History Headscratchers / SkulduggeryPleasant

*** I'd say so, but how many times have you studied the asymmetrical aspects of someone's face or hair? Of course, the idea behind the Reflection is that it's only supposed to be used sparingly, so that close ones don't catch on (although the focus is more on behaviour in the books) Val's reliance on hers is what causes problems later on.

** Also, how does the reflection work? The thing is that Val can't wear anything with logos - or any watches - before she touches the mirror, because those objects get flipped (ie watch on right hand goes to left hand). Doesn't that mean the reflection's hairdo gets flipped as well, as do all her features? it might seem a minor point, but it isn't when you realise that things like faces and hairstyles are asymmetrical in reality.

**** I can't find exact stats, but most people do go missing from cities. Try to see it from a normal perspective--there's nothing to connect the victims, no particular pattern, no evidence that they've even died, and if Gerald's any guide it's unlikely they would even be reported missing for a while. All the cops would note is an increased spike in missing persons, which does happen from time to time. There's nothing they can really investigate. For a bit of trivia, my previous figures were wrong, last year 7,000 went missing from Ireland.

** Also, how does the reflection work? The thing is that Val can't wear anything with logos - or any watches - before she touches the mirror, because those objects get flipped (ie watch on rigt hand goes to left hand). Doesn't that mean the reflection's hairdo gets flipped as well, s do all her features? it might seem a minor point, but it isn't when you realise that things like faces and hairstyles are asymmetrical in reality.

* What would happen if the reflection got, say, a haircut and Valkyrie didn't? In all of the illustrations, Val's hair is identical, but it would have grown at some point, and her parents must have said at some point "OK, Steph, you're hair's way too long. You need a haircut. But then Valkyrie would come home from fireball practice and they'd have thought, OK, your hair's growing suspiciously quickly..."

** What would happen if the reflection got, say, a haircut and Valkyrie didn't? In all of the illustrations, Val's hair is identical, but it would have grown at some point, and her parents must have said at some point "OK, Steph, you're hair's way too long. You need a haircut. But then Valkyrie would come home from fireball practice and they'd have thought, OK, your hair's growing suspiciously quickly..."

** In ''Last Stand of Dead Men,'' it's somewhat implied that the reflection doesn't actually want to [[spoiler: kill Valkyrie]] if it has other options available--it's not a psychopath. It [[spoiler: kills Carole]] so that it can protect itself and its family from [[spoiler: Darquesse and anyone else who might object to its survival--Valkyrie and Skulduggery included]]. Besides which, Moore is a grown, powerful man who was more than a match for Valkyrie, and without the ability of magic the reflection may not have been able to subdue him on its own.

* How did Scapegrace's murder dozens of mortals ''(twice)'' without anyone noticing? Geoffrey can't hypnotize ''everyone'' they knew, surely that number of people dying with no trace of their bodies can't go unnoticed.

** In ''Last Stand of Dead Men,'' it's somewhat implied that the reflection doesn't actually want to [[spoiler: kill Valkyrie]] if it has other options available--it's not a psychopath. It [[spoiler: kills Carole]] so that it can protect itself and its family from [[spoiler: Darquesse and anyone else who might object to its survival--Valkyrie and Skulduggery included]].

* If reflection wants to [[spoiler: kill Valkyrie, why did she passed the opportunity up in ''Death Bringer''? She could help Moore and ''then'' dispatch of him, which would be a much better plan than what it plans now!]]

* How comes it is '''still''' so hard for Valkyrie to use her Elemental Powers??? In Book 6, she is attacked by Moore and cannot use it! At some point she even has time to rummage through her clothes for the necromancer ring, but still cannot concentrate enought for a fireball!

*** She explicitly says that she intends to [[spoiler: deal with Skulduggery by ''murdering the feck out of him'', presumably with the Sceptre of the Ancients.]]

** [[spoiler: What I want to know is how on Earth the reflection expects to stop Skulduggery. He'll know in an instant that she's not Valkyrie, and in that instant, annihilate her for hurting Valkyrie, or even planning to kill Valkyrie. The reflections know very well what would happen... why take the risk of taking Valkyrie out when it's almost guaranteed you will die immediately after?]]

** [[spoiler: The reflection is growing apart from Valkyrie. It has it's own perspective. Valkyrie sees what the reflection wants it to see. It's resentful (it's more or less a ''slave'' that has to do as its told) and far more violent than Valkyrie (which is really saying something). Half the time, it's lying through its teeth. Valkyrie would ''never'' let the reflection take over her life because it means she loses her family. The reflection isn't likely to trust her because of that one time she let Skulduggery shoot it in the head. "Stephanie" will manage to get away with it if she blames ''Darquesse'' for everything. Who would suspect the reflection over the witch queen of Dublin?]]

** The reflection is growing apart from Valkyrie. It has it's own perspective. Valkyrie sees what the reflection wants it to see. It's resentful (it's more or less a ''slave'' that has to do as its told) and far more violent than Valkyrie (which is really saying something). Half the time, it's lying through its teeth. Valkyrie would ''never'' let the reflection take over her life because it means she loses her family. The reflection isn't likely to trust her because of that one time she let Skulduggery shoot it in the head. "Stephanie" will manage to get away with it if she blames ''Darquesse'' for everything. Who would suspect the reflection over the witch queen of Dublin?

* As the reflection has been said to share Valkyrie's perspective on things why would she [[spoiler:do things that Valkyrie thinks of as immoral? Valkyrie would never kill her cousin or plot to kill herself. And why wouldn't the reflection just talk to Valkyrie about how she feels? Take over Stephanie's life while Valkyrie moves in with Skulduggery. She knows how Valkyrie would react. And since she has thesame perspective and memory on things why does she talk about how she deserve's Stephanie's life more than Valkyrie? And why would Carol's reflection obey Valkyrie's reflection but not step in to help Carol? Also, how would the reflection have a normal happy life if she kills all those people, even an Elder? She'd be noticed and people would be after her, not just leave her alone. Valkyrie wouldn't have made such a stupid plan, why would her reflection?]]

** Some might have been living inside the Pale (an area around Dublin that was completely under English control since the 1500s) and, while they didn't exactly weed out the Irish language, quite a bit of Ireland was under English control by 1600 and pretty much all of it except Connacht by the mid 1650s. Also sorcerer communities seem to be kind of tight-knit, which might sort of be an explanation for the fact that there are like ten mages knocking around with English names despite being at least 400.

* Why did all the main characters choose English names? They were born hundreds of years ago... wouldn't they have chosen Gaelic names?