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minutia_rStaying on in Series Twelve when one is native to a different Series (or not-Series in the case of Eleven): A tedious bit of fanwankery by Minutia_R
Over on tumblr, inerasabledreams asked: "I'm a little confused, in "Conrad's Fate," Gabriel de Witt said that is not possible for a person living in another series, but Millie (Series 10) lives with Christopher in Series 12 ... Someone could explain?"
I'm glad you asked, inerasabledreams! (You asked the fuckyeahchrestomanci blog and not me, but that was an understandable oversight.) This is indeed one of the most vexed questions in Chrestomanci canon, and it's complicated by the fact that Mordecai Roberts, aka Tacroy, also spends most of his life in Series Twelve while being a native of Eleven (Not a Series).
I should start this off with a disclaimer that the question was never resolved in the books, and now never will be; I have reasons to prefer my own theory and will elucidate them below, but ultimately it's just a theory and no more canon than any other.
That being said, over on the fuckyeahchrestomanci blog, elanchana gave the following answer: "It's because Millie used one of Christopher's lives as an anchor. Presumably you die if you move to another world/series without moving your circle of doubles around as well, but if you have a life to give then you're fine. I THINK that's how it works."
With respect to my esteemed colleague, I don't think this can be right. At least not if, as I understand, she is referring to Christopher's life which Millie initially used to travel to Series Twelve. I don't see how that life could have been used to fix Millie in Series Twelve when Christopher got that life back shortly after; there would still be a sort of void of missing life-essence in Series Ten in that case.
However, it occurs to me that maybe she's talking about Christopher's life that's in Millie's wedding ring? In which case Millie would not be living on her own life, as it were, but a borrowed one of Christopher's. I'm pretty sure I've seen this theory elsewhere, and it makes a certain amount of sense. However, it still doesn't explain how Mordecai was able to spend his life in Series Twelve--and also, Conrad had to go back to Series Seven after six years, and more time than that passed between the time Millie arrived in Series Twelve and the time she married Christopher.
(I must also admit to personal--one might even say partisan--reasons for disliking this theory; as someone who ships Christopher/Conrad as well as Christopher/Millie this seems too much like Christopher choosing Millie over Conrad for my tastes. I touched on some of these issues, as well as Christopher's left-and-leaving problem, in my story Worlds Enough, and Time.)
Another theory, advanced by sesame_seed in her story La Familia, is that being outside her own Series does in fact have a negative effect on Millie, and she eventually solves this problem by going on occasional trips to Series Ten. Again, my problem with this is twofold: If occasional trips to one's native Series are enough to deal with the problems caused by being displaced from it, why can't this work for Conrad? And since even brief trips to Eleven are likely to prove fatal for Mordecai, how does he manage?
In the Chrestomanci books, we do see one instance of someone intentionally fixing herself in place in a world other than the one she was born in. Gwendolen does this by arranging for someone else to take her place (and since we are dealing with people with only one life here, it causes a chain reaction, dragging nine people out of their native worlds and permanently fixing them in different ones.) It's as if taking a life out of one world creates a gap that can only be filled by another life--and this, I will argue, is what Christopher and Gabriel do with Mordecai and Millie respectively in The Lives of Christopher Chant.
In the book, Millie says to Mordecai that he is like herself and Christopher--part of him is somewhere else. While he has lived most of his life in Series Twelve, his soul has remained in the Dright's keeping in Eleven--and this is why, I believe, he never had any trouble living outside his native series until that point. Later, Christopher buys his soul back--in exchange for one of his own lives, which remains, however briefly, in the Dright's keeping in Eleven. Similarly, when Mother Proudfoot comes to collect Millie's life (or a reasonable approximation) on behalf of Asheth, Gabriel gives her one of his own in exchange, which she takes back with her to Series Ten. It's this exchange of lives and souls, their own for ones that belong properly in Series Twelve, that enable Millie and Mordecai to remain in Series Twelve as permanent residents.
