In the second half of the sixth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone<\/i>, Nita has an epiphany. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I just got super excited over a scene that is literally expository research. Nita eats bananas and reads a book and it is THE MOST THRILLING THING IMAGINABLE. Props to Diane Duane for making this feel so huge! And honestly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how she kept this information from us that matters. We got to experience Darryl in two very unique and important scenes. Instead of telling us he was a Pillar upfront, the mystery unfolded in a way that felt organic.<\/p>\n
I figure that Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s growing theory \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153worlds\u00e2\u20ac\u009d appear to outsiders based on their own preconceived notions of him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is part of the reason this works so well. Kit approached Darryl in ignorance. He had no idea what he was getting into, and I mean that in multiple ways. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know why Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal was taking so long; he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what it would be like dealing with an autistic wizard; he had no clue what he would encounter once Ponch \u00e2\u20ac\u0153found\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Darryl. Yes, Kit did research, and he tried to understand what he might have to cope with, and yet, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not always enough.<\/p>\n
Again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m operating under the theory that Nita comes up with here, so I could be completely off-base. But the pieces all seem to be there! As Nita puts it:<\/p>\n
Unless it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>know\u00c2\u00a0that the person trying to contact me was an autistic. So maybe I got something that was more like Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own ideas about himself<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 just translated into my own idiom. Whereas Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s known from the beginning that Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an autistic, and so maybe he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been projecting his own ideas about that onto what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been happening.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That explains why Kit and Nita had such drastically different experiences with Nita, though I suspect there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an\u00c2\u00a0additional<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0reason for that, which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still uncertain what the intentions were of the Powers in all this and why they needed wizards to deal with Darryl. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they\u00c2\u00a0know<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0why Darryl has been purposely delaying completion of his Ordeal? Or was that discovery by Kit and Nita just as important? Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m jumping ahead of myself here because I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even reacted to the reveal of what kind of wizard Darryl is. First, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even\u00c2\u00a0know<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0there could be different kinds of wizards beyond the hierarchal structure we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen in wizards like Tom, Carl, S\u00e2\u20ac\u2122reee, and others. But it makes sense! There should be wizards who fight entropy in ways that are non-traditional. Thus, Pillars: wizards whose strength is so immense that they are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pillars\u00e2\u20ac\u009d against the assaults of evil.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping that the text doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fall into the stereotype that black people can withstand more pain than anyone else, which is totally a thing. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening here, but I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know a LOT about this character or how this is going to work. The idea that Darryl must suffer attacks from the Lone One for the rest of his life just seems cruel to me, but I also admit that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand how being a Pillar works in the long run. Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge problem with all of this that I see no solution to:<\/p>\n
Darryl can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Pillar<\/i>. His innocence is what makes him so powerful, so incorruptible. Knowing what he is will not just make him \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ineffective,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll DIE. This kinda makes me want to punch the Powers in the face because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve stacked the deck so horrifically against this kid, and he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know how badly they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done so because HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122LL DIE. Right now, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see a way out of this, but I trust Duane. \u00c2\u00a0At this point, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taken me on so many uncomfortable journeys that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m willing to see this one out, too. Hell, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just\u00c2\u00a0excited<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that we know what Darryl is. I just want to know what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna mean for him.<\/p>\n
vid<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the second half of the sixth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone, Nita has an epiphany. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[523,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-wizard-alone","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}