Re: Troll illumination

From: boztakang <daniel.mccluskey_at_F3QfJmpEOmEFuNIcMb9E9DXpI8VS2XVt7TV79XBsUeNlRyLhDBEA6w77yI->
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:13:32 -0000

I believe that Sandy Peterson has mentioned on the digest at some point that troll illumination is relatively common, but in this rare case, i think he was probably (at least partially) incorrect.

I'm pretty strongly of the opinion that trolls cannot be "illuminated" in the sense that humans are. Their brains are different than ours, and IMO not susceptible to the full impact of illumination as we understand it (both for good and bad) I think that some of the insights of illumination are blindingly obvious to all trolls, and others are utterly incomprehensible to them at a [biological/fundamental mythical] level.

The best published example i think is Mistress the Last in Dorastor, who clearly has no shortage of opportunities for illumination, yet is still firmly bound by her promises to Kyger Litor in a very non-illuminated sort of way.

I'm afraid I still don't understand Arkat well enough to make any sort of strong judgement from his case. My gut feeling is that part of his motivation to become a troll was to gain resistance to Nysalor's more dangerous ideas, which could be seen as a hiatus in illumination, possibly, but I can't say I know of any solid evidence to support me.

Also note that my opinions are based on the outlook of trolls from a Dagori Inarth/Halakiv background... I've not spent a lot of time thinking about the Blue Moon trolls, for whom illumination/sevening might be most relevant.            

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