From: lamanna@acsu.buffalo.edu (Michael Lamanna)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.eddings
Subject: Re: The Lock
Date: 16 Nov 92 18:58:42 GMT
Organization: UB

JDRUM00@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU writes:

>>        Does anyone remember when Polgara was putting a young Garion to bed,
>>he reached out his hand (the one with the mark on it) and touched Pol's white
>>lock of hair....And it opened a 'window' of thoughts?
>>        I've always wondered what this was.  Eddings seems to use this just
>>to capture the reader's interest, but then seems to COMPLETELY forget about
>>this. Garion doesn't even ask about this later on.
> 
	There is some reference to this in later books.  The one that comes
to mind is the one when Belgarath and Beldin are talking to the club footed
man.  They touch his head to determine if he really has the gift or not.
	My theorey on this is that if two people have the gift that they 
can tell if someone else does as well.  When they reach their hand out they
are also reaching with their mind.  Garion is born with the gift and his
reaching out was not ment to be with the mind, but unless he controls it the
mind will also reach out.
	As the fact that Garion doesn't even ask about this later on is 
because when he realizes what the will and the word are, he knows the answer 
to that question, so he doesn't have to ask it again.

>That's a very interesting question that's not terribly easy to
>answer! Any way you explain it is really just conjecture...my personal
>thought is that a telepathic link between two powerful sorcerers in an
>quiet, intimate moment is quite easy to open, especially when you
>touch their marks together...the two spots on their bodies which
>apparently are the foci of their powers. Pol and Garion are very close,
>and Pol's love combined with Garion's curiosity...well, it doesn't
>seem unusual to me at all for that to happen.
> 
	I would also agree with this.  When Pol goes to do somethings the
lock of hair glows.  This I feel indicates that there is strong connection 
between what she thinks and the mark that indicates that she is a sourceress.
Since the will is always there, when Garion touches that spot she thinks 
about the will and the word and Garion picks up on this.

>WARNING -- Larger topic starting:
> 
>Quotations from the books all over the place make it clear that this
>system really isn't meant to be well-documented; Beldin and Belgarath
>are always having long discussions about sorcery and its rules, and
>they've been sorcerers for thousands of years! That's why there ARE
>so many little episodes that aren't fully explained -- a certain
>air of mystery makes sorcery fascinating. Either that or Eddings
>left out explanations to generate newsgroup traffic.... ;)
> 
	I think that the reason that Eddings didn't go into a lot of 
detail about the sourcery part is that he wasn't all that interested 
in the details of it.  There is a lot that would have to be researched
to conform to accepted ways.  (ie.  D&D, AD&D, etc...).  
	Since he didn't make it all to clear as to the limitations and
such of the will and the word, then he is pretty free to do what he wants
with the power.  

>Eddings' sorcery is also very personal stuff...one person can't
>duplicate the thought of another, will can be lent to others, and
>depleting one's will is fatal. This leaves plenty of room in the
>story for sorcery to do just about anything...many things can be
>rationalized on the basis of how a certain sorcerer thinks. (Of
>course, given a devoted batch of fans, just about ANYTHING can
>be rationalized. ;) )
> 
	The will is something that is personal, I agree.  However the 
part about not being able to duplicate it leaves a lot to be discussed.

	First.   How do you know what the other person thinks to make  
		 the event happen.  2 people with the gift could think
		 the same thing to make the same event happen.
	
	Second.	 There are examples where Garion asks Belgarath or Polgara
		 how to do something.  This would indicate that he wishes
		 to duplicate the same thought.

	

















-- 
	"It is easier to get forgiven than permission"
						Michael Lamanna
						S.U.N.Y at Buffalo
lamanna@acsu.buffalo.edu