- Mack's father made a good case against Kheris in his last visitation, actually pointing out that Khersis' actions actually made demons more powerful, and even seemed to imply that it was Khersis' actions that made humans hate demons. So, maybe Demons are the most misunderstood of all the "monster" types. MackDaddy didn't kill MackMama, and as far as we know, neither has Mack. Her "rampages" have all centered around sex. Maybe breeds of demons are good.
- If so, it's a remarkably deep misunderstanding, with most every race considering demons malign, even if focused on human victims. Even Steff and Amaranth discuss demons in terms of the threat they pose.
- But everyone discusses mermaids as basically positive until we find out otherwise from FeeJee. Apparently no humans realize that mermaids are bad news.
- Alternately, any human in a position to discover the mermaid's secret generally doesn't live long enough to tell anyone. Even if the manage to not get eaten, odds are that they will just drown.
- Also, hiding that a race *does* eat humans is one thing - hiding that they *don't* is another thing entirely.
- Mack's rampages haven't all been centered around sex. She bit off someone's finger in a fight; another time, she almost beat Amaranth to death because Puddy went to grab Two (and Amaranth dived between them).
- If so, it's a remarkably deep misunderstanding, with most every race considering demons malign, even if focused on human victims. Even Steff and Amaranth discuss demons in terms of the threat they pose.
- My guess is some kind of sexually transmitted "Spring of the Drowned Man" curse. Okay, I know the only detail supporting this version over less insane forms is the protection discussion in Chapter 62, especially the line, "I’m just trying to think of everything I wish somebody had told me…" but what is Wild Mass Guessing for if not insane theories?
- Alternatively, Steff is, in fact, a hermaphrodite, but flat-chested enough to pass for a guy who looks a little too good in a dress. What does Delia the Dark Elf have to say on the subject of Steff? "Your language doesn't have enough pronouns." Also, Steff tells Mack that (s)he doesn't care if she prefers boys or girls... This could be interpreted as him/her being neither/both.
- While this does appear to be Jossed, Dee's later comments still suggest that Steff herself may not be entirely aware of her true nature. While Steff is not a hermaphrodite in the classic sense (her genitals are definitely male) it seems that among the subterranean elves, ambiguous sex is more common than in humans (or perhaps just not stigmatized the same way). It may be that this is true of the surface elves as well, but that that (being both very young and half-human) no one ever explained this to Steff.
- Also, because this is WMG and thus hermaphrodite equals Yubel, he/she/it is actually the brains behind a lot of Amaranth's more extreme sexual experiments, in no small part for the thrill of hearing about it afterwards. Considering the nature of their friendship and the fact that Steff wouldn't be surprised if Amy took that "masturbation pamphlet" joke seriously and actually went off to make and distribute the things, it's almost certain the elf put more than a few ideas in the nymph's head, and not really that unlikely that Steff was hoping for some cheap second-hand voyeuristic kicks from hearing about it afterwards.
- Even without the WMG Logic, that seems likely. Nymphs are supposed to be "inherently clean", and a dirty mind would seem to preclude that (even considering what Amaranth is supposed to be, and with whom she's been hanging out [including Steff]).
- Because something has to explain it.
- This troper disagrees. If demons are anything like the typical version, they get off on delivering torment, not receiving it. Alternate theory: Mack's grandmother and caretaker was always tormenting her. Thus she equates love with being tormented. "Kheez, if she doesn't care enough to beat me, then she doesn't care at all..."
- Similar, but somewhat different; Mack's love of pain comes from her devotion to demons being a bad thing. She's hugely invested in the idea that demonicness makes you bad; thus, when she's put in pain, because she's "bad", that she's being punished is a good thing. Hence why it isn't simply pain, but general unpleasant things she enjoys - it's all punishment for the bad demon, which is a good thing, and has now got hooked into her sexuality.
- I trust the sex-empath nymph, here. Shame, self-loathing, indoctrinated disgust with her own body, etc. seem more likely factors.
