Spiritus

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Människohamn
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Spiritus

Post by a_contemplative_life » Sat Apr 09, 2011 6:00 pm

I liked the spiritus, and thought that the human/insect connection method (saliva) was very imaginative on JAL's part and a bit nauseating. I was a bit creeped out at the start when it kept crawling after Simon and had to be put into a box. The worst part, though, was when Anders swallowed it. Turned my stomach big time, and somehow I sensed that it was coming because the critter kept wanting to go towards the mouth. Made me wonder what would happen, now that he found Maja. Cough it up?

It was suggested near the end of the story that it had some kind of connection with the Sea, that it had come from it, or belonged to it somehow.
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Aurora
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Re: Spiritus

Post by Aurora » Sat Apr 09, 2011 8:