(urth) AEG: Margaret

[Dave Tallman]

Roy C. Lackey wrote:
> That's not right. What Gid did for Cassie to bring out her star quality was
> to enhance what was already there. That is not the same thing as
> shape-shifting as defined by Gid. (99-100) Cassie still looked like Cassie,
> only better and more charming. To shape-shift is to morph into another
> physical form that is different from the original.
>   
I have to disagree. Cassie was told "It is easy, terribly easy, for 
someone who has transformed up to slip back down; and it wouldn't be 
right for me to die without having warned you" (p. 100). Why would 
Cassie need a warning about someone else slipping down? She was 
transformed up, and needs to know that she could lose it. You say that 
it cannot be transformation if she doesn't look different. I say at 
least her voice was different. Sharon asked her a test question about 
her mother's name in order to be sure it wasn't someone else tricking 
her over the phone (45).

What Chase calls a "higher form" for Cassie even appeared spontaneously 
at times in her performances before he did anything for her. She clearly 
didn't grow angel wings or something -- she manifested "an indescribable 
something that electrified me" (p. 207). He must use the words "form" 
and "transform" rather loosely and metaphorically.

Could a plainer woman with a more subdued voice be a lower form? I think 
so. Chase admits the possibility of a "man-man" (p. 100), at least in 
jest. The main differences are probably internal, manifested as a loss 
of human qualities. After years as Margaret she might have difficulty 
getting herself to look as good and be as good as Cassie (even gray Cassie).

In short, I see no reason not to accept Cassie as a person who 
transformed up, and Margaret as a person who transformed down. There is 
a parallel with morals and aspirations, which is also rendered in 
physical terms in the Wizard Knight. Don't they say the same thing about 
it being easier to go down than up when they talk about the universe levels?