- Shame and self-loathing which come from her believing that she's a bad, bad demon. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive.
While Celia got upset at having a human RA, assuming that it was because the school authorities didn't trust non-human students, Kiersta only replied that she was a 'full-blooded human'. However, at least three others (Raquel, and Leighton twins) on the same floor could say the same while still having attributes that would cause them to be seen as non-human. Furthermore, she has never given a surname, something which is distinctly atypical for IRM human society but common for several of the demi-human species.
It is possible that she is a human by birth, but under some enchantment or curse which, while not readily visible, would make her unwelcome elsewhere when it was revealed, especially if it was something that occurred recently. An obvious possibility is some form of thieranthropy, which (as far as this troper knows so far) has not been mentioned in the series to date; it is noteworthy that she has not (again, AFAIK) been seen around during a full moon, though the same could be said of several other characters. Any number of other magical conditions or maladies are possible, however, especially in a school of magic. She may not be completely at ease with whatever has altered her, and in any case probably still thinks of herself as human, at least technically.
Another possibility is that she is of a magically-altered subspecies that is nominally human, but unusual or undesirable in some way (e.g., some versions of doppelgangers are human, but sexless, and need to replace a normal human in order to breed, a sort of hominid cuckoo). In this case, she may not have been aware of her own unusual nature until recently, and discreetly arranged to be transferred to Harlowe after she found out.
- Possible evidence: a mention of therianthropes came in chapter 294, when Steff joked that Hazel might be a "very short werebear" after discovering her Berserk Button. So it seems that they do exist. Of course that could turn into a Wild Mass Guess on its own.
- If this is true, it may simply be that she gets certain privileges from her dwarf and nymph ancestry (access to alcohol and the boy's dorms, respectively), and the the dragon and/or giant ancestry would give her no such loopholes in the rules. For that matter, they may not have let her fight against human students in the Colosseum, if her strength is directly related to her being related to dragons or giants.
- It is currently unknown whether part-dragons are given any special treatment, but it has now been revealed that Imperial laws do not apply to dragons. As in, someone who was killed by a dragon is considered to have died of natural causes. This is how the vice-chancellor can get away with killing and eating his assistants. Discuss.
- Possibly a 50 ton full dragon can work wherever it darn well pleases, but a 160lb 1/4 dragon merely has no rights to citizenship (or even to be regarded as a being), since its/her/his weight would be considerably less to throw around, especially with no three-foot fangs or fire breath?
- It is currently unknown whether part-dragons are given any special treatment, but it has now been revealed that Imperial laws do not apply to dragons. As in, someone who was killed by a dragon is considered to have died of natural causes. This is how the vice-chancellor can get away with killing and eating his assistants. Discuss.
- Then again, it may just be a repeated aesop about drinking responsibly.
- Certainly, the other times Mack and others have gotten drunk, they behaved just as badly, if not worse. Gabe in particular had the "let's gang-rape Mack" thing going after a couple of beers, so it isn't just Puddy's wine.
- Mack kept from molesting a psuedo-willing Sooni while toasted on elven wine. Tyler the divinity student had been drinking, but he was willing to give his blood to the half-demon girl he'd injured in his stupidity. Gabe...Gabe is just one of those people who exist to be bad examples.
- Certainly, the other times Mack and others have gotten drunk, they behaved just as badly, if not worse. Gabe in particular had the "let's gang-rape Mack" thing going after a couple of beers, so it isn't just Puddy's wine.
- One minor character, an alchemy student, mentions that potions of super heroism and alcohol shouldn't be mixed. Many M Unkeys think that's what was in Puddy's wine.
- But what was in the pudding pops?
- Pudding [[supersecretspoiler: and PCP : p]]
- But what was in the pudding pops?
- Apparently jossed in the Q&A...if you can believe anything Puddy says.
- Unlikely, Aiden is apparently an airship mechanic and Happily Married.
