Wizardly partnerships?

[Rowen Avalon]

Here's a question that's been bugging me for a while: Why do some wizards have partners and others work alone?

For examples, I'd like to refer you to "A Wizard Abroad" as we have the most human wizards in this novel. As I recall (my books aren't with me right now) Nita's aunt automatically assumes that Kit is Nita's partner. Likewise, Nita also assumes that Annie had a partner when she first got her wizardry. These examples lead me to believe that most wizards have partners when they begin their practice and lose them through disagreements or disinterest.

However, neither Ronan nor Dairine seem to have partners, unless you count Dairine's computer, which I don't. Did Ronan have a partner at one time? If so, where did he/she go before WA? How about Dairine? Are the mobiles her partners? How about "Spot"? Are all beginning wizards assigned partners? If not, who chooses who receives a partner, and how, and why?

I guess these are mostly questions more than nickpicking, but I thought they fit nicely here since it's not a major problem.

As a note of caution, I have not currently read "A Wizard Alone" or the two adult novels, so excuse me if I've left out material covered in these novels.

Yours till the bed spreads,
Rowen Avalon
mysites/ravensiggys/constitutionality

[Rowen Avalon]

Here's a question that's been bugging me for a while: Why do some wizards have partners and others work alone?

For examples, I'd like to refer you to "A Wizard Abroad" as we have the most human wizards in this novel. As I recall (my books aren't with me right now) Nita's aunt automatically assumes that Kit is Nita's partner. Likewise, Nita also assumes that Annie had a partner when she first got her wizardry. These examples lead me to believe that most wizards have partners when they begin their practice and lose them through disagreements or disinterest.

However, neither Ronan nor Dairine seem to have partners, unless you count Dairine's computer, which I don't. Did Ronan have a partner at one time? If so, where did he/she go before WA? How about Dairine? Are the mobiles her partners? How about "Spot"? Are all beginning wizards assigned partners? If not, who chooses who receives a partner, and how, and why?

I guess these are mostly questions more than nickpicking, but I thought they fit nicely here since it's not a major problem.

As a note of caution, I have not currently read "A Wizard Alone" or the two adult novels, so excuse me if I've left out material covered in these novels.

Yours till the bed spreads,
Rowen Avalon
mysites/ravensiggys/constitutionality

[Birdhead]

Well, I always thought that partners weren't assigned- they just sort of happened, in a serendipitous fashion. Certainly, no-one told Nita and Kit to work together- they just did. (Mind you, that has a few holes in it- why, then, did they have their Ordeal together? Because Ordeals definitely are NOT serendipity.) With Ronan, I just don't think he'd work well with a partner- he's not the type, I guess.
In the case of Dairine, I'd guess she just had so much raw power in the beginning there wouldn't have been much point to a partner. Perhaps she'll get one later- i really have the feeling it's a matter of choice or personal preference whether you have a partner- although the may be slightly nudged by the Powers, like Kit and Nita. The way Annie talked about her partner, it felt like a matter of convenience, or friendship-just like some people have close friends, and some don't, and sometimes friends drift apart, like Annie and her partner.
There isn't anything concrete anywhere-this is all just what I think, really.
Ka Kite
Tui

Tuibird in Aotearoa
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[ROMzombie]

When talking about things like this, you have to remember a strange little concept: the Powers that call Wizards to active duty do not percieve time like we do. They know if any given Wizard will need a partner to acomplish their task, or if they can do it alone. The only things that keeps young Wizards from always passing Ordeal are the choices that they make (to give up, to seek in the wrong direction, to take false advice, ect).

[Brittany]

Some people are jack-of-all-trades, some, like Dairine, as Birdhead mentioned, have an enourmous amount of power. Some have enorous power on one area, but are significantly lacking in other areas. Nita and Kit fall into the latter catagory. Their skill complement one another. That gives them increased chances of sucess and increased power if they work together than if they work seperately.

Imagine if Kit was paired up with another wizard who specialized in inanitmate (such a loose term...) objects? It's be a waste of power and time.

Not all wizards need partners. Some don't 'need' them, but work better and more efficently with another wizard. It all comes down to how to best get the job done. No power to waste.

(Did I say anything that made sense to anyone else?)

~*~
A picture is not always worth a thousand words. I would rather have the words and paint the pitcure with my mind.

[Rowen Avalon]

I think that's a good explanation. I'm satisfied.

Yours till the bed spreads,
Rowen Avalon
mysites/ravensiggys/constitutionality

[ShadsKitty]

Well, this is my first post in this forum so since I have something to say I'll just jump in.

The way I figure, partnership happens according to the tempraments and needs of the participants of the time. Some people work better as part of a team, and some work better solo, and wizardry would of course take that into account wherever it possibly could. Of course sometimes the solo flyers will probably have to work with somebody else, but any others they work with won't be in a technical partnership with the solo wizard--just a temporary team. And as we've seen, sometimes wizards who have partners do a bit of solo work as life demands. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say solo work or partnerships either one has a huge majority over the other.

My guess would be that both Annie and Nita, having had partners, feel that starting off with a partnership is the natural thing. Annie probably has seen plenty of evidence that it's not needed, but psychologically it feels like a comfortable, natural idea. Also, if Nita and Kit weren't fooling around as Nita's parents rather implied, but the problem still involves Kit, and the problem was actually the wizardry, then it's a fairly logical conclusion that Kit is involved in the wizardry, most likely in a partnership that Nita's parents didn't understand, so I can see why Annie would automatically come to that belief.

Nita, on the other hand, hasn't had a chance to work with many other wizards, and VERY few other human wizards. Thus far, she's worked with her partner Kit, and with Tom and Carl who are also partners, the sea wizards who she could easily see as very psychologically different, and Dairine, who has always been a case unto herself. Dairine essentially has an entire race of computers that she's deeply tied into, which could make more mundane partnerships unnecessary for her.

So, if both Annie and Nita's early forays into wizardry involved partnership, if Annie already knows that Kit is involved in the reason Nita was sent to Ireland and that the reason was that the wizardry was getting too involved for her parents, and if the majority of Nita's experience with human wizards has been wizards with partners, then it's easy to understand why both would assume the other has/had a partner.

Shads

[Agent M]

I think that most wizards find partners and sometimes lose them but some just don't need partners, or the partner wouldn't understand or they wouldn't be a good thing, or some other reason like that, like with Darryl, he's probably better off without a partner. And technically Dariene doesn't have a partner, but I guess you could include Spot as a partner. But some Wizards have partnerships and they last, Like Tom and Carl, and some have partnerships and they don't, Like Annie and her partner, (I have no idea what I'm getting at but oh well, I'll go with it) And unfortunatly something tells me that in the end, Nita and Kit won't be partners anymore, just good friends, but in Alone or Dillema Nita mentions that she doesn't want to spend forever with Kit like Tom and Carl, so sad as it is, I don't think that Nita and Kit will be partners forever.

*Agent~M*

I'm a walking talking dictionary, until you ask me about America.

[Birdhead]

Yeah, right! Nita and Kit will SO keep working together. Anyway, in Abroad Nita was frightened by the idea of not working with Kit, and shocked by the idea that Annie wasn't working with her partner any more; I think they'll stay together.

Shadskitty: Nice post, hi! Though, just an idea, I suspect that Nita has worked with other humans; it's just that she hasn't had occasion to do it a lot. Remember she worked with a whole bunch of others during Abroad; and she might have done other stuff between books that nobody bothers to mention.
And you forgot the cat wizards...
Ka Kite
Tui

Tuibird in Aotearoa
Conservationist, Scientist, and proud of both!
Chocolate lover extraordinaire...
Ahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahahahaha...
My mission: Bringing Maori to the world!
Spelling Freak and Typo Queen

[ShadsKitty]

Birdhead:
I'm not forgetting that Nita did, in Abroad, work with other human wizards, nor am I forgetting the cat wizards. The point of discussion is set before Nita really starts to work with the other wizards in Abroad, right after her "secret" comes out to her aunt and vice versa, and Kit is introduced, and they talk about partnerships. I believe she also worked with the cat wizards after Abroad although it isn't specified when in the Young Wizards timeline they meet, but they are also nonhuman wizards and could therefore be assumed to be different.

Anyway, what I mean is at the point when Nita and her aunt discussed partnerships, Nita really hadn't had a lot of exposure to non-partnered human wizards.

And it's a pleasure to meet you =)

Shads

Brittany, What you said about Nita and Kit's powers complimenting eachother, I TOTALLY agree, but in the excerpt Nita is getting better at inanimate objects. However, I think they will continue being partners because their personalities compliment eachother. They need eachother in this aspect, not because of their different powers.

" It was one of those So you want to be a...books... a series on careers...
BUT This One Said
'So You Want To Be A Wizard...'"
- Serena

What I think is so interesting is that the wizardly configuration you end up in seems to be a result of your species. I mean, why haven't Kit and Nita ever worked with other human wizards in the NYC area? DD makes a big deal about the "thinning of worldwalls" and how many wizards NYC holds, but . . . we never see them. (I haven't read Alone yet, so forgive me if this is misinformation.)

It may be that humans just work best in pairs, and introducing other wizardly agemates would threaten their partnership, or perhaps they simply wouldn't get the same kinds of results working in feline-esque groups (c.f. Book of Night

[Birdhead]

I agree, I think it depends on your nature- though I disagree that all humans are instinctively pair people. I know that, if I was a wizard and working in a partnership, it would be with my two best friends. Easily. Absolutely no doubt, because we do it completely and utterly naturally. So I'll qualify it by saying that I think it depends a lot on the type of person you are. Nita's a one preson person: so's Kit. Dairine's a loner. But I bet there are wizards out there who work in different number groups: but because wizardry in NYC doesn't seem to be very social (you're right about that: where are all those wizards?) we haven't met them. There actually is a tidbit of support for this: in DW, I think, Nita mentions in passing "several famous circles of wizards who had been cousins, or siblings..." Which is quite telling. "circles."
T

Tuibird in Aotearoa
Conservationist, Scientist, and proud of both!
Chocolate lover extraordinaire...
Ahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahahahaha...
My mission: Bringing Maori to the world!
Spelling Freak and Typo Queen

[rae]

yep,...I must find those feline wizard novels

[Agent M]

Um...Rae, could you please not use short liners. We all make mistakes and use a lot of them, and you are a new member, but DD pays for the site, we don't won't to use too many short posts..

*Agent~M*
"Do what the night tells you, and read the fine print before you sign!" -Peach.
"In the Cookies of life, your friends are the chocolate chips" -Sam