The Powers That Be

[banans13]

I don't really understand why the Hesper came into her own so late; maybe that will be made clear later.

Probably the other Powers aren't as prominent because they have willfully chosen not to have a hand in every universe. 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. The number who actually dip into the mortal universe is then quite a bit fewer than the number that actually exist.

I would like to address this in 3 parts.

First off, the Hesper. All powers exist outside of time, correct? Well, then isn't it possible she existed in a time before but wasn't yet powerful enough to fully manifest? She needed the help in WAW, so maybe she had tried to manifest before and failed. This is all just speculation, of course.

Secondly, the role of the powers. I would mostly agree with dorothia on this one. Just like different wizards have different levels of power, many of the Powers probably have differing levels of power. Also, on the point that they could just be doing less noticeable work I definitely agree. You don't notice the spider eating the flies, but if they weren't there you would definitely notice the increase in flies.

However, I only partly agree with the last bit of what dorothia was saying. It may be a strain on the powers to exist within time in a mortal shape, but as the Defender seems to do this quite easily, and we usually come across the Defender (within the book's experience) on earth, and since there are billions of "home-worlds" out there, is it not possible that different Powers tend to be where they are need most, like on another planet?

This may take some explaining. Think of it like Greek Gods. They each had a specialization, something that they were the "patron" for or were there to guard against. Athena: Strength, Intelligence. Demeter: Goddess of the Harvest. And not only did the Greek have the core pantheon, they also had many different gods for more mundane things. I think the Powers operate sort of like that. Being where they need to be when they need to be, focusing on what they are best equipped to deal with.

Ex: Earth is a very violent place and full of war and tons of natural disasters so the Defender would probably show up a lot. (Of course, as It exists out of time It can be on some other planet simultaneously if need be.) But if on planet (X) it rains a lot and harvest are difficult and population growth is slim, then maybe the "Demeter" Power will be there often and wizards on that planet run into that Power on their journeys.

I believe that our introduction and encounters with other Powers doesn't have so much to do with their ability to manifest in our world. I think it more has to do to with experience and above all, location, location, location.