first time out. After that, I'd guess that it's either luck of the draw if you haven't got any overriding reason to stay the same or get something specific otherwise.

I'd guess that if you've got a really good working partnership with someone, you might come together again, and if you've got serious unresolved issues with someone, you might come together again, but otherwise, there'd be no reason for the Dam to put you near each other again, and if you met more individuals the next time around, you might actually make a good working partnership.

I think you've probably got one Ordeal a lifetime, though the subsequent times it's probably more oriented towards coaxing out additional abilities.

I've wondered myself...

Date: 2004-08-23 10:32 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I LOVE those two books...they are my favorites (even above Young Wizards and lord of the rings). I don't think anyone outside of Diane Duane knows the answers. Someone should write her.

PS to that other

Date: 2004-08-23 10:37 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I think they just get one Ordeal and are born again with the wizardry (maybe when they're weaned, the Whisperer comes in and reminds them?...) and you can become a wizard in a later life, I think...Rhiow acts like she had only one and she's on her 4th or 5th now, right?

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