Trigger Warning: Attempted murder for being "crazy"
Still working on the Neurodiversity in Tamora Pierce Works thing...
SPOILERS FOR WILD MAGIC BY TAMORA PIERCE
I just read the first book from Daine's quartet, and I'm not sure if I should consider the forgetting she is human and not an animal from her wild magic and self bleeding into each other a portrayal of a magical neurodivergence. Wild magic is different from the Gift in that it can sometimes do things outside the control of the person who has it, and it feels like something that caused her to be considered crazy by her village would belong...
So these are the notes I have on that bit.
Still working on the Neurodiversity in Tamora Pierce Works thing...
SPOILERS FOR WILD MAGIC BY TAMORA PIERCE
I just read the first book from Daine's quartet, and I'm not sure if I should consider the forgetting she is human and not an animal from her wild magic and self bleeding into each other a portrayal of a magical neurodivergence. Wild magic is different from the Gift in that it can sometimes do things outside the control of the person who has it, and it feels like something that caused her to be considered crazy by her village would belong...
So these are the notes I have on that bit.
Daine went mad for some period of time
prior to meeting Ouna. This was apparently intentionally caused by
some sort of divine figure to teach a lesson. (23.)
“Surely listening
wouldn't bring on the madness. She wasn't trying to be
an animal, she just wanted to hear
them” (30.)
Daine's horse,
Cloud, tells her that she's of the “People,” or the animal term
for themselves, rather than being fully human (62.)
Daine notices that
she in Tortall, she can get away with a lot more than she ever could
in Galla, that women do wear pants and fight, but she is sure that
they'd still care if they knew she went mad once (80.)
Listening to a
wolf-pack, Daine nearly forgot she was human and not an animal (107.)
Daine also almost
gets lost in a horse herd, Cloud pulls her out of it and orders her
not to run with the People until she knows how to hold onto herself
(130.)
“He makes it
sound easy, but it's not. There's something wrong with me, she
decided. It's the madness, just waiting for me to drop my guard so it
can take me again. That's how he can protect himself- he never
forgets what he really is. And I can't remember” (133.)
After Daine ran
with the wolf-pack, some people from her old village tried to kill
her, saying that she was crazy and had to be put down quickly for her
own good (154.)
Numair puts up a
magical wall between her wild magic and her inner self, so she does
not forget who she is again. She still has and can use her magic; she
just won't forget that she's actually human anymore. (158-9.)
I also notice that the voices of gods do not hurt Daine's ears in this book. They do hurt Alanna's ears, even that of her patron goddess when being gentle/whispering. If I remember correctly, Numair doesn't have any problems with god-voices either, nor does Alianne, Alanna's daughter. Since "voices of the gods" is a kind of supernatural thing, I wouldn't have counted it as a likely sensory issue for Alanna if it weren't for the whole "everyone else is fine" thing that we need some of the other books to see. But if other people, including other Gifted mortals (Daine's a demi-goddess, but Numair and Alianne are mortal) are fine and Alanna needs all her willpower not to cover her ears... that's a bit odd.
Tris from the other universe has some noise sensitivities too, but hers aren't supernatural noises.
could the whole not hurting the ears thing be a personal choice of the gods? perhaps with Numair, because he is more powerful than Alanna, it didn't hurt him? or because when he spoke with gods, they were demigods, not the Great gods? as for Aly, perhaps the gods chose not to hurt her ears? but then i don't know why the Great Mother Goddess would choose to hurt Alanna's ears. this is a confusing and probably unhelpful comment. sorry...
ReplyDeleteIt could. In context of the stories (I've read all 20+ Tamora Pierce novels multiple times each,) it would be weird for a goddess to chose pain for her favored even when pleased but not for someone else when upset but not yet with them. So I don't think it's what's going on, but it's possible?
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