Because You Asked: Shapeshifters.: seanan

Because You Asked: Shapeshifters.

Now 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

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

September 3 2011, 19:53:55 UTC 5 years ago

New comment

Yep :) Thanks :)

seanan_mcguire

September 3 2011, 20:07:09 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

omnia_mutantur

September 3 2011, 20:19:15 UTC 5 years ago

in dark allies is my favorite typo ever.

September 4 2011, 16:27:08 UTC 5 years ago

Heh.

catsittingstill

September 3 2011, 20:45:28 UTC 5 years ago

Wait--April is basically a shapeshifter in that she's made of the stuff illusions are made of which is to say, light. Right?

Or are illusions just mental and a camera picture would show the real thing?

aliciaaudrey

September 3 2011, 22:49:16 UTC 5 years ago

Now I want to know if you can take a picture of April.

September 4 2011, 00:37:01 UTC 5 years ago

April renders a picture for you if you ask nicely.

September 4 2011, 16:28:13 UTC 5 years ago

April is both made of light, and a tree. But she can make a body for herself, capable of interacting with and manipulating the "real" world. She's sort of an arguable edge case between illusions and transformation. Watching her sorted in a court of supernatural law would be fascinating.

dragonsblog

September 3 2011, 23:05:39 UTC 5 years ago

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

September 4 2011, 16:28:22 UTC 5 years ago

gwen_ivere

September 4 2011, 01:32:32 UTC 5 years ago

I recommended your October Daye series to a bunch of customers today and told them to make sure to check out the new booking coming out on Tuesday :)

September 4 2011, 16:28:32 UTC 5 years ago

Awesome!

alicetheowl

September 4 2011, 04:34:16 UTC 5 years ago

Apropos of nothing, your name just came up on the

bookish community. They're discussing writers writing for opposite-gendered characters, and you were listed as a good example.

Just thought you'd like to know. :)

September 4 2011, 16:59:03 UTC 5 years ago

Oh, cool.

charlietinpants

September 4 2011, 04:59:06 UTC 5 years ago

So how does the issue of clothes work? When Tybalt shifts, he appears with clothes on (though i think many of us (Toby included, would go mmmmm if he appeared without a stitch of clothing on). I'm assuming his clothing isn't an illusion, and what he wears post-shift is what he was wearing pre-shift. do the clothes go into some pocket of reality until they're needed again? or is it a matter of power and he can basically decide to shift into clothes or not?

September 4 2011, 16:59:40 UTC 5 years ago

Depends on the shifter. Most of them can transform their clothes with them, when they decide that they want to. With the caveat that if you're clothed, change forms, and decide to reappear naked, your clothes are lost.