Line #8 Fridge/YoungWizards


1	[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
2	* In the ''Literature/YoungWizards''/''Literature/TheBookOfNightWithMoon'' universe, the Lone Power seems to like killing off the protagonists' family members to try and push them over the DespairEventHorizon or make them desperate enough to cut a DealWithTheDevil. The protagonists cannot ''possibly'' be the only ones this has happened to. For that matter, It has been known to ''extinguish stars'' to hinder the protagonists, killing off entire civilizations in the process. Once again, It's probably not giving the protagonists special treatment here.
3	** It doesn't help in the least that it is made ''explicit'' that there is an afterlife, and it's a ''much'' nicer place. Hello UnfortunateImplications on the morality of ''keeping'' somebody alive in that universe...
4	*** The other, more crapsack universes are keeping the Lone Power out of Timeheart. This is pretty much spelled out in Wizards at War.
5	*** Also, once you're in Timeheart, you can't really ''do'' anything other than hang out with your loved ones. It's only the living who can make a difference in the universe.
6	* Nita and Kit's joint Ordeal ... well, as Nita herself puts it in High Wizardry: "If we'd copped out (...), this whole world would be different. And believe me, you wouldn't have liked the difference." Are all Ordeals that important? And if so, is the world one preteen kid away from disaster at any moment?
7	-->"Some of those kids are out on their Ordeal ... and because they don't have time to become good with the Speech, they get in trouble with the Lone Power that they can't get out of. And they never come back."
8	** If a given wizard or group of wizards cop out or fail their Ordeal, another wizard or group of wizards, on Ordeal or otherwise, receive the task of cleaning up after them, or helping them through the Ordeal. For example, A Wizard Alone.
9	*** Also Nita and Kit were somewhat younger then most wizards when they started, thus had more power, and a more dangerous Ordeal. Dairine was even younger and her Ordeal was even more universe-changing.
10	** We know not all Ordeals are as universe-shaking. Ronan's Ordeal, for example, was difficult--taking in the Sea to rescue a group of people--but not nearly as important as redeeming the Lone Power.
11
12	[[AC:FridgeLogic]]
13	* Young wizards are stated to be more powerful than older wizards because they haven't learned that something is impossible yet. Since the older wizards presumably started out as young wizards who could cast powerful spells, shouldn't they have, in fact, learned that such feats are ''not'' impossible?
14	** They also learn that they have access to less power as they age... I think it might be a metaphorical version of faith vs experience. ie "I believe I can fly" vs "I know I can fly, but I have to do ''this'' and '''this''' and ''this'' for it to happen." Remember Fred's line from book 1, about belief being the most powerful force?
15	*** But that still has the problem of with wizards somehow learning that they can't do things that they've already done. Surely a wizard can figure out how to avoid a CentipedesDilemma.
16	** It's not necessarily that "oh, yesterday I could do X and now I can't," it's more like "I used to have the POTENTIAL to do X, Y, and Z, and now I don't." Also, as you become an adult, your brain loses neuroplasticity (which, admittedly, doesn't explain why Dairine has more power than Kit and Nita, but hey). It also may be a result of being exposed to the regular world and its cynicism--when you're a kid (and you're given magic), you think you can do just about anything. But then the "real" world starts making you cynical, and you have to work harder to keep that belief.
17	On top of this, when you're first starting out you could probably just cast a new spell off the cuff, whereas a more experienced wizard would know that you first have to set it up and learn technical terms and use certain materials. Because you didn't know it would be difficult, it wasn't.
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19	[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
20	* In the second book, ''Deep Wizardry'', when Nita is explaining wizardry to her father, Harry Callahan, Harry states: ''"If someone offered me a chance to be a wizard, I'd jump at it"'' in an attempt to emotionally blackmail Nita into staying home instead of helping the whales. Nita sees right through it: ''"“No, you wouldn’t. Because if you would have, really, you would have been offered it. There's never enough wizards..."'' And in the very next book, ''High Wizardry'', Nita gets proven right! As Carl & Tom are explaining that Dairine is a wizard, too, Carl shows the Wizard's Oath to Harry, via the computer-- an act that takes both Tom and Carl and the Planetary to approve. Harry reads it silently...yet does not speak it out loud to take the Oath. Why does it take two Seniors and the Planetary to approve the translation of something that's common knowledge for wizards? Because showing the Oath to someone is ''offering them the chance to be a wizard.'' Harry gets his offer, and doesn't jump at all.
21	** Bonus FridgeBrilliance: the scenes double as an early showing of Nita's oracular ability, too.
22	* In Book 3, Dairine's new computer/manual is described as having something like the apple logo, but without the bite taken out of it. At the time, a reader might put it down as just an indicator of it being not quite normal, but at the end of the book, the brilliance hits. The book is all about Dairine creating a species who, for the first time in the history of the universe, rejected the Lone Power's offer wholesale (represented on Earth by the Garden of Eden story). In other words, Dairine’s machine people ''never bit the apple!'' '''Brilliant.'''
23	* The reveal that [[spoiler: Penn is hosting the phoenix]] makes a re-read of ''Games Wizards Play'' very interesting in hindsight.
24	** In his duel with Kit, he chooses the elements of fire and air. This makes perfect sense for a [[spoiler: phoenix host.]]

Context Fridge / YoungWizards