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r/Fablehaven•
IvGotSomthinToSay

On Seth, dragons, and magical fear - Dragonwatch departs from Fablehaven lore

Ok, so I had lent out my copy of the most recent book forever ago and just got it back. I’ve commented on this issue before, but now that I have my book back I wanted to look up a few passages to share. Edit: I’m pulling direct quotes from two books, so spoiler warnings obviously apply.

From Dragonwatch: Wrath of the Dragon King, chapter 1 “Old Friends”:

Seth had requested a chance to test his ability to resist dragon fear...

His muscles would not budge... He was a dragon tamer while holding Kendra’s hand. But now he was speechless and immovable...

What made all of this even more humiliating was that this encounter was staged! Seth knew the dragon was a friend and meant him no harm. There was no rational reason to fear. Why couldn’t his intellect overpower his instincts? Was he really this spineless? ...

“Sure, I was frozen,” Seth admitted, “but I wasn’t afraid.”

“Your mind was free?” Marat asked. “That is something.”

Compare all of that to the following excerpts from Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, chapter 19, “Dragon Tamer”:

Kendra could not move. She wanted to reply, but her jaw felt glued shut...

Seth was no longer aware of Kendra beside him. He was unafraid, his muscles felt no paralysis, but he found himself utterly fascinated... He lost all sense of urgency beneath the mesmerizing gaze...

His head was swimming... He took her hand. All of a sudden, cold clarity rushed through Seth’s mind.”

And then from the same book, chapter 20 “Griffins”:

Did you two know that holding hands would make you dragon tamers?” Gavin asked.

Seth shook his head. “No, but it kind of makes sense. I’ve been thinking about it. At Fablehaven, when Ephira was attacking us, as long as I touched Warren, he shared my immunity to fear.”

“When I faced the dragon, my mind was clear,” Kendra recounted, “but I couldn’t make my mouth move. I was paralyzed...

“And I wasn’t scared or frozen,” Seth said, “but the dragon had me mesmerized. I couldn’t think.

Dragon Sanctuary also refers to it generally as “dragon terror,” which is inclusive of both the paralyzing fear, and the mind-numbing mesmerization.

Seth has immunity to all magical fear, including the magical fear from dragon terror. What he doesn’t have is discipline, focus, and clarity to keep his mind engaged against magical mind distractors. In the Dragonwatch quotes, Seth does say “I was’t afraid,” but the context is more that he’s being childish and not wanting to admit to being afraid, rather than explaining that there was no magical fear that could touch him. And the rest of the descriptions are completely opposite to the Fablehaven passages, particularly being paralyzed from magical fear, but his mind being lucid to be annoyed at his own “spinelessness.”

The Dragonwatch departures from lore on this are a really big deal to me, as they’re so totally fundamental to Seth’s entire character for all of the original series, to the point that it almost makes me wonder whether Brandon Mull even wrote the whole book himself. It’s like whoever wrote Dragonwatch doesn’t even know Seth’s character.

Posted Apr 7, 2019, 2:32 PM UTC · edited

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[deleted]•

Yep. Totally agree - there's actually been several posts on the sub about this.

My impression is that he thought that Kendra and Seth as written in the first series were too powerful for the story he wanted to tell with Dragonwatch.

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IvGotSomthinToSayOP•

That’s possible, but seems silly. Yeah, they were powerful, but neither had unlocked their full suite of powers. The biggest power spike they experienced was with that crazy sword that they had to give back anyway. Not to mention that the baseline danger has escalated, since home base is now the dragon sanctuary with an angry dragon king. So I don’t think their abilities are in any way too much for the challenges they face.

I’ll keep reading the Dragonwatch books as they come out, but I hope he can return to the caliber I’m used to with his books for the next release. This book was at least a good set up for an interesting followup, if nothing else.

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NorskDaedalus•

I think Mull just got it backwards this time- functionally, nothing’s changed- Seth can’t act around dragons, as their mesmerism bypasses his fear immunity, but isn’t actually afraid of them.