Obviously, this is the sort of magic you only do in life-or-death situations--maybe it's only possible in life-or-death situations. And that's why the option wasn't available for Conrad.
I've had this theory for a while, but this is the first time I've written in all up like this, as opposed to obliquely alluding to it in fic. It's . . . certainly long, isn't it. If you have gotten this far, I salute you.
Over on tumblr, inerasabledreams asked: "I'm a little confused, in "Conrad's Fate," Gabriel de Witt said that is not possible for a person living in another series, but Millie (Series 10) lives with Christopher in Series 12 ... Someone could explain?"
I'm glad you asked, inerasabledreams! (You asked the fuckyeahchrestomanci blog and not me, but that was an understandable oversight.) This is indeed one of the most vexed questions in Chrestomanci canon, and it's complicated by the fact that Mordecai Roberts, aka Tacroy, also spends most of his life in Series Twelve while being a native of Eleven (Not a Series).
I should start this off with a disclaimer that the question was never resolved in the books, and now never will be; I have reasons to prefer my own theory and will elucidate them below, but ultimately it's just a theory and no more canon than any other.
That being said, over on the fuckyeahchrestomanci blog, elanchana gave the following answer: "It's because Millie used one of Christopher's lives as an anchor. Presumably you die if you move to another world/series without moving your circle of doubles around as well, but if you have a life to give then you're fine. I THINK that's how it works."
With respect to my esteemed colleague, I don't think this can be right. At least not if, as I understand, she is referring to Christopher's life which Millie initially used to travel to Series Twelve. I don't see how that life could have been used to fix Millie in Series Twelve when Christopher got that life back shortly after; there would still be a sort of void of missing life-essence in Series Ten in that case.
However, it occurs to me that maybe she's talking about Christopher's life that's in Millie's wedding ring? In which case Millie would not be living on her own life, as it were, but a borrowed one of Christopher's. I'm pretty sure I've seen this theory elsewhere, and it makes a certain amount of sense. However, it still doesn't explain how Mordecai was able to spend his life in Series Twelve--and also, Conrad had to go back to Series Seven after six years, and more time than that passed between the time Millie arrived in Series Twelve and the time she married Christopher.
(I must also admit to personal--one might even say partisan--reasons for disliking this theory; as someone who ships Christopher/Conrad as well as Christopher/Millie this seems too much like Christopher choosing Millie over Conrad for my tastes. I touched on some of these issues, as well as Christopher's left-and-leaving problem, in my story Worlds Enough, and Time.)
Another theory, advanced by sesame_seed in her story La Familia, is that being outside her own Series does in fact have a negative effect on Millie, and she eventually solves this problem by going on occasional trips to Series Ten. Again, my problem with this is twofold: If occasional trips to one's native Series are enough to deal with the problems caused by being displaced from it, why can't this work for Conrad? And since even brief trips to Eleven are likely to prove fatal for Mordecai, how does he manage?
In the Chrestomanci books, we do see one instance of someone intentionally fixing herself in place in a world other than the one she was born in. Gwendolen does this by arranging for someone else to take her place (and since we are dealing with people with only one life here, it causes a chain reaction, dragging nine people out of their native worlds and permanently fixing them in different ones.) It's as if taking a life out of one world creates a gap that can only be filled by another life--and this, I will argue, is what Christopher and Gabriel do with Mordecai and Millie respectively in The Lives of Christopher Chant.
In the book, Millie says to Mordecai that he is like herself and Christopher--part of him is somewhere else. While he has lived most of his life in Series Twelve, his soul has remained in the Dright's keeping in Eleven--and this is why, I believe, he never had any trouble living outside his native series until that point. Later, Christopher buys his soul back--in exchange for one of his own lives, which remains, however briefly, in the Dright's keeping in Eleven. Similarly, when Mother Proudfoot comes to collect Millie's life (or a reasonable approximation) on behalf of Asheth, Gabriel gives her one of his own in exchange, which she takes back with her to Series Ten. It's this exchange of lives and souls, their own for ones that belong properly in Series Twelve, that enable Millie and Mordecai to remain in Series Twelve as permanent residents.
