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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
So you are suggesting that either the MitD's invisibility breaks D&D rules, and previously established rules for invisibility in OotSverse? We have examples of the Order of the Stick turning invisible with Invisibility Sphere very early on, and did not see their eyes. Nor did we see Xykon and his zombie dragon's eyes when he attacked Azure city. When V fought Xykon, we also did not see their eyes. The laws of physics don't exactly apply in D&D. I don't think they would be applied to selectively.
You are suggesting that the MitD is some creature, yet undiscovered, that has visible eyes, but invisible limbs, or that Rich decided to alter the drawing clues so that an invisible creature had eyes.
We have a number of ideas on what the MitD is, derived from abilities it has demonstrated, despite not knowing its physical appearance.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
halfeye
I really don't know about the eyebrows, but it seems to me that if the MitD sees with them, that would make his eyes visible, because if light goes straight through stuff without stopping that makes the stuff transparent, but if light stops, which it has to do for the MitD to see, that makes whatever stops it opaque, and thus visible.
You are applying real world physics to a universe in which magic exists. It is pointless to do so, and it does not in any way strengthen your argument. I.e. invisible creatures in D&D are not invisible creatures from H.G. Wells: their eyes do not need to be visible.
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Originally Posted by
halfeye
That says he did nothing, which I didn't remember. It doesn't say nothing was done to him or near him.
Yes. It also doesn't say that Zeus came back from the dead and danced a jig to entertain the public while MitD was on display. It also doesn't say any other number of things. What it does say is that he stood there, was gawked at (which requires people to see him) and that worked as a circus act. No mention of paint or smoke or anything that helped people see him - just an empty stage, illuminated. No mention of actions, no evidence at all to support any of your hypothesis. Literally, all you have is a circular argument: you believe MitD is invisible, therefore the circus act required some unseen, unexplained, unreferenced extra to make him visible, therefore MitD is invisible.
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Originally Posted by
halfeye
It seems to me we have two options, MitD is not drawn because he's invisible, or he's not drawn because that would give clues to what he is. I don't think Mr Berlew is playing that hardball with this secret that he'd hide things to prevent us finding the MitD, because if he is, we can pack up and go home, there is no way we can work it out if what's visible is variable to hide the MitD from us.
No, he is not drawn because he is surrounded by darkeness that stops us from seeing him. This is the basic nature of MitD's existance, the original joke that Rich had to run with when he created MitD. He has told us as much.
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Originally Posted by
halfeye
With Xykon, everything is a potential giggles moment.
[citation needed] I am unconvinced by your statement of fact. Xykon can and often is serious. Nothing in the "this is how you must act when the heroes are here" suggests he is playing a joke, and his disappointment at MitD does not in any way suggests he was doing this for giggles.
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Originally Posted by
halfeye
I'm not sure about the people seeing him, some probably have magically enhanced vision, some may be mistaken.
"Some may be mistaken about having seen him"? Seriously? That's your argument? They saw the back of the cage and they thought they had seen MitD? You are seriously scrapping the bottom of the barrel. In any case, like with your circus assertions, you have no evidence that anything of the sort is going on. You are depending exclusively on circular logic to maintain the argument: MitD is invisible, therefore they must have a means to see him, therefore he is invisible. I reject this argument, like I reject your circus argument. You have no evidence, at all, for your position.
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Originally Posted by
SavageWombat
You know what doesn't make sense?
Anything powerful enough to be the MitD would be so dangerous that there's no way a couple of Stereotypical Big Game Hunters would casually say "Good job, let's put it in a box!" even if it was a young one.
I know Rule of Funny applies here, but it just struck me as odd.
Errr... I think it makes good enough sense. They set up a trap for, say, a tiger. They got MitD instead. They approach carefully, and notice MitD is not escaping. They have a conversation, and still MitD is not escaping. At that point, it is clear he won't (what with his polite requests to be left out rather than smashing his way out). Therefore they might as well run with it and make a profit. Sure, they risk he might change his mind and escape, but it's a risk worth taking, for the money they will get.
Grey Wolf
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SavageWombat
You know what doesn't make sense?
Anything powerful enough to be the MitD would be so dangerous that there's no way a couple of Stereotypical Big Game Hunters would casually say "Good job, let's put it in a box!" even if it was a young one.
I know Rule of Funny applies here, but it just struck me as odd.
