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alla:
And that is something that I have always had trouble with. Ever since I started reading by myself, I have always had to read something before I could get to sleep.

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Always. I crawl into bed and read for an hour every night. Sometimes I have a few kitties who visit me; they like the height, and also there are the warm blankets. Mooster (Cinnamon) burrows under everything, and he comes every night.

I thought about reading the oath, but I didn't. I wonder how old I was when I got that book. I got it for Christmas, read a little, then put it down; I didn't sink into it right away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Gryphon,

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Fox

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Nature_Wind:
We've been discussing things like that in French class recently; the rules of the world aren't as firmly grounded in a child's mind, or even in that of a preteen or young teenager.

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I love that quote!!! But I would take it a differant way, to me that would mean [and I'm sure this is in the book ] that because children dont know those rules of the world then they have no trouble in breaking them! Is'ant that why the younger the wizard is the more powerful they are?
Foxy

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Quotes in quotes! I always wanted to do that! For your comment, Fox, I would say that the quote is significant because even if a kid knows the rules, that kid doesn't subscribe to them. It's like if you tell a young kid not to do something because it's against the rules, then it's still likely that he/she will still break them.

Soooo, a child wizard is so powerful (in my take) because his/her mind has not been hoodwinked into believing that the rules need to be followed.

Is this making sense?

OK, getting back on the topic, I think kids that are 11,12,or13 first start at that age because; do any of you remember when you where really little, and a grouwn-up would ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up? Well most of you probly said somthing that was a huge responsibility, like an astronot, or somthing like that. Yes I do have a point, that when you are little you don't think about the risks as much as you would if you were older and you are more willing to belive in it! At least thats what I thought.

*snort* Yeah, I see where Wizardsrreal is going. I won't say what I wanted to be then, or I'd only get picked on more... And all of this week, and possibly next, is 'Pick on Gryphon Week.' This glare is for PM.

I wanted to be a teacher at another point, too, and a journalist. Now I have no idea what I want to be.

I think younger children were more willing to believe in wizardry, even if they still thought of it as "magic", and also they understood teh Speech by second nature when they were young. Also they accept things a lot weirder than we do, because they don't worry about why things happen. Like how ancient civilizations didn't know what was happening during eclipses, or meteor showers or anything, they simply accepted them.

I started reading fantasy when I was probably 8, with Harry Potter. Actually I read SYWTBAW when I was 7 or so, made no sense whatsoever of it, ::blush::, and read it for real when I was 9. I took the Oath when I was...eleven, I think. It's kind of embarassing, really, because I wanted wizardry so badly, that the rational side of my mind that protested that these books are works of fiction written by a human sorta died. I usually read or draw and/or listen to music before I go to bed. One of those at least. I stopped reading all the time right before bed when I was reading It by Stephen King. It kept me awake for hours (I was 11 at the time).

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Ankaa said:
Like how ancient civilizations didn't know what was happening during eclipses, or meteor showers or anything, they simply accepted them.

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Unlike the French in the 17th or 18th century who had worked out that there were no rocks in the sky, therefore they couldn't fall. Therefore, anyone who claimed they did was mad. James Burke, on the Connections TV series, said one meteor shower fell in England and France, and there are several records of it in England. There are none in France, since it wasn't worth recording mad people's hallucinations.

well, I can see people arriving at the conclusion that there aren't really rocks in the sky, because they probably didn't know much about anything out of the atmosphere...correct me if I'm wrong...

Yeah, I think I got SYWTBAW a few years ago. I read part of it, didn't like it, and put it down until later when I had just about run out of books. Then I was going camping and, reluctantly, I brought it along. After I read it the full way through, I loved it. I didn't see the address to here until Wizard Alone.

*blinks* How'd they come to the conclusion that there are no rocks in the sky? I mean, yeah, I don't see any rocks floating in the sky either, but... eh. You couldn't say 'there are no rocks in the sky' if you've never even thought about there being rocks in the sky. It just leads in a big circled.

Rocks are down on the ground. The stars and planets are fixed to crystal spheres that rotate around the Earth. You didn't know? There can't be rocks up there, they might hit the spheres and break them!

Apparently someone tracked a comet as it got closer and closer, and worked out that there couldn't be any crystal spheres, or the comet would have crashed through them.

Science has some interesting history, with some bits that are amusing to look back on.

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You couldn't say 'there are no rocks in the sky' if you've never even thought about there being rocks in the sky.

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No, it's much more simple than that- obviously there aren't any rocks in the sky, they'd fall out. That whole crystal spheres thing is way too complicated. You just need to look it is clearly.

my "no rocks in the sky" reasoning was, uh...wouldn't we see them? I mean, rocks are kinda conspicuous...mostly...unless maybe they were pebbles...

Someone may have said this already, but it's also a matter of learning. How much time would an adult or a late teenager take to learn, understand and master the basics of the Speech? No matter how much effort you put into it? At 11 you can really take it in on the fly and not be bothered by much any obligations...

I also took the Oath...more than once, convinced I wasn't saying it properly, then I figured the Oaths in the books were specific to the characters, and I needed to find mine...then it just left me I guess. Though I still read practically every night before going to bed and I keep thinking in terms of: "Turn off the light, energy's not infinite", instead of the usual, "Mother's going to kill me because of the bill." *chuckles* -Dai

yeah, I was wondering about the diferent Oaths too, and I think it sorta revises itself as clarifications and mistakes are made. I took Dairine's Oath from HW.

I think that the oath might change with the person too. Or if they change- like all of a sudden get a whole lot stronger (more powerful) or something like that. So I think that the oath changes as you change.just my take on things.

i tried to put the whole oath together once, with each bit out of every book, but it doesn't really ever end. except in SYWTBAW. i wonder where that went...

vv

If Irish wizards such as Ronan memorize the Manual, then I wonder where/how they got the Oath...?

I seem to remember that they don't actually memorize the Manual - it's just sort of implanted in their heads once they become a wizard. So the Oath probably just appears there as well.

Hey! Ankaa clicked my porous memory! (It leaks, btw, not absorbs). They do have to memorize it, don't they. Y'know what, I don't like that, because that's as good as securing their future; they have no choice because it's already been chosen.

Ronan said he memorized the basics, and the rest sort of appeared in his head. Which makes sense, considering how there were such strong Irish oral traditions. But they have to have help from books at some points; I doubt most Seniors would be able to stand having the wizardry fed to them like that, escpecially for larger or more complex spells.
If the wizard was chosen and they had no say in the matter, that could become very, very bad. Look at the mobiles Dairine made in HW, and how one of the points made against her was that since the motherboard took the Oath, it had no bearing on the mobiles, her children. There must be some choice involved, or that undermines some of the most basic fundamentals of Wizardry.

Ronan probably got his Oath the same way Arhu and Ith did--the Whisperer (or Knowledge, as the case may be) says in your ear, "hey, you wanna try this? Then say this with me..." (except with, you know, better wording...)