"There's no higher payment that can be made."

[Kaatje]

Okay. This line caught my attention on my very first reading of Deep Wizardry, lo, these many years ago, and I've wondered about it ever since.

Nita is coping with the realization that she's agreed to die in the Song of the Twelve. She's called Carl, and he's appeared in his bath towel (love that bit of detail...people always seem to call when you're in the shower), and they're discussing the terms of her agreement and how it relates to the blank-check spell she and Kit did in SYWTBAW:

"Nita scrubbed at her eyes, not much liking this line of reasoning. 'But the spell never said anyone was going to have to die to pay back the price!'
"'No. All it said was that you were going to have to pay back the exact amount of energy used up at some future date. And it must have been a very great amount, to require lifeprice to be paid. There's no higher payment that can be made.' Carl fell silent a moment, then said, 'Well, one.' And his face shut as if a door had closed behind his eyes."

I've always wondered what that higher price could be. And I've always wondered if we're going to find out someday. Diane does such a brilliant job with foreshadowing that you never can tell when something's going to show up again.

Anyone got thoughts on what Carl could mean

[Elizabeth]

First of all, the Carl and Nita scene is one one of my favorites in _Deep_. I just start sniffling every time I read over it again.

What's the higher price? Ohhhhh. Good question. I interpret it as a loss of your wizardry. Possibly in one huge, necessary wizardry that uses it all up. Or, on the flip side possibly in chosing to give it up because it's too difficult. Both would constitute a heavy price for a wizard. In that same scene, Carl talks about what it's like for a former wizard to live without wizardy...it does not sound the least bit fun.


Elizabeth

[Elizabeth]

First of all, the Carl and Nita scene is one one of my favorites in _Deep_. I just start sniffling every time I read over it again.

What's the higher price? Ohhhhh. Good question. I interpret it as a loss of your wizardry. Possibly in one huge, necessary wizardry that uses it all up. Or, on the flip side, possibly in chosing to give it up because it's too difficult. Both would constitute a heavy price for a wizard. In that same scene, Carl talks about what it's like for a former wizard to live without wizardy...it does not sound the least bit fun.


Elizabeth

[Elizabeth]

*kicks comp*

[Ferrica]

I always thought that the higher price would be the end of the world. Atlantis all over again.

[Ferrica]

Hi Elizabeth [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
No fear, I think you could get rid of one of the post by clicking on the little pencil notebook icon thingy. And then hit Delete Message.

[Kaatje]

Good thoughts--I hadn't thought of the "mass destruction" option. I never thought, though, that it had to do with giving up or losing wizardry, because Carl seemed quite willing to talk about that with Nita. I definitely got the sense that he was not going to talk about whatever the "higher than lifeprice" payment was, so it must be something worse than what he did talk about (i.e. losing wizardry).

Hmmm. Maybe losing your soul? Or your place in Timeheart? Those both seem pretty catastrophic to me..

[WizardGirl1]

What if the higher price is losing your soul. I mean what if your body is still there but you are still walking around. Like what dementors do to you (Harry Potter 3) when they give you the worst kind of death.. Sorry if I just wrote that to someone who hasn't read Harry Potter.

[Caledonian]

I always interpreted that comment to be an oblique reference to sacrificing your life for another.

Paying your debt with your life is costly, but paying someone else's death is even more so.

Logic is a poor servant, but an excellent master.
-- The Book of Forgotten Things

[EWizard11]

Hmmmmmmmm
This sounds like one of those things where people get threatened with 'a fate worse than death' with is never explained.
Does anyone think that the price, with losing your wizardry, (which is bad enough) is knowing that the universe will die faster without you, and not being able to do anything about it?
Ella [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

EWizard11

[Bibliomancer]

This has been driving me absolutly nuts since I first read it, so it's nice to know I'm not the only one. I don't think it could be losing wizardry, though. Carl refers to them seperately, and while he is not particularly reluctant to tell Nita what will happen if she loses her powers, he does not seem to want to talk about whatever the fate worse than death is.

Leisure without literature is death, or rather the burial of a living man

[Caledonian]

Rejection by the One, perhaps?

Though since even the Lone Power was redeemed, I'm not sure this would actually be an issue anyway...

Logic is a poor servant, but an excellent master.
-- The Book of Forgotten Things

[kite]

I always assumed that it was loss of soul. It's one thing to die and go on to Timeheart/whatever afterlife, quite another to have your soul lost/destroyed/in hell. Sounds like a higher price to me.

[Hannah :)]

I always thought it would be something to do with love. The whole ache of "Not old enough to love as yet, but old enough to die indeed" is a pretty poignant message in the book...

Or maybe it's like (slightly off-topic) that SG-1 episode where someone has to choose between their race and thousands of others...

You know, I wasn't too bothered about this line until now! Grrrrrr!

Hannah xx

http://timeheart.fateback.com

'Felis Catus is your taxonomic nomenclature. An endothermic qaudroped, carniverous by nature.'

I got to thinking that perhaps the highest price woul be giving up wizardry and still having to know, through some fate or spell working, what you lost, that you are helpless to do anything more to help. This would be hard to achieve, since wizards who forgo their furthur wizardry normally lose all memory...but perhaps if one was still willing and was tricked into a position where they knew that keepin their power was only going to lead to a dark path or one of corruption for themselves or someone else, or would possibly cause more death or entropy...a willing loss of wizardry for the sake of others....maybe their memory would remain...their deed being so great that the memory would just be the Lone One's way of revenge on that particular person? Sorry for the rambling.

Dai-stihó,
Rhiow-chan.
http://www.geocities.com/booknightmoon