AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 Did anybody else notice the suspicious little blurb about Prof's dislike of contests? Before Calamity, he even refused to put a quarter in a slot machine. I wonder if this could be a clue... 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 I mentioned in the other topic I think his weakness is failure, or sense of failure. Tia mentioned it, and if you over think the end, he looked frightened when he "failed" to kill David and retreated 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 Interesting. That could definitely go hand-in-hand with his dislike of contests... especially in something like a slot machine, where he's likely to fail more often than not. That could also make for an interesting moment of truth for him in his redemption (or failure therein) - having to decide to deliberately fail in order to face his fear. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 That is a fascinating possibility. That said I cannot help but suspect it is related to Tia somehow. If Tia being threatened is not his weakness, she is dead within the next two hours after the events of Firefight as she is probably the only person that can stop him killing every Reckoner everywhere. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 And that is a terrifying possibility... Though it seems like an eventuality that they would've prepped for. Either way, I suspect that Calamity will start out much faster-paced than either of the first two books did, jumping right into the action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 And that is a terrifying possibility... Though it seems like an eventuality that they would've prepped for. Either way, I suspect that Calamity will start out much faster-paced than either of the first two books did, jumping right into the action. Firefight didn't exactly start slowly, it was all action until someone drank the Kool-Aid. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Ha! Nice. Yes, both started with an action-packed Epic takedown, but it both cases it was there pretty much to kickstart the action, rather than having a proud impact on the rest of the book. I feel like Calamity can forgo this kind of hook, since we already have three High Epics that need to be dealt with, right from the get-go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Ha! Nice. Yes, both started with an action-packed Epic takedown, but it both cases it was there pretty much to kickstart the action, rather than having a proud impact on the rest of the book. I feel like Calamity can forgo this kind of hook, since we already have three High Epics that need to be dealt with, right from the get-go. Hmm... who's the third? I'm counting Phaedrus and Obliteration, but I'm not sure who the third High Epic you're talking about is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Calamity himself, assuming that he is indeed a High Epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Yeah I'm pretty sure Calamity is a high epic. Damnation, I keep going to type 'calamnity' with an n for some reason. Blood and bloody storming language. Edited January 9, 2015 by Andrew C 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Yeah I'm pretty sure Calamity is a high epic. He's not just a high epic, he's Major Tom from David Bowie's Space Oddity. Think about it, "For here am I floating round my tin can, far above the moon, planet earth is blue and there's nothing I can do." He's succumbing to the epic effect. In fact, that's probably why the launch goes haywire in the firstplace. That's also why he was lifting off and is in space now. It makes perfect sense! As such, his weakness will be the song Major Tom (Coming Home) by Peter Schilling. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Does that make Tia Ground Control? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Does that make Tia Ground Control? No, but it does explain why he had Obliteration destroy Houston 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 I came to this thread to tell you all we don't know anything about Prof's weakness. But... failure kind of makes sense. I think it's a little too generic and a little inconsistent to work without a qualifier of some sorts (e.g. failure to do something), because failure itself is such a broad term. I mean, what if Prof trips when walking down the street - is that a failure to walk? Would it trigger his weakness? Or when he stubs his toe (because let's face it, even Epics are not immune to stubbed toes)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 The theory I'm going by now is that Prof's weakness is failing to do something that he has deliberately chosen to do. So walking down the street, etc, things that he does by instinct wouldn't set of his "contest" trigger, but making an actual decision to do something would. This also is lent some credence by the fact that he always takes so long to make his plans concrete, and had lots of open ends in them. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgedancer Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Failing to kill David didn´t set off his weakness, so that probably isn´t it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyeel Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) I kinda disagree that it is simply failure. He fought for an extended time against Steelheart with the entire plan failing around him in the first book. If failure was his weakness wouldn't that have negated his ability to heal himself, thus killing him? It could still be failure, but I think it would have to be a very specific failure. Edited January 9, 2015 by skyeel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Actually, yes. I now doubt it's failure. He floated away on his force fields after failing to kill David - so his weakness wasn't engaged. I'll need to take another look at his behavior in Steelheart, as well as what else he could be afraid of that's related to gambling and contests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Maybe he's like Mr.Krabs, and his weakness is paying money for stuff? After all, we've never seen prof use his powers while buying anything, have we? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galavantes Posted January 9, 2015 Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 We've also never seen him use his powers while he's not using his powers. Maybe not using his powers is his weakness. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewStirlingMacDonald Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Maybe it works like Steelheart's weakness - that is to say, only a certain kind of person can negate his powers. In Prof's case, that would mean that a person who he'd failed to beat in some kind of contest could defeat him. So, when he failed to kill David, he actually was vulnerable to David killing him. He wasn't vulnerable to Megan because he hadn't really entered into a contest with her, in his mind. He probably was afraid to do so without knowing exactly how her powers work (and rightfully so, it seems like she could effectively block most Epic's powers by employing her heart little universe switcheroo power), so he fled rather than risk actually challenging her and failing. This makes him quite formidable: As long as he keeps fighting, he cannot be defeated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 I like all these theories, but here is another one to chew on. Perhaps his weakness is related to his class of children. Then again, I imagine that when Prof first got his powers, he may have just killed them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angsos Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 His weakness or rather a weakness could be Tia. After all, even before Megan came to the light side of the force, she couldn't kill David and even protected him on several occasions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 His weakness or rather a weakness could be Tia. After all, even before Megan came to the light side of the force, she couldn't kill David and even protected him on several occasions. "Oh hell, the secret is the power of love. I'm going to be sick." 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgedancer Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 His weakness or rather a weakness could be Tia. After all, even before Megan came to the light side of the force, she couldn't kill David and even protected him on several occasions. So you´re proposing that Prof is deadly afraid of Tia, has nightmares about her and in all the time since he´s working with her never confronted said fear? Anyway, Megan is not exactly the best example of Epic behaviour, given that she barely used her. Just look at the difference between Prof the man that faced down Steelheart with a handicap and Phaedrus that instantly ran away, when faced with someone he couldn´t just slaughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts