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Sta.sh
Devious Comments
My reasoning hinges on what Sarah, in this bubble of meta-fiction, actually is and isn't. Because there is one thing that Sarah most obviously ISN'T, and that is a Mortal Human Woman. Human? Yes, mostly. Woman? Most enchantingly so. Mortal? *Deleted* no.
She penetrated to the center of the Labyrinth, and made her declaration in that surreal place, the Heart of Jareth's Underground, where words mean . . . everything. She defined herself as sovereign to herself, and a Power among the fae, and Jareth's equal in dominion. And then her first act as a fae Power was to establish her dominion (at the time, limited to her Aboveground bedroom) as a home for Jareth's goblins.
In so doing, she arguably made herself a ruler over Jareth's subjects. By the logic of dominion and Power, she is either establishing herself as a complementary ruler - a Queen to match his King - or establishing herself as a supplementary rival usurper - a Princess to overthrow him.
Yeah, she was 16 and it'd be obvious to anyone who understands both humans and fae that she didn't realize what she was doing. She still did it, and she now has a whole slew of instincts related to being a fae Power, and specifically a Queen of the Goblins, that she utilizes without a second thought. I suspect that what is obvious to us is not quite so obvious to any fae who observes her acting instinctively as a fae Power.
And now, if you'll bear with me, I'd like to go off on a minor tangent that will tie back in to this fairly quickly:
Human lives are strongly influenced by scarcity and opportunity cost. Not so much, among the fae. _Style_ matters far more than mortal practicality, and Jareth updates his appearence much like you or I might update Facebook status.
Sarah presents herself as a 'plucky mortal bratling'. She thinks that's what she still is. She isn't, anymore. Mortals might mistake her for one, but any fae can tell that it's just her Style - and note how even Jadis respects her Style and is willing to play along. I suspect that to the fae, it looks like she's keeping her options open for how she deals with Jareth - she hasn't decided if she wants to join him or overthrow him.
Back to Jareth, we now _know_ that he cannot bear the thought of being her Adversary, or seriously hurting her. For all that she's a serious threat to his dominion(as Jadis warns and reminds her son in the sharp-yet-subtle style of fae who need to maintain plausible deniability in front of the threat in question), he loves her. Making her his co-ruler may be a matter of self-preservation - but I wonder if he could bear to so much as lift a hand to ward her off if she sought to supplant him.
The catch is, it's not until 138-141 that he has any inkling that she doesn't understand what she has become. That she thinks her Style is what she actually is. And if he manages to follow the logic, he may just realize that the way he riffs off her Style to court her would come across as creepy and threatening to someone who thinks she's still a mortal girl.
Example: Offering to trade Raoul for Sarah? Yeah, to someone who doesn't realize that the Labyrinth can't hold her anymore, that sounds a lot less "I'll give Raoul back if you'll get Sarah to agree to have dinner with me tonight" (couched in a format that works with Sarah's default Style) and a lot more Evil Antagonist.
If he can figure that out, then he's got a very delicate minefield to navigate - he's got to respect her self-perceived boundaries when she's feeling merely mortal, but he still has to be the dangerously charming fae Power when she's acting fae.
Which means he not only has to pay very close attention to her moods, he has to _correctly_ interpret them. And while Sarah seems to be have an empathic link to his emotional state, which may explain both why his cuddly owl act usually gets to her _and_ why she's certain he's a pervy voyeur, he doesn't appear to have a reciprocal link. He may not even know Sarah reads him instinctively. Poor Jareth - that's going to make for an infuriatingly and frustratingly steep learning curve. But then again, infuriating and frustrating hang around Sarah like ravens around a one-eye'd god, so maybe Jareth's gotten a bit used to it.
Things would be a lot easier for them both if someone would explain matters to Sarah - but despite Christine's and Sophie's efforts, it seems that so far no one has realized just how blunt they need to be with her.
Wow. I didn't know I was doing something worthy of this level of literary analysis. Thank you, ever so much; the amount of thought that went into this is absolutely chuffing and vindicating and a delight to follow through.
... Ok, to be perfectly honest you're interpreting the Fae/human socio-sexual power games and identity issues with a slant and to a degree quite unplanned by yours truly. That made for a fascinating read, and there are certainly elements I feel ring true and may in fact pick up and build on at some point. It is truly refreshing to see you come at this from a male and somewhat Jareth-sympathetic POV, or at least, one that finds Sarah to be the most foreign and in-need-of-deciphering party - as a woman it is easier for me to invest and sympathize with her. Probably with a more "mortal human" flavour than the take you suggest, which is a fascinating and compelling sell. I'm not saying I consider Sarah full and thoroughly mortal&mundane - the "certain powers" and rapport with the Goblins are intended to show - but I had not quite weighed in the full potential impact of each line in her famous tirade as you did here, at least, not at this point as something she is aware of or can draw on. And I do get some comedy from the "very relatable normal girl(s) at university hassled and visited by strange and supernatural fictional characters" schtick.
"Complementary" vs "supplementary" power - that is worded very neatly and powerfully. Congratulations on your eloquence.
Again, I'm amazed and utterly delighted at all you've picked up on, and how you've chosen to read it. The notions of Dominion and Power and Style vibe very Changeling-speak and I love it. What made you so wise in the ways of the Fae?
Below the generally superficial and comedic tone of the series, I have a lot of unseen underground narrative space to slowly plot true motives and hidden natures, stuff that bubbles and distills out of sight until I may feel the need to bring it in - and there is a potential window for some lovely angsty revelations to be made in-comic, as things are planned, not too far off.
You've added grain to my grinding, and some pull to the temptation of playing a few scenes straight and genuinely dramatic between those two, whose unspokens and possibilities and ambiguities remain my principal kick in plotting this whole damn comic.
You've opened not a few chinks of insight for me here.
Thank you ever so much for caring, I think I must say; for getting it, and then some, and finding so much to say about a two-thirds for-the-lols fancomic, and for sharing your vision. That really made my evening in a big way.
Of course, Sarah already knows that she can shut down magic - which I have to admit I interpret as her first application of will and Power. (Goblin obedience seems due to Dominion over the Labyrinth, teleglittering seems due to 'certain powers' ie Jareth's favor. I assume people who aren't associated with Sarah have to do something to catch the Goblin King's attention before they can wish away distressing people that they have a claim over.) I'd like to see her develop some other abilities, though. Jareth's got quite a bit of skill advantage.
I wonder what would happen if she applied her Dispel Magic to the building's fail-field? (Assuming she isn't partly - if subconsciously - responsible for the fail-field in the first place.)
Still, this version of Jareth seems to be rather . . . less . . . in terms of Power and Dominion, something I applaud. Low-end gentry, the equivalent of the Lucas family in Pride and Prejudice. If that's true, little wonder he prefers to hang out around mortals, even if his mother disapproves.
Is Susan Sto-Helit around campus? She'd make an interesting career counselor or equivalent for mortals who've found themselves with one foot out of mortal territory, and she wouldn't be one to push someone into abandoning the Aboveground.
One thing I really should note is that even though I think things would go better if someone got through to Sarah, she's not under any moral burden or any kind of condemnation for how she's living her life. She really _doesn't_ owe Jareth _anything_. She's a major problem for _him_, but that's essentially his doing, since he gave her his favor, his book, and his attention. The situation between them is vexing for both of them, but he's the only one who has any pressing need to resolve it in a particular way. Granted that the attraction and affection is both deep and reciprocal, but Sarah has enough agency to make this any of quite a few flavors of tragedy if she ultimately refuses a happy ending with Jareth.
I do wonder if it'll ever occur to Jareth that Az - the local powerhouse - ships a True Love outcome for Jareth and Sarah. The possibility of a fae touched by divine Grace . . . and if Crowly ever finds out he'd pretty much have to go all out to oppose it. What great and terrible Hope must meekly wait behind that harmless, nebbish exterior, lest agency be extinguished and all that potential go to naught . . .
Jareth's kind of fae Power(as opposed to more primal powers of untamed nature) seem based on medieval nobility, so that's how I assume they act, only potentially less evil since their Dominions don't require exploiting hundreds-to-tens-of-thousands of serfs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is therefore truncated, with physiological needs entirely voided and security rarely any kind of concern.
Most of the time, the hierarchy of needs for noble Fae would start at the emotional concerns, because usually Dominions aren't under threat. Immortals need entertainment to endure eternity, giving us an endless round of parties, hunts, flings, affairs, scandalized gossip, and so on. Usually light-hearted, like how Jadis _enjoys_ being homicidally jealous with regard to Darkness's attention. Not precisely flippant, but nothing is taken all that seriously.
Right up until someone's Dominion is under threat.
_Then_ they start playing the game seriously, and everyone who gets involved is liable to get burned. Entertaining rivalries turn into bitter feuds, serious assassination attempts(more "dagger forged from specific weakness aimed at heart", less "wow, you looked like such a mortal chump hanging from the tree back there, I'm not going to let this go for at least a century") are made, and so on. By such logic, the last thing you want is get caught up in someone else's Dominion crisis, but if you're _in_ a Dominion crisis the last thing you want is for all of your friendly-ish acquaintances to back off until everything is resolved. Admitting you've got a problem is contra-survival, so the culture develops rather sharply away from that. Anything serious has to be able to pass as an amusing jest, a light-hearted prank, counting coup, and so on.
Serious drama is for unshakable allies or for when you've managed to get into position to decisively handle a threat.
Check out the song "Fairyland" by Angelzoom and look up the lyrics.
Doesn't the first verse kind of sound like a spell Jadis might offer to teach Jareth, to allow him to get over Sarah long enough to deal with her? Tossing it out would be an insult, but keeping it around is just begging for someone to stumble over it in a moment of bitterness . . .
The story I had it mixed up with goes like this:
Once upon a time, there lived a handsome man who was the type to throw snakes at girls he fancied. But one of the girls loved him back, and they got married and lived...well, they tried to live happily ever after, but he never got past the "fear me, love me, and do as I say" aspect of the relationship. This was not for lack of trying on the girl's part. She feared him, loved him, and did as he said, but he lacked the tools to move on from that stage of interaction. He could be cruel and he could be 'generous', but he was unable to relate to her as anything other than an opponent in a game. Finally, one of the times when he was trying to teach her a lesson by leaving her somewhere to be forgotten about...she didn't come out. She was through with his games, and with games in general. Their love story met a crash ending and his world fell down. He never stopped loving her and wanting to be with her; he never stopped hoping and trying to rebuild his fairy tale--but he also never changed the way he treated the one he loved. To this day, they both are single and have not resolved their differences--but I will not soon forget that the girl tried to change herself for his sake all throughout more than a decade of marriage. By my reasoning, it's his turn to change...
...Though by now, I'm accustomed to his absence and don't consciously miss having a father around.
Thank you for that insight, mind you.
I don't think I've ever commented on GND-- I am a long time reader, for at least a year or two now. It's one of my favorite things! Can't wait for more.