- This is at least partially Jossed now since we know from the side stories that Laurel Anne is alive...whether or not Mack was actively involved still remains to be seen.
Perhaps Martha thinks she was too lenient and permissive towards Laurel and Mack, and that her "softness" lead to the death of her daughter and the orphaning of her granddaughter. That, coupled with the trauma of losing Laurel, might explain some of her hard-line craziness and much of her behavior since.
- Where is stated that Gnomes want to rape and enslave humans? Plus, the nasty features of many MU races is balanced by the frequent indicators that Humans Are Bastards.
- The gnomish invisibility power is so strong that it even affects posts on TV Tropes, maybe?
- Between dragons, ogre's and the rest, it's safe to assume that humans have been a large part of the food chain in the series until almost the present day , looking at it like that, mermaids just fill an ecological niche. Mostly, I just can't imagine any infernal plan that would be furthered by seducing a whale or fish.
- Of course, whether Mack's grandmother is really made out to be evil so much as a battle-traumatized, hard-core religious fanatic who, despite showing genuine love and kindness, was simply a poor parent is subjective. The "three buckets of water" flashback exemplifies this - she threatens Mack with a holy-water dousing, but she makes Mack take the threat seriously by sticking her own arm in boiling oil, with no proof that the decorated third bucket had anything but normal water in it. Traumalicious and emotionally abusive, but still, horribly, something that could be motivated by genuine good intentions crossed with a poor ability to relate to people.
- A later discussion seems to confirm that you can't just leave a bucket of holy water sitting out and have it stay holy in the setting, making it straight emotional abuse.
- Ceridwyn (Puddy) revels in her non-human ancestry, and while listing her non-human heritage in chapter two, does indeed mention sidhe blood in the list.
- Keridwen (Keri), in Mackenzie's history class, has problems with absorbing, retaining, and/or understanding the material, which may simply mean that she's not the sharpest crayon in the box, or may point to a fundamentally non-human thought-process, such as the sidhe have been hinted at possessing.
- Ceridwen (Winnie) is known to have befriended Semele, an elfmaid, when generally humans and elves steer clear of each other, socially. Elves share a rapport with the Sidhe that most other races do not.
- Though Semele is a social misfit among the local elves due to her ethnicity and ...peculiar flirting style.
- Even assuming that what Semele told Winnie about elvish racial relations is entirely accurate - and I really am not sure whether I believe one way or the other - her behavior can be summed up as so incredibly elf-like it makes the other elves uncomfortable. That would be unlikely to endear her to a human, unless said human had something about her that made her unusually sympathetic to elves.
- Though Semele is a social misfit among the local elves due to her ethnicity and ...peculiar flirting style.
...She's just dissatisfied with how Amaranth is handling her relationship with Mack. Amaranth is horribly arrogant at times, and she seems to believe now and then that she can get Mack to abandon all her inhibitions, which seems just a tad unlikely. Her recently increased commitment to working on their relationship may please the goddess.
- Khaele is a nature god. Her morality scale doesn't run from Black to White, it goes from Blue to Orange. "Ownership" is a solely human concept (well, "Humanoid" in this setting, but civilized, is the point), with the closest thing in nature being territorial behavior. Beyond that, Khaele encourages cooperation and coordination between individuals, to the point that she only gives her greatest blessings (the Nymphs themselves) to literal communists, as in people living as equals in a commune. Khaele couldn't care less about what Mack is or isn't (and her antipathy toward demons in general seems to be half-assed at best, probably based vaguely on her alliance with the rest of her pantheon: even her earthly representatives don't harm demons unless active power is being channeled, whereas Khersis's symbol alone can knock one on its ass). What she cares about is that the relationship _itself_ is all about ownership, which is anathema to every bit of her command we've seen so far.
...She just objects to Amaranth loving anyone most of all.
Both Amaranth and Barley have been wayward in her eyes, but both are still in touch with her and both have been told to avoid the other. She might have a purpose behind all of this happening.
