did the undead originate in the book world?
Posted by:
Jazz_Sue (---.asfd.broadband.ntl.com)
Date: February 03, 2007 11:45PM
or alternatively, is this where Acheron originally hailed from? It's just that he seems pretty indestructible until Thursday shoots him with the silver bullet at Rochester's mansion back at Jane Eyre. I am not for one minute going to say Acheron's killing was contrived, because jasper doesn't write like that, but it does seem awfully 'pat' that, when nothing else seemed to work, all of a sudden silver proved to be his 'Achilles heel.' Evidently, the weapon that would kill/harm him could only be made of silver, but why? Something to ponder: if TN had shot Acheron with the silver bullet in her own - rather than the book - world, would it have had the same effect on him? I say .. maybe.
I've not read the blurb on the forthcoming novel yet, so apologies if this becomes an unintentional 'spoiler', but the way I see it is this: My belief is that - in Thursday's world at least - vampires, werewolves etc were originally fictional creations, from stories told round camp fires to explain away why, for example, Auntie Myrtle is prone to suddenly looking pale and trying to rip the throat out of any passer-by (six days out of every 28, on average) or why the new baby in the family is so damn hairy. Things too small or inconsequential to be dealt with by the Gods, in other words.
Somehow, these monsters ended up in the real world for real, creating havoc that could only be dealt with by using 'fictional' killing methods such as silver bullets etc. If demons also originated from the human imagination, this could explain where Acheron came from and why he was so vulnerable when he was back at home base. Taken further, perhaps he intended eventually to return to where he came from, but running the joint his way. That would tie in neatly with his interest in book world characters, and why he did what he did. It seems to me he had one hell of a hangup about 'good' guys- you don't see him getting rough with the bad ones though!
Heyyy - just a thought, but maybe he was so bad that he got kicked out of his world, kind of like satan was. He might have been using Thursday's world as a tool to assist him in his revenge against the book people, rather than just being evil for evil's sake. His interest in Thursday would stem from imitially seeing her as an ally (college) and then later as a threat - he must have realised she was unique in being able to break down the barriers between the two worlds. His origins would also explain why he was a genius English lecturer, but 'went bad' so unexpectedly.
Another question - is it possible for bookworlders and realworlders to , Ahem, cohabit? Acheron put at least one of his students up the duff, and was keen to repeat the exercise with the student Thursday. What would the end result of such a union be? I would say, a very powerful tool indeed if your aim is, eventually, world domination of both sides.
I've a feeling all this has yet to be resolved in a future book - but did anyone else feel the way acheron got bumped off (if, indeed, he truly was*) was just a little too convenient for comfort? It didn't sit quite right with me, Jasper chose to use the silver bullet death scene without telling us why it should work when all else had failed; which is why I felt moved to come up with the above scenario as a possible explanation.
(* One more thing - Acheron and Aornis are only ever seen together in dreams. Is it possible Acheron did return from the dead, in the guise of his 'sister?')