There are multiple possible explanations. One is that they're following the 'rich idiot tourist with a hunting rifle' (see: villain in Tarzan) rather than 'experienced hunter who does this for a living' stereotype. Different people have had different ideas as to their first thought for which those hunters are, though it took a while for anyone to realize that.
Another is that they mis-recognized it.
A third is that actually, they caught it in the box via lure, and may not have actually meant to catch MitD rather than something else. Then it didn't break out of the box and they just ran with it.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Grey_Wolf_c
Errr... I think it makes good enough sense. They set up a trap for, say, a tiger. They got MitD instead. They approach carefully, and notice MitD is not escaping. They have a conversation, and still MitD is not escaping. At that point, it is clear he won't (what with his polite requests to be left out rather than smashing his way out). Therefore they might as well run with it and make a profit. Sure, they risk he might change his mind and escape, but it's a risk worth taking, for the money they will get.
Their dialog: "Success!" "Yes, looks like we bagged it. Good work, Jenkins." ... "My gods is it talking? In Common, no less!" "Unbelievable!"
That really doesn't sound like people who were trying to catch a tiger and unexpectedly caught Cthulhu instead. It sounds to me like it's strongly implied that they've been observing this particular target for a while and have made a plan specifically to catch it.
I think it suffices to realize that, in a D&D world populated with dragons and purple wurms, Stereotyped Big Game Hunters are probably prepared to hunt much bigger game than in our world.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
I don't think we need to account for an in-story reason for why Rich hasn't shown us the creature's grasping appendage; as long as it's a mystery, he wouldn't want to give it away. As well ask why the umbrella never slips and gives us a glimpse of his face.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Kish
I don't think we need to account for an in-story reason for why Rich hasn't shown us the creature's grasping appendage; as long as it's a mystery, he wouldn't want to give it away.
I disagree. The way I see it, this find the monster game is like 20 questions, or like chess, and totally not like poker.
Quote:
As well ask why the umbrella never slips and gives us a glimpse of his face.
No, I also disagree that that's an apt analogy. If Mr Berlew draws from one angle or another, that's his choice. If he draws the scene from an angle that doesn't show some thing, that's fair, if he were to draw a scene from an angle where something would naturally be seen, and then not draw it, then that would in my view be cheating, so I don't think he's doing that.
If Mr Berlew were to draw a half dragon the size of Enor as the size of a Kobold (when neither had been grown or shrunk, I'm not talking about Bloodfeast here), that would also be cheating in my view, so I don't think he's doing that either.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SavageWombat
You know what doesn't make sense?
Anything powerful enough to be the MitD would be so dangerous that there's no way a couple of Stereotypical Big Game Hunters would casually say "Good job, let's put it in a box!" even if it was a young one.
I know Rule of Funny applies here, but it just struck me as odd.
Since he maybe can grant wishes, maybe he something that is something different to anyone who looks at it? BGH want to see prey, so they see prey? Freak circus audience wants to see something disgusting, so they see something disgusting? The wizard wants to see something fascinating, so he does? The goblin kids want to see something they can befriend with, so they do? Recloak and Xykon want to see a weapon, so they see a powerful beast? O'chul needs someone to help him in desperation, so he finds a friend? Who can even make it rain?
I don't know if this could explain all scenes, and I even don't know if this can point to any monster. Just a thought, so maybe it rings a bell in someone more familiar with monster encyclopedias.:smallwink:
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
halfeye
If Mr Berlew draws from one angle or another, that's his choice. If he draws the scene from an angle that doesn't show some thing, that's fair, if he were to draw a scene from an angle where something would naturally be seen, and then not draw it, then that would in my view be cheating, so I don't think he's doing that.
I highly doubt this was intentional, but in cartooning, "cheating" is a term for a valid and often-used drawing technique of making characters do what would normally be impossible. A great example of this is Mickey Mouse's ears. When he looks straight at the camera, you can see both ears as distinct and separate circles. When he looks right or left, you can still see both ears as distinct and separate circles, even though at that angle, you should only be seeing one, as they are aligned horizontally. This is clearly impossible, but by clever manipulation of how he is drawn, it is not readily apparent.
An example in Order of the Stick is Haley's quiver. The cheating is very openly lampshaded, but is cheating nonetheless. Haley clearly has a quiver on her, in order to supply her all the arrows she shoots, but it is never drawn, and Roy was not aware of the cheating, leading to his inability to shoot a second arrow. Unless you with to claim that Haley's quiver is also invisible (which I would advise against, as Haley herself clearly doesn't believe that's the case), then you must admit that this is a straightforward case of cheating (the drawing technique, not a dishonest or immoral act).