- Likely jossed in the Q&A, where she seems simply worried about Barley in particular.
These groups have never crossed paths without some confrontation or quiet social hostility. Jamie mildly dislikes Steff and actively dislikes Mack without so much as their actually saying a single word to each other. As of the time of writing, Barley will be rooming next door to Jamie; he and Violet think she's a sweet, put-upon soul, not a would-be rapist who keeps trying to "reconcile" with Mack, whom in turn Jamie suspects of being a scheming villain of some sort.
Barley may well actively try to cause this conflict once her hurt feelings after her Veil night confrontation with Mack and Amaranth slip into anger and resentment.
- Also jossed, as below. Beyond Jamie and Mack associating and nobody liking Iason, the only group interaction is that Steff occasionally bangs Jamie.
After crossing each others' paths a number of more times, they will engage in small-talk for a few minutes, perhaps before their graduation ceremony.
Both will have very different impressions of the encounter.
- Jossed as of Chapter 124, book 4. They apparently associated during the Time Skip.
Mack's socially stunted and a half-demon, but damn, the girl picks up a lot of enemies who are fixated on killing her or possessing her in some way. Coach Callahan's efforts to get permission to kill her are remarkably obsessive considering her one POV scene involving Mack and how inconsequential she found her. On the other hand, if the Mack Daddy had marked her in some way that made her seem like a target to people, that could be part of a plan to make her defensive and isolated right at the time she's trying to integrate into society - thus making her more likely to turn to demonic society, or at least him.
Perhaps as part of some evolutionary/divine mechanism to keep demons from interbreeding too much with their food supply, two-legged predators find female half-demons irresistible. They don't survive contact with male half-demons, obviously curtailing the spread of demonic blood into human populations and vice versa.
This could certainly explain the mermaids and even Mercy. One wonders what Mack smells like to her demonic father...
- I don't believe that Mack is in any physical danger from Mack Daddy. They have similar dietary needs, true, with both feeding off of innocence, but while Mack needs a physical representation of it - virgin's blood - her father seems to be able to feed off of the abstract quality directly - see his interactions with Mack's mother.
- He only hung around with Mack's mother some of the time, over the course of years. He clearly wanted a child; what he was feeding on may not have involved Mack's mother at all.
- Apparently confirmed, as of updates at the end of Volume One and the (currently) new Volume Two - Mack now takes "anti-fertility potions" to change her hormonal balance (ala birth control pills) and her scent, making her less enticing to "two-legged predators".
- Fully confirmed. As of the early 2013 OT arc flashing back to the last half-demon student at MU, there's now an in-setting explanation for the effect, the Bane of Khersis. Every predatory race, including demons themselves, finds half-demon females in particular to be nigh-irresistable prey.
By all accounts, she views Mack as "a joke". Why would she spend so much effort writing letters to get permission to kill her off? She wants to kill Steff - and bring her back, since she has the funds. Why? She is a freaky little monkey, and she may not be all that wrong about Steff finding the experience entertaining. (However, once she sees the New and More Feminine Steff, she may lose interest.)
- Remember, though, Callahan has admitted that she gets a great deal of enjoyment out of killing immortals. Mack may be immortal enough to qualify.
- Because they're dangerous, experienced, and powerful. Mack probably wouldn't be a challenge for Callahan with Steff and Ian backing her up.
- Apparently jossed, as Callahan just wants the right to kill off the most annoying and useless student in class. Early versions of student waivers didn't cover this...
- Seems, based on much of Callahan's characterization, that she loves the thrill of challenge, and has determined that it would be more challenging to make Mack a competent fighter than to kill her.
- Perhaps even further, Callahan offhandedly mentions that people who've stuck up for Mack lately are getting bureaucratic grief...right after dealing with an attempt to sabotage her class. (Mack doesn't pick up on it, but that's Mack.)
Supporting points:
- A while back, a half-demon student went on a rampage, starting a riot that destroyed a lot of the school before it was finally stopped (somehow).