The other alternative is that some dragons affect people differently- some use their terror to freeze the body, others the mind. Accordingly, some use their mind control to either prevent thinking and others focus on actions. We’ve only seen the effects of three dragons on the half-immune people, so it’s entirely possible that’s the case.

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Synthesiate•

Yeah it’s like at its base form it’s always the same,

Kendra is fairykind, so her mind is shielded from things like the mesmerization of dragon terror

Seth is a shadow charmer so his emotions are immune, like the paralyzing fear of dragons

Personally I think Mull just screwed it up when writing Seth’s part in dragonwatch. I think he should be able to act, like how he grabbed Kendra’s hand in “Secrets of the dragon sanctuary” out of instinct, but that when he’s alone with dragons he can’t think clearly and can’t do anything.

TL DR: Seth being paralyzed by the magical fear is bullshit, Brandon screwed up

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IvGotSomthinToSayOP•

Your TL;DR is a perfect summary. I was legit frustrated reading that part. And I agree that I think it was just a mistake. I really don’t think Mull was trying to change the way their powers worked or to make dragon terror work differently from one dragon to the next.

I think I’ll just have to pretend for myself that all of those passages instead talk about Seth needing to focus and discipline himself, instead of get over his fear.

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TheJupiterJukebox•

Dragonwatch threw Fablehaven logic out of the window because Dragonwatch didn’t care about Fablehaven logic.

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IvGotSomthinToSayOP•

Hey, no disagreement here! Care to expand any further? Or have you just finished reading book two and felt the same frustrations?

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KCCCellist•

Why does that tiny detail ruin the book for you????

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IvGotSomthinToSayOP•

ruin the book

I don’t think I said that anywhere in my post or replies. If I did say that somewhere, then allow me to set that to rest: the book is not ruined. I still enjoyed the book! But this is a significant lore matter that have been ignored from prior installments, and that makes the books less enjoyable than they could otherwise have been.

And with respect, this is not a “tiny detail.” This is fundamental to both Seth’s personality as well as his powers as a shadow charmer. So while I still loved the book, I’m not apologetic about this particular gripe.

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KCCCellist•

I don’t want to be a toxic redditor but why is this fundamental to his personality? I just think that Mull messed up.

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KCCCellist•

Honestly I don’t really care about this part because it’s a small screw up that doesn’t even matter and the rest of the series is a privilege to read. I think you’re making a big deal about it, and I think that “they’re so totally fundamental to his character” is a completely untrue statement. Also because of one little mistake to claim “it almost makes me wonder whether Brandon Mull even write the whole book himself. It’s like whoever wrote dragonwatch doesn’t even know Seth’s character.

....wut...that literally makes no sense. How does that affect his character

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IvGotSomthinToSayOP•

Hi! I responded to most of this already here, but I think this comment is a better place for continued discussion on these points.

To quote my other comment:

with respect, this is not a “tiny detail.” This is fundamental to both Seth’s personality as well as his powers as a shadow charmer. So while I still loved the book, I’m not apologetic about this particular gripe.

Seth has really cool powers as a shadow charmer. Those powers are developing and I’m excited to learn more about them. Among those powers, immunity to magical fear is a prominent one. I think this is particularly poignant because he “earned” his powers initially through his own personal courage in overcoming intense magical fear of his own personality and will. His powers were later formalized by the demon Graulas, but he basically overcame magical fear by himself. Regular fear and magical fear are the least of his deficiencies, and so the plot devices to develop his character in the latest book were way out of place.

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KCCCellist•

I don’t personally agree but I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree

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IvGotSomthinToSayOP•

Fair enough! These Seth lore issues definitely matter to me, but I do still like the book. The problem is that I want to love the book as I do his other books, but this kind of significant discrepancy pulls me out of the story every time it comes up. Anyway, happy reading to you!

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KCCCellist•

And to you as well. Also Master of the Phantom Isle book 3

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TheJupiterJukebox•

I just finished the 2nd book of Dragonwatch and I’ve noticed it a lot.

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