So yes, not showing the hands holding the bucket or brush is indeed cheating. But in this context, that word does not mean what you think it means.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Mightymosy
Since he maybe can grant wishes, maybe he something that is something different to anyone who looks at it?
Empathic metamorph from Star Trek. Solved.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Empathic metamorphs aren't shapeshifters. They change their personalities (and he manifestly does not adapt his personality constantly to whoever he's interacting with to any degree greater than an eager-to-please, low-self-esteem child), not their bodies.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Also, I don't think they can teleport or accidentally punch horses through walls.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
halfeye
I disagree. The way I see it, this find the monster game is like 20 questions, or like chess, and totally not like poker.
As a poker player, I don't understand your metaphor at all.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
In all seriousness, the idea that MitD's abilities and appearance adapt themselves to the expectations of whomever looks at him seems intriguingly plausible. However, I don't think it really makes sense for some of the most specifically depicted examples of abilities. MitD was able to punch/throw/spit/shoot people through stone walls, and able to stop and cause earthquakes, even though those abilities don't seem to have been expected or wished for by anyone involved in those scenes. (Miko probably expected a guard that was powerful but still smite-able; Haley and Belkar seemed to expect a childlike creature that could be easily persuaded to give up Roy and O-Chul.) Maybe you could argue that MitD was adapting to the expectations of Xykon in those scenes, but that seems like a weak argument.
Additionally, MitD has done things on his own initiative that weren't wished for or expected by anyone, and even go contrary to people's wishes. He hosted a tea party during the siege of Azure city for no particular reason, and—more tellingly—when Redcloak had directly ordered him to storm Dorukan's tower with zombies, he threw a taco fiesta instead.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mightymosy
Since he maybe can grant wishes, maybe he something that is something different to anyone who looks at it? BGH want to see prey, so they see prey? Freak circus audience wants to see something disgusting, so they see something disgusting? The wizard wants to see something fascinating, so he does? The goblin kids want to see something they can befriend with, so they do? Recloak and Xykon want to see a weapon, so they see a powerful beast? O'chul needs someone to help him in desperation, so he finds a friend? Who can even make it rain?
I don't know if this could explain all scenes, and I even don't know if this can point to any monster. Just a thought, so maybe it rings a bell in someone more familiar with monster encyclopedias.:smallwink:
The psionic powers of attraction and aversion can achieve this. Though it would require the circus scene to be a bit of montage, that is well within artistic license for the portrayal of the events of what would be a minute or two in a crowd observing a stationary figure.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Aversion: "Target: One creature. You plant a powerful aversion in the mind of the subject. [...][They] will prefer not to approach within 30 feet of it". Does not match the circus' public's reactions - not a single one of them tried to remove themselves from MitD's presence. No mention of vomiting, funny feelings, nothing. It also doesn't do AoE.
Attraction: "Target: One creature. You plant a compelling attraction in the mind of the subject. [...] The subject will take reasonable steps to meet, get close to, attend, or find the object of its implanted attraction." Does not match the circus' public's reactions - not a single one of them tried to get themselves closer to MitD. No mention of vomiting, funny feelings, nothing. It also doesn't do AoE.
Both are Auditory: "A bass-pitched hum issues from the manifester’s vicinity or in the vicinity of the power’s subject (manifester’s choice), eerily akin to many deep-pitched voices.", which does not match the circus scene.
Conclusion: neither of them, working alone or in concert, in any way explain the reactions of the circus, and there is no evidence that either was used.
Grey Wolf
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Grey_Wolf_c
Aversion: "Target: One creature. You plant a powerful aversion in the mind of the subject. [...][They] will prefer not to approach within 30 feet of it". Does not match the circus' public's reactions - not a single one of them tried to remove themselves from MitD's presence. No mention of vomiting, funny feelings, nothing. It also doesn't do AoE.
Attraction: "Target: One creature. You plant a compelling attraction in the mind of the subject. [...] The subject will take reasonable steps to meet, get close to, attend, or find the object of its implanted attraction." Does not match the circus' public's reactions - not a single one of them tried to get themselves closer to MitD. No mention of vomiting, funny feelings, nothing. It also doesn't do AoE.
Both are Auditory: "A bass-pitched hum issues from the manifester’s vicinity or in the vicinity of the power’s subject (manifester’s choice), eerily akin to many deep-pitched voices.", which does not match the circus scene.
Conclusion: neither of them, working alone or in concert, in any way explain the reactions of the circus, and there is no evidence that either was used.
Grey Wolf
Pathfinder portrays it a bit differently.. and look, it includes nausea! Not to rehash the Laurin discussion(s) but, I think we can agree the psionics in OoTS-verse are a bit patchwork.
I was pondering it a bit more and I'm not convinced that "both" attraction and aversion are necessary. One or the other to implement a non-natural reaction would suffice.
An additional bit of circumstantial evidence is that the MiTD was under some stress about being stared at by the crowd. I see a parallel here, albeit on a smaller scale, with the 'Escape' scene. MiTD was clearly interested in having the goblin kids spend some time with him, most likely because MiTD at that point was himself a kid. Ergo no innate desire to repulse them.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Pathfinder was released in 2008. Start of Darkness in 2007. Pathfinder treating it differently isn't likely to have played a role.
The spells Antipathy and Sympathy are slightly better fits, although they are used on objects or locations, rather than creatures. Still, I don't know of a creature who can use Sympathy or Antipathy besides something with spellcasting or wish. I don't know of a creature that'd use Attraction and Aversion for that matter either (but I'm not too familiar with psionics).
If it has them as a psi-like ability, in any case, I don't think it would have an auditory component.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Lombard
...am I reading that wrong, or does the copyright section there mean the Pathfinder spell version was published in 2015, eight years after Start of Darkness?
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Jasdoif
...am I reading that wrong, or does the copyright section there mean the Pathfinder spell version was published in 2015, eight years after Start of Darkness?
I have no idea but you could take it back to 2.0- again, using Laurin as an example- and lose the auditory component, at the cost of the nausea.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lombard
I have no idea but you could take it back to 2.0- again, using Laurin as an example- and lose the auditory component, at the cost of the nausea.
How much does aversion's display matter? It'd only be a DC 17 Concentration check to manifest it without the display, and the power still goes off if the check fails so there's no risk to the attempt.
Getting the power's effect to actually fit the scene would be far more important than worrying about the display, I'd think....
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
nleseul
In all seriousness, the idea that MitD's abilities and appearance adapt themselves to the expectations of whomever looks at him seems intriguingly plausible. However, I don't think it really makes sense for some of the most specifically depicted examples of abilities. MitD was able to punch/throw/spit/shoot people through stone walls, and able to stop and cause earthquakes, even though those abilities don't seem to have been expected or wished for by anyone involved in those scenes. (Miko probably expected a guard that was powerful but still smite-able; Haley and Belkar seemed to expect a childlike creature that could be easily persuaded to give up Roy and O-Chul.) Maybe you could argue that MitD was adapting to the expectations of Xykon in those scenes, but that seems like a weak argument.
Additionally, MitD has done things on his own initiative that weren't wished for or expected by anyone, and even go contrary to people's wishes. He hosted a tea party during the siege of Azure city for no particular reason, and—more tellingly—when Redcloak had directly ordered him to storm Dorukan's tower with zombies, he threw a taco fiesta instead.
Good points.
Would it work if we assumed only the looks of MitD automatically matched to every viewer, but things like earthquakes, rain or teleport wishes were subject to the will of MitD (those only happen if he decides to do so)??
Does such a monster exsist in D&D?
Does such a monster ring any bell for anyone from some differnt kind of lore? Grimm's fairy tales? 1001 nights? Alice in the wonderland? The clause "has he ever been drawn before?" could mean that MitD origins from a non-visual story, maybe even Rich Burlew not being sure if that monster had been drawn in a visual medium yet.
Not saying it has to be like that, but if someone suddenly remembers something that fits that description? Would make a nice addition to the guesses, maybe.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Mightymosy: Dream Larva are the closest thing to that in D&D, although they appear to be fatally terrifying nightmares. They can't suitably explain the escape scene. There may be other creatures I'm not familiar with that are similar (I'm not very well versed in non-D&D creature lore)
.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
rweird
Mightymosy:
Dream Larva are the closest thing to that in D&D, although they appear to be fatally terrifying nightmares. They can't suitably explain the escape scene. There may be other creatures I'm not familiar with that are similar (I'm not very well versed in non-D&D creature lore)
Harry Potter boggarts are the other usual suggestion for "MitD looks different for different people".
GW
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
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Originally Posted by
Grey_Wolf_c
Harry Potter boggarts are the other usual suggestion for "MitD looks different for different people".
GW
An interesting thing I remembered about HP Boggarts, is that they have the powers of the things they turn into. (At least somewhat). The Dementor that the Boggart turned into had a Drain Good aura and was repulsed by a Patronous. So if you assume that the MitD could control what form he wanted to turn into (and Lupin says Boggarts CAN, hence trying to mix-up their fear-reading by bringing multiple people) He turns into something with teleport Other as a power, and then turns back to his default form when he's done.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grey_Wolf_c
Harry Potter boggarts are the other usual suggestion for "MitD looks different for different people".
GW
They wouldn't work though, as they appear as the same thing to everyone at a time, they just appear as the thing one person fears most, and can change it at will, so if everyone in a circus looks at it, it'd only look like the thing one person fears most.
While I suppose it also could acquire powers like teleport that way, it'd need to take the form of something who fears some sort of spellcaster, or some wish-granting creature when it isn't revealed to anyone to explain the escape. Still, it seems semi-plausible if you invent contrived enough reasoning.
Still, in Harry Potter, Lupin said "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form." The fact that the MitD has visible eyes goes again that, as he literally is sitting in the darkness for most of its time here.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
The MunchKING
An interesting thing I remembered about HP Boggarts, is that they have the powers of the things they turn into. (At least somewhat). The Dementor that the Boggart turned into had a Drain Good aura and was repulsed by a Patronous. So if you assume that the MitD could control what form he wanted to turn into (and Lupin says Boggarts CAN, hence trying to mix-up their fear-reading by bringing multiple people) He turns into something with teleport Other as a power, and then turns back to his default form when he's done.
Boggarts adopting powers of the things they turn into is not properly explained. They obviously don't adopt all the powers, since Hogwarts was not suddenly crushed by a boggart turning into the moon inside a classroom. In fact, the best explanation is that they only retain mental-afecting powers, which is how boggarts and dementors are similar (nothing indicates that the boggart!dementor was feeding off Harry, just that it was causing Harry to relieve bad memories, which is something boggarts can already kinda do). They are repelled by patronuses, because patronuses are not to be trifled with even if you are not a dementor, but note that how a boggart reacts to a patronus is really different to how a dementor reacts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rweird
They wouldn't work though, as they appear as the same thing to everyone at a time, they just appear as the thing one person fears most, and can change it at will, so if everyone in a circus looks at it, it'd only look like the thing one person fears most.
I wasn't intending my post to mean I was endorsing the boggart as a plausible creature. First, copyright issues. Second, I do not believe that the boggart is a good match for MitD in general. But it has been brought up multiple times as an example of "different people see different things".
GW
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rweird
They wouldn't work though, as they appear as the same thing to everyone at a time, they just appear as the thing one person fears most, and can change it at will, so if everyone in a circus looks at it, it'd only look like the thing one person fears most.
If I recall correctly, it was explained in the narrative that a boggart encountering multiple people actually will get horribly confused and try to assume multiple contradictory forms at once, weakening the impact of whatever form it assumes. I believe Lupin gave the example of one wizard being afraid of decapitation, and another wizard being afraid of slugs, and the boggart consequently turning into half a slug.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mightymosy
Would it work if we assumed only the looks of MitD automatically matched to every viewer, but things like earthquakes, rain or teleport wishes were subject to the will of MitD (those only happen if he decides to do so)??
Does such a monster exsist in D&D?
Does such a monster ring any bell for anyone from some differnt kind of lore?
There are two very powerful monsters that take a form based on the visitor's memory. The form isn't necessarily something the visitor fears, unlike with the Boggart from Harry Potter, but usually the story turns dark often enough. One of those monsters is of course the Solaris planet from Stanisław Lem's Solaris, the other is the wish-granting planet from the Star Wars Star Trek season 1 episode 15 "Shore Leave".
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rweird
Bigger question: If the MitD is invisible, why can we see his eyes? Being able to see parts of the MitD is a pretty big argument against invisibility. Unless you have a partially invisible suggestion (not that I know of any).
The Cheshire Cat? Not that it is in any way plausible as the MitD, but it is an example of partial invisibility.
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Re: MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me
Quote:
Originally Posted by
b_jonas
the other is the wish-granting planet from the Star Wars season 1 episode 15 "Shore Leave".
Just to clarify here, did you mean Star Trek?