(urth) TSH: Doris and Lupine

[Gwern Branwen]

On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 6:54 PM, Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:
> Letter #18 bugs me, for two reasons. First, it is addressed to Millie, and
> on p-132, right after the break, Bax wrote: "Joe came for the car. I know I
> wrote to George about that." Well, no, he didn't. The first mention of Joe
> coming out to look at the car was in the previous letter (#17, p-118), which
> was also addressed to Millie.
>
> Is this a mistake by Wolfe, or is it a left-handed comment about the
> reliability of Bax's account of events?
>
> Second, when Bax got back to Doris's car, a woman who apparently looked like
> Doris got in as the passenger, after he had offered to return her keys. He
> drove and suggested that they stop somewhere to eat. She said no. He started
> to say that he would take her back to her apartment, when they saw another
> woman standing by the road and waving. The waving woman proved to be Doris,
> and when Bax stopped for her the passenger vanished, leaving behind a funky
> smell.
>
> A werewolf is defined in the book as a human who takes on the shape of a
> wolf. I wasn't aware that a werewolf  could take on the guise of another
> human. (Nevermind being in two places at the same time.) What, if anything,
> does this episode say about Doris and Lupine? How did Lupine get Doris's
> keys?
>
> -Roy

I don't like the Doris=Lupine approach. It doesn't gel with the endgame of TSH.

If the ghost is Dorpine's soul, then how do we reconcile this with
Lupine selling her soul to a distant powerful wizard?

Doris is in her 30s or 40s at least, the home ec degree aside. Is this
consistent with a callow teenager like Ieayan* falling in love with
her and her with him? Lupine is clearly presented as youthful; I don't
believe any accounts of werewolfs include rejuvenation or
extraordinary longevity**.

How do we reconcile Lupin not especially liking and loathing Bax by
the end with Doris's like of him? Even in her last letter, she's more
wistful than hateful.

Why would Ambrosius or Goldwurm (whichever we think Ted was this phase
of the moon) either buy Doris's soul or tell her how to do it?

Why is it Bax who suggests that on the drive where they are attacked
by a werewolf, he stay outside in the risky area? If Dorpine is
scheming his murder, she should suggest that. For that matter, Doris
doesn't respond as Dorpine would, it seems to me. ('Curses! Foiled
again!')

There may be some oddities in the drive scenes which are explained by
Dorpine, but the more general considerations are difficulties.

* forgotten the right spelling
** Japanese _kitsune_ on the other hand are canonically nigh-immortal
and can choose to appear as beautiful young women

-- 
gwern