- This led directly to the hiring of Vice-Chancellor Embries, a great dragon in human form who would presumably be able to nip another such incident in the bud.
- MU's current Weapons Policy is that each student who doesn't have a special exemption must keep a magical weapon on their person, and be able to draw and wield it quickly, at all times.
- Mack Daddy complained in a dream about how a demon's one true advantage over humans is invulnerable skin, which has been pretty much negated by the proliferation of magical weapons in recent times.
- Had this policy been in effect at the time of the last demon riot, it's likely that other students would have been able to stop the instigator before it got out of hand.
- Apparently jossed, at least if we can believe Callahan in the Q&A installment.
- One can't help but wonder if the fate of her team's mage is playing into her desire to train would-be victims into more combat-capable individuals. Callahan probably would never admit something like that, even to herself, but it seems pretty plausable.
- Confirmed almost outright by the final lines in chapter 175.
I propose that full demons can feed off of abstract qualities without physically harming the victim, but a half-demon's mortal heritage prevents her from directly feeding without some physical symbol of what she is consuming. Both Mack and Mack Daddy need to consume the innocence of others, but while Mack Daddy can get what he needs by intellectually and sexually seducing a young girl, Mack needs the physical symbol of virgin's blood.
Likewise, the offspring of a demon who saps strength might need to consume muscle tissue, or the child of a demon that feeds off of bravery might get what he needs by eating the hearts of his victims.
- Mercy mentioned a rampaging full demon as the father of her four female half-demons.
- Would a rampaging full human convince you that all humans in the MUniverse were barely-contained vessels of demonslaying rage? And no, I hadn't been thinking of Mack's grandmum, but the parallel does fit. Actually, Coach Callahan might be a better example.
- ...Bwuh? The suggestion is that demons don't rampage, citing as support lack of mentions of violently rampaging full demons - and that's a specific counter-example.
- Ah, my apologies. I misunderstood that as an attempt to shoot down the entire theory (based on the "most, if not all") and must not have been reading carefully enough the first time through to notice the reference to which it was counterpoint was that "all violent, physical attacks were by half-demons".
- Maybe I should have said that there don't seem reports of a full demon physically attacking someone with the intent to kill or maim - a "rampaging" demon that leaves behind at least ten or twelve offspring doesn't necessarily sound like a demon in a murderous rampage. A rapacious rampage, certainly, but I think that my point that demons aren't generally a threat to life and limb still stands.
- Would a rampaging full human convince you that all humans in the MUniverse were barely-contained vessels of demonslaying rage? And no, I hadn't been thinking of Mack's grandmum, but the parallel does fit. Actually, Coach Callahan might be a better example.
- Jossed as hell. Mack's father eats the heart of a virgin every thirteen months, which pretty much involves violence by definition. Also, the rampage attributed to the previous half-demon student was actually caused by the mob that murdered him.
The cited cases of half-demons who commit violence, lead uprisings, etc. might well be balanced by an unknown number of half-demons keeping their heads down, safely feeding their hungers, and staying out of trouble.
- The current (January 2013) OT historical arc is about Samuel, who seems to be the part-demon who will supposedly lead the riots at MU. He's a calm guy who keeps to himself and doesn't want anything but to get his degree. He has a harmless feeding habit, like the part-demon professor, and just tries to stay out of trouble.
The Mack Daddy stirred up riots in MU, perhaps by exposing Samuel or even framing him for something, and however the riots went down, it wasn't much like the historical record.
- Very much confirmed.
- Mack isn't weak to faith-based objects, but divinity, which is in direct opposition to the nature of demonhood (as AE stated on her Formspring when asked if there was such a thing as a "demon god"). Mechans don't invoke the divine, which is why she's safe there. Khersis is a particularly anti-demon god, which is why he causes her particular discomfort.
- This one's Jossed in "Splish Splash". Apparently Callahan's killed herself several times and willed herself into and out of hell, and is completely without fear of death.