Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Process of Bewitchment

Jo Walton describes the process by which one person can bewitch another, gradually, over time. 

“They buy his clothes. They buy his shoes. They buy him glasses and whisky. They own the house and the furniture. He wants to drink the whisky, and the chair wants that and the glass, and of course nothing could be easier than making him drink so much he can’t get up to drive me to the station…Probably over the years they’ve done more and more little things, not meant to hurt him, but never letting him go, binding him up in spider-strands of magic so that he stays, does what they want, he has no will. It would take something very strong to get through that.”
-- Mori, describing how her aunts have bewitched her father (p. 182, Among Others)

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