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On page 179 of Firefight, Tia mentions that Sourcefield was poisoned as a little girl, not with cool-aid, but with a generic juice drink. Sourcefield was still weakened by the kool-aid. So my question is will an Epic be weakened if they're confronted by what they believe is their weakness?

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On page 179 of Firefight, Tia mentions that Sourcefield was poisoned as a little girl, not with cool-aid, but with a generic juice drink. Sourcefield was still weakened by the kool-aid. So my question is will an Epic be weakened if they're confronted by what they believe is their weakness?

Both times Steelheart was wounded he didn't know his weakness was about to activate, it seems to be based off of some objective standard rather than the Epics perception.

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I think Kool-Aid and the bargain brand stuff are similar enough to remind her of the event. Kind of like how compliments were enough to remind Newton of what she feared, or how having someone say "You're better than this" was enough to remind Steelheart of someone who stood up to him (which may or may not have actually happened).

On the other hand, Mitosis was brought down by his own music. I have no idea what would have happened had the song they used simply been in the same genre, but the fear was much more specific for him.

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I think Kool-Aid and the bargain brand stuff are similar enough to remind her of the event. Kind of like how compliments were enough to remind Newton of what she feared, or how having someone say "You're better than this" was enough to remind Steelheart of someone who stood up to him (which may or may not have actually happened).

On the other hand, Mitosis was brought down by his own music. I have no idea what would have happened had the song they used simply been in the same genre, but the fear was much more specific for him.

 

I agree. Fortuity's powers were weakened by all women he was attracted to, not just the one who initially humiliated him, an attractive woman publicly ridiculing him would have completely negated his powers. (That was the answer to someone's question at a book signing, I think I found it in the thread on Prof's weakness.) 

 

For Sourcefield it seemed to be the taste of Kool-Aid--to her mind, the taste of death--that truly negated her powers. The taste and appearance of Kool-Aid and the generic stuff are almost the same, especially after years of being to scared to taste them.

 

Steelheart was a schoolyard bully before Calamity. Many such are people who have been hurt badly in the past and later tried to prevent it from happening again on the rational of "If someone is scared of me, they won't try to hurt me. If everyone is scared of me, nobody can ever hurt me again." So, the only people he would have feared before Calamity would have been those with enough power to not be even slightly intimidated by him--thus his distrust of authority, as seen in his conspiracy-theorist activities.

 

As for Mitosis, well, maybe he was humiliated by a lot of bad reviews about his music, to the point of cringing every time he listened to it and deciding  to just give up on music, quit his band.

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I agree. Fortuity's powers were weakened by all women he was attracted to, not just the one who initially humiliated him, an attractive woman publicly ridiculing him would have completely negated his powers. (That was the answer to someone's question at a book signing, I think I found it in the thread on Prof's weakness.)

For Sourcefield it seemed to be the taste of Kool-Aid--to her mind, the taste of death--that truly negated her powers. The taste and appearance of Kool-Aid and the generic stuff are almost the same, especially after years of being to scared to taste them.

Steelheart was a schoolyard bully before Calamity. Many such are people who have been hurt badly in the past and later tried to prevent it from happening again on the rational of "If someone is scared of me, they won't try to hurt me. If everyone is scared of me, nobody can ever hurt me again." So, the only people he would have feared before Calamity would have been those with enough power to not be even slightly intimidated by him--thus his distrust of authority, as seen in his conspiracy-theorist activities.

As for Mitosis, well, maybe he was humiliated by a lot of bad reviews about his music, to the point of cringing every time he listened to it and deciding to just give up on music, quit his band.

Those are all very human connections, too. A guy who had been publicly humiliated by a woman wouldn't just be a bit nervous around her; he'd be nervous around all women. A girl who was poisoned by Kool-Aid wouldn't spit out the Kool-Aid but drink the generic stuff; she'd spit it all out and probably never visit that host again. And, as you pointed out, a schoolyard bully wouldn't just be wary of the one kid who stood up to him; he'd be wary of anyone who didn't cower when he came into view.

Fear doesn't discriminate. It compels people to avoid things it sees as a threat--and when it comes to deeper fears, it's like one of those overzealous security systems that sets off an alarm when a stray cat gets too close.

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Those are all very human connections, too. A guy who had been publicly humiliated by a woman wouldn't just be a bit nervous around her; he'd be nervous around all women. A girl who was poisoned by Kool-Aid wouldn't spit out the Kool-Aid but drink the generic stuff; she'd spit it all out and probably never visit that host again. And, as you pointed out, a schoolyard bully wouldn't just be wary of the one kid who stood up to him; he'd be wary of anyone who didn't cower when he came into view.

Fear doesn't discriminate. It compels people to avoid things it sees as a threat--and when it comes to deeper fears, it's like one of those overzealous security systems that sets off an alarm when a stray cat gets too close.

That is an awesome metaphor! I'm writing that one down :P

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Fear is like a matter manipulator who turns all of her enemy's guns into pancakes—then transforms their bullets, shoes, paperwork and "Dilbert-strip-a-day" calendars into butter and maple syrup, just in case? :P

Much better. :D

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Fear doesn't discriminate. It compels people to avoid things it sees as a threat--and when it comes to deeper fears, it's like one of those overzealous security systems that sets off an alarm when a stray cat gets too close.

 

 

That is an awesome metaphor! I'm writing that one down :P

 

Actually, it was a simile ;)

 

Edit: About weaknesses, I'm pretty sure the weakness would get stronger the closer the stimulus came to the root fear. So kool-aid would work, but generic fruit juice would probably be better.

Edited by Darkness
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