(urth) TSH: Ted's identity

[Roy C. Lackey]

James Wynn quoted and wrote:
> > I'm not following you. The gold ring with the dark stone that Bax found
in
> > the catfish had belonged to Ambrosius (270). It was the "weapon of
> >sorcery" wherein Ambrosius had stored some of his power, the item
> > Goldwurm hadn't been able to find (73). Ambrosius had supposedly been
> > strangled and his body thrown in a river (74), probably the same river
we
> > have been talking about.
>
> Well, it's obvious I haven't re-read to page 74 yet. As page 270, why
> do you think the ring Bax showed Kate was the onyx and not the wedding
> band (which I had assumed on my first read)?

Because Kate commented on the stone: "That's a nice stone." Ted's ring had
no stone.

> I mean, is it really
> possible that Goldwurm would throw Ambrosius' body in the river with
> expensive-looking jewelry still on it?

Yes. When Bax first showed the ring to a jeweler, he handed it over for
examination. He was told it was old but worthless. "Just costume jewelry,
sir." (31) When Bax wore it, it looked valuable, the various types of opal
later mentioned. That's why Bax didn't want to take it off to show it to
Dorcas. It was a magic ring. It could disguise itself, just as old Nick's
cheap wooden crutch later had a "gold head" (284). Goldwurm apparently
didn't know the ring's worth because he couldn't see the worth.

> > Ted's body (the list of characters says he was Doris's "late husband")
had
> > been placed in a casket and buried (36). So Ted's body was never in the
> > river. The body parts Lupine called up from the river had come from
victims
> > of the "Horror Hound", as Martha called it (285).
>
> So you consider the list of characters 100% authoritative? So you
> don't think it possible that there is any duplication or ellisions? If
> the list says Ambrosius a "murdered sorcerer" and there are no other
> murdered sorcerers on the list, that's the way it is. And if the list
> says Ted is "late" there is no valid reading this as ironic? How do
> you know that Ambrosius was not actually murdered after Ted faked his
> death?

Teen Emlyn said, "It was before my time, but I've heard that the old
sorcerer's name was Ambrosius." (74) Ted died just two years ago (36).

> How do you know he was not killed by Lupine? That would still
> make him Doris's "late husband" right?

I think Doris would have mentioned it if her husband had been killed by a
werewolf two years ago. Her co-workers Jake Jacobs and/or Jim Hardaway would
probably have mentioned it, too, given all the gossip and newspaper articles
about the Horror Hound.

> And it's a strange ghost that leaves a tear-stained anything. That is,
> if it is a gothic ghost. So you've got a mystery there.
>
> It's fine that you don't think Ambrosius was Ted (I mistakenly thought
> that had become all but accepted fact),

I don't know if they are/were the same person or not, so I haven't said what
I believe, one way or the other.

> but the text is simply not as
> flatly plain as you seem to be letting on.

About some things it is.

-Roy