Because You Asked: Shapeshifters.
Sep. 3rd, 2011 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireNow we come to the fourth in my promised series of five posts about the background and construction of Toby's world, all those little things you might not learn from the main series. The current question is from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
faithfulcynic, who asks:
"How common is shape-shifting in Faerie? It's been awhile since I've read all the books but I think the only real shapeshifter was an assasin in Rosemary and Rue. Otherwise we have characters like Luna who borrowed someone's shape and Toby who was turned into a fish (and also alters her appearance in the last book) Is shapechanging something everyone can do?"
Shapeshifting isn't something that everyone can do, and is mostly restricted to Maeve's descendants, although you do get shapeshifters descended from Titania; they're just rarer. (Titania's descendants tend to be more skilled illusionists, so there's a trade-off.) It's actually one of the more common powers in Faerie.
There are two kinds of voluntary transformation in Toby's world. Shapeshifting, transforming yourself into something else through your innate power, and skinshifting, using a bond with an item to transform into the indicated form. Shapeshifting is not always dramatic. The Luidaeg is a shapeshifter; she just changes her appearance, usually in relatively subtle ways. She is not an illusionist at all—when she dons a human disguise, she does it by actually transforming the shape of her face.
Most shapeshifters can less malleable, and can turn into one or more distinct forms. Cait Sidhe become cats. Cu Sidhe become dogs. Phouka become horses, or big black dogs that you don't want to meet in dark allies, no really. Roane become seals. (Selkies pull the same trick, but do it through skinshifting, which is a different matter.) Even Piskies are considered a form of shapeshifter, since they can dramatically change their size, going from human-size to pixie-size.
The Piskie-type of shapeshifter—the ones who modify their bodies, but not their overall shapes—are more common in the Undersea, where almost all the denizens can become bipedal, if not fully humanoid. Merrow look very much like Daoine Sidhe in their bipedal forms, and can even be confused with them, when they dress themselves correctly. (The Merrow are pretty much in charge in most of the Undersea, because they can go on land and argue with the air-breathers.)
Even Undine, like Lily, are shapeshifters; she was actually a body of water that could turn itself into a person for short periods of time. April can be viewed as a shapeshifter, since she's made of light, and can transform herself, within reasonable limits, to match whatever she thinks she should look like.
So, the short answer: there are lots, and lots, and lots of shapeshifters in Faerie. It's a very common form of magic, and if there doesn't seem to be much in the books, it's because it's so common that no one really remarks on it most of the time.
Make sense?
faithfulcynic, who asks:"How common is shape-shifting in Faerie? It's been awhile since I've read all the books but I think the only real shapeshifter was an assasin in Rosemary and Rue. Otherwise we have characters like Luna who borrowed someone's shape and Toby who was turned into a fish (and also alters her appearance in the last book) Is shapechanging something everyone can do?"
Shapeshifting isn't something that everyone can do, and is mostly restricted to Maeve's descendants, although you do get shapeshifters descended from Titania; they're just rarer. (Titania's descendants tend to be more skilled illusionists, so there's a trade-off.) It's actually one of the more common powers in Faerie.
There are two kinds of voluntary transformation in Toby's world. Shapeshifting, transforming yourself into something else through your innate power, and skinshifting, using a bond with an item to transform into the indicated form. Shapeshifting is not always dramatic. The Luidaeg is a shapeshifter; she just changes her appearance, usually in relatively subtle ways. She is not an illusionist at all—when she dons a human disguise, she does it by actually transforming the shape of her face.
Most shapeshifters can less malleable, and can turn into one or more distinct forms. Cait Sidhe become cats. Cu Sidhe become dogs. Phouka become horses, or big black dogs that you don't want to meet in dark allies, no really. Roane become seals. (Selkies pull the same trick, but do it through skinshifting, which is a different matter.) Even Piskies are considered a form of shapeshifter, since they can dramatically change their size, going from human-size to pixie-size.
The Piskie-type of shapeshifter—the ones who modify their bodies, but not their overall shapes—are more common in the Undersea, where almost all the denizens can become bipedal, if not fully humanoid. Merrow look very much like Daoine Sidhe in their bipedal forms, and can even be confused with them, when they dress themselves correctly. (The Merrow are pretty much in charge in most of the Undersea, because they can go on land and argue with the air-breathers.)
Even Undine, like Lily, are shapeshifters; she was actually a body of water that could turn itself into a person for short periods of time. April can be viewed as a shapeshifter, since she's made of light, and can transform herself, within reasonable limits, to match whatever she thinks she should look like.
So, the short answer: there are lots, and lots, and lots of shapeshifters in Faerie. It's a very common form of magic, and if there doesn't seem to be much in the books, it's because it's so common that no one really remarks on it most of the time.
Make sense?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2011-09-03 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-09-03 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-03 08:45 pm (UTC)Or are illusions just mental and a camera picture would show the real thing?
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Date: 2011-09-03 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-09-03 11:05 pm (UTC)I'm secretly glad there are dog shape shifters. Don't get me wrong, I adore Tybalt and his people, but I'm a dog person. /nerd
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Date: 2011-09-04 04:34 am (UTC)Just thought you'd like to know. :)
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Date: 2011-09-04 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-09-04 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 05:00 pm (UTC)Book seven.
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Date: 2011-09-04 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 11:57 pm (UTC)