(urth) TWK: The Aelf dilemma

[James Wynn]

>If it is objected that the *quantity* of blood given on those two occasions
>was insufficient to confer humanity, then the entire concept begins to
>become absurd. Is a pint enough? A quart? Toug gave Baki a full drinking
>cup. It healed her, but didn't give her a soul. Why not, if blood is all it
>took?

I don't see why it should be absurd. However much it took. it was *nearly*
enough to kill Able. Able didn't know if it would require enough to kill
him, and didn't care if it did. If one assumes that actual *blood* is
required and not merely the *ritual* of the offering, then the quantity is
obviously important. Anyone who has baked a cake knows that quantities are
important for real recipes. A small person would probably not be able to
offer enough, and an average sized person could not survive having offered
enough. Reasonably the precise amount of blood required would depend on the
Aelf, but clearly it is so much that even if all humans knew that it could
be done (which apparently none of them did except for Able), few would do
it.

But it is probable that it is not *merely* the physical act of giving blood
that is significant, but also that the blood be freely given. Otherwise, I
presume, some Aelf would have discovered the process and drained a human
host with sufficient blood. I don't think there is any evidence that that
has happened.

So, the quantity matters and so does the ritual.

J