There's been some thinking about souls on the list lately, an it got me to wondering about the LBQ. It's supposed to be able to bring "anyone back from Hell." But what about folks that aren't in hell? We know that Sheng being in a Lunar hell, he was near-impossible for the Gods to extract.
What about other dead people who aren't in hell? Wyters? Ancestors?
We know (or at least think we know) that, over time, the dead lose their individuality, and eventually are reincarnated largely without any memory of their past lives. Can a LBQ bring someone back who was partially along this path? And what are they like when they get back?
One theory would be that the only folks a LBQ gets back are those trapped in a hell or the recently dead. Of the historical LBQ's, we don't know much about the status of the subjects of them. Anyone know if Arkat was simply killed, or was he intentionally trapped in hell?
One MGF thought on all of the above is that the magic of the LBQ is that it doesn't always bring back the person you went after. Sometimes it might create a new entity based on the questor's expectations, or in the case of one on the course of losing their individuality, reshapes them in the form the questor anticipates (or fears). Arkat's ready adoption of Orlanthi ways after Harmast's rescue of him might be an example of that. And do we know if Talor was laughing before Harmast went looking for an anti-Arkat?
And on another note, we know that CA resurrection is sort of a lesser version of the LBQ. Do we know what the rituals and myths behind resurrection is in other cultures that have that power? I'd be very curious to know how it comes out from a Yelmic perspective.
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