The Powers That Be

[NickRyan]

Just how many powers are there? They very rarely mention any with names besides the Lone Power, the One, and the Defender.

[Dragon Writer]

I don't think it is ever explicitly said - however, it also says they've been mistaken for gods, and angels, and all that, so you could probably get a fairly decent idea by looking at the numbers in panthleons, at least as far as how many have come into the world.

[Durriken]

Then again with them being in and out of time it could make counting..difficult. If you can dip into any time you want that could make doubles pretty common.

[Wiccangixie]

Honestly, The Powers That Be are truly endlesss. New ones are birthed within the series, and some are taken from folklore and legend. Even figures within the Bible. Diane Duane made Powers That Be are quite simply the figures of our own life that are written of and honored within legends and tales. I took it upon myself to research religious figures recently and have come to understand a bit more about who the Powers are. My belief is that the Powers are beings of hope and light, gifting humans with knowledge and love to help us find our way, and even now there are miracles happening for people that didn't expect them. The Powers That Be are everywhere, at all times, so there is no limit to how many there truly are.

[NickRyan]

There can't be infinitely many Powers though or the Lone One would be hopelessly out matched and everybody would be an avatar of one Power or another. What if each major world religion was based off the Powers, the Greeks have so many Gods as do the Norse so that could explain why they get mixed up with the Gods.

[alla]

The way I think about it is that there is probably a finite number of Powers that Be, but they may each have infinite avatars or incarnations. Take, for example, Peach. The Defender wouldn't have been just in her, because it wouldn't be practical for him/her. I can't quite remember the quote, and I don't have my books handy, but The Defender lists some of the people he has been through history in HW. The polythestic societies usually have gods that are comparable in domain (e.g. Odin/Zeus/Jupiter), so that could be the particular incarnation of the Power with respect to that society.

There have also been mentions of the One. So you could probably compare the idea of the Powers that Be with the Christian (and Jewish? - sorry, I'm not that familiar with Judaism, don't want to offend anyone), concept of God (the One), Angels (the Powers that Be) and on down through to the saints (famous wizards, perhaps? - or just wizards in general?).

[NickRyan]

It seems like there could be 12 because there is the Song of twelve then 12 Olympians, I have no clue how many angels in any religion but i know there about 12 Norse gods too. What does everyone else think?

[Cinnamon Wind]

I don't think that's it, somehow.
I mean, if the twelve were for the twelve powers, then a) wouldn't the Lone One be one of them to begin with? And b) well, why would the Lone One be approaching them to begin with? It tries to seduce mortal civilizations. I don't think DD ever mentioned the LP trying to push death on the Powers themselves. That would be an interesting idea, though... If the Song were the LP trying to get the Powers to accept death, the huge consequences of a failed song (Atlantis) would make sense. Well, actually, not really. If this was something so huge, probably if they screwed up the entire universe would be doomed.
Thoughts?

[NickRyan]

Oh ya good point I didn't think about the fact that It wouldn't be approaching them if they are all immortal any way. I guess i was just trying to put together the things but it made sense in my head. I wonder if the other Powers can use avatars and if so why haven't we met any yet?

[Cinnamon Wind]

Yeah, you know, I wondered that as well.
Not even avatars, even just... I forget the word for Ronan, but people like him. This gets back to the question of where exactly the other Powers are, and why they don't seem to take direct action in to the universe.

[NickRyan]

Ya it doesn't make any sense for there to be other Powers if they don't use their energy to help. That seems like a waste of energy which we all know the One hates to do. I wonder if DD is going to introduce any more of them.

[NickRyan]

I was reading Wizards at war last night and I thought of something. What if the other Powers simply haven't attempted their first embodiment yet and therefore can't interfere directly inside time. This might be why they are never mentioned. Any thoughts?

[Cinnamon Wind]

I don't think so. The reason the Hesper is only on her first embodiment now is because she's a new Power. How does that work, by the way? But all the other ones have been around for, well, forever.

[dorotheia]

I don't really understand why the Hesper came into her own so late; maybe that will be made clear later... But the answers (as we have them) should be in WAW.

Probably the other Powers aren't as prominent because they have willfully chosen not to have a hand in every universe. Like in AWAb, Biddy had a choice when she was first sent to Ireland to leave or "go back to the One." They might specialize in certain places. Or they have other business, less noticeable, but just as important.
Energy is important too, if Powers don't all have the same amount of energy at their disposal. The energy required to even exist in the mortal universe seems to be a steady strain even on the most powerful of Powers. (See Esemeli in WH, or the not-yet-redeemed Lone Power in HW.) The number who actually dip into the mortal universe is then quite a bit fewer than the number that actually exist. And fewer bother to come back and forth with regularity. (If bother is the right word.)
That, or the Lone Power is more successful at killing new embodiments than we'd thought.

[NickRyan]

Ha ha ya maybe It is good at killing them. But if it costs so much energy to get them into the mortal world maybe they haven't wanted to waste the energy at certain times like when the Lone One has alot of power at anyone time. Or maybe they really do just play smaller roles in the universe.