TNC: Allusions? Mythological and otherwise

[Rob]

Someone mentioned a thread cataloging all the mythological, magical, alchemical, fairy tale, etc allusions in the text would be a good thing, and I just hit one, so I thought I'd start it off.

In the chapter "the wizard in the tree" widget recounts the traditional story of Merlin and Vivianne, as found in the post vulgate suite de Merlin and carried down all the way to Tennyson's Idylls of the king. But they add a really interesting discussion of magic and secrets: by necessity magic, as it is a kind of secret art, diminishes over time, because it gains its power from its secrecy, and over time it inevitably gets taught and/or written down. Also, they add a new ending, in which Merlin becomes immortal/a weird kind of nature god.

I love this chapter because those elements are not at all part of the original story, but they totally fit; also it frames the entire book as a descendant of Arthurian legend (Widget is telling the story as if it were historical fact), and it explains part of the rules of the world we're in/ explains why the novel is so silent when it comes to the rules of the Game. And goodness does it move from fun to chilling quickly, as the tiny children consider what it means to be immortal and caged for all eternity.

Anyway. What allusiony stuff has everyone found?

[Maclurker]

I found a Norse mythology allusion: the raven Huginn. It was part of her magical illusions, appearing and disappearing and turning into various things. It might be she made the same use of Huginn as Odin did his Huginn and Muninn, although the book never mentions it. And every magician should have a familiar.

Also the chapter where Celia is working in her study made me think of Poe, although there didn't seem to be a pallid bust.

[Joanna Chaplin]

Maclurker wrote: "I found a Norse mythology allusion: the raven Huginn. It was part of her magical illusions, appearing and disappearing and turning into various things. It might be she made the same use of Huginn a..."

Yes, and it leads to this wonderful exchange:

"You should really get another one, [...] A Muninn to complete the set."
"I prefer thought to memory, Papa."

Also, I've just realized that Prospero from the Tempest loved Miranda a great deal more than Hector loved Celia, if he did at all. I've been thinking of the movie Tangled, and wondering if it might not be possible to be fond of someone, to enjoy their company, without actually loving them at all.

[Rob]

The whole thing is kind of an anti-tempest in a way. The magician holds supreme power rather than being an outcast. The illusions are meant to end in death instead of return. The magician wants to keep the youths apart rather than set them up. Magic is, by the end, insured to go on, instead of being destroyed.