The age at which a wizard is offered the Oath

[Peter Murray]

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

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.

[Ankaa]

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...

[Gryphon]

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.

[Peter Murray]

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.

[Birdhead]

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

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.

[Ankaa]

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...

[Magic Butter]

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

[Ankaa]

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.

[wizardsrreal]

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.

[Caitlin]

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

[Ankaa]

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

[SilverMarine]

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.

[Gryphon]

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.

[Ankaa]

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.

[semiramis]

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...)