Obviously, this is the sort of magic you only do in life-or-death situations--maybe it's only possible in life-or-death situations. And that's why the option wasn't available for Conrad.
I've had this theory for a while, but this is the first time I've written in all up like this, as opposed to obliquely alluding to it in fic. It's . . . certainly long, isn't it. If you have gotten this far, I salute you.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-10 12:03 am (UTC)That's pretty much how I've always seen it, actually--lives as currency to get a person across a Series, and inter-Series transfers require switching alternates out, like Gwendolen does. Since Gabriel and Christopher's lives are still existing in Series Ten and Eleven in place of Millie and Mordecai, the balance is even (but, that being said, "La Familia" squee! It is without a doubt one of my favorite Charmed Life-era fics in the fandom.)
My biggest "huh?" moment with the series is (and it is absolutely possible this is explained at some point, and I've just missed it): So, if you have no alternates in a Series, you're automatically a nine-lived enchanter--but what if you only have two, or three alternates? Is that correlated with the amount of magic one has? I ask because I've always found Millie and Conrad's alternates fascinating, since their adventures are pretty singular, and I've always wondered how their alternates turned out. Particularly Millie--is she taken to be the Goddess in every world? Is there a world where she isn't, or where Mother Proudfoot is not as generous with the incarnations of Asheth? (And of course, this is all assuming Series Ten and Seven even have separate worlds--Eleven explicitly does not, IIRC.)
And of course, Millie only existing in Christopher's world in Series Twelve begs the question of how Julia and Roger are not nine-lived enchanters* by default. I can fudge nine-lived enchantership not being hereditary because the non-nine-lived spouse might balance things out; but how can you have two parents who only exist in one world, and have their children have alternates in every other world?
*Unless they are and this is something else I am forgetting outright.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-10 02:38 am (UTC)I think it is canon that all the Series except Eleven are in fact Series. And that Julia and Roger are only witches and not enchanters.
There's a sort of allusion in Lives of Christopher Chant to people with somewhere between one and nine lives, I think? But it's never picked up again.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-10 03:14 am (UTC)(Re: your first hypothetical, have you read Kate Elliot's Spiritwalker trilogy? If not, it's not a major deal, but there's a worldbuilding detail concerning minor characters that makes that scenario all the more hilarious.)
Oh thank goodness that confuses other people, too, I thought it was just me or that I was very confused. But yes, that's just a plot point that just...sits on the mantelpiece, basically. I think my fingers-in-ears compromise is that alt!Millies exist, and alt!Roger and alt!Julia are the children of her and whoever she marries on alt!Series Ten, and Chrestomanci's luck being what is is, of course Christopher somehow ends up having to interact with them and being very weirded out by his not!children, and this is threatening to become a plot bunny I will desperately have to ignore, thanks a lot! :D
no subject
Date: 2013-04-10 01:55 pm (UTC)I am never sorry to enable Chrestomanci fic, I'm afraid. My own thoughts along these lines have been more that perhaps I should introduce Christopher to Cornelius Chant and/or Ophelia Argent (and possibly Ophelia's unnamed brother) from my history of the Chants of 12B. (I think Ralph and alt!Ralph have probably already met, and helped each other out in their respective smuggling enterprises, even though Ralph's was an evil one and alt!Ralph's was a good one.)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-10 09:38 pm (UTC)Is this the Hogwarts fusion AU? Because if so, YES, yes, you absolutely should! I still remember reading that one for the first time with absolute delight once I realized where it was going and who everyone was and how perfectly it all fit into both JKR and DWJ's worlds. Not to mention that anything with the Argents is fascinating, particularly "A History..."'s much more antiheroic versions (at least they are in my head--alt!Ralph Argent might be a hero in the war with Grindelwald, but he's still Ralph Argent. And Ophelia/Miranda is never going to be a well-behaved woman in any world, I'm afraid.)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-11 09:09 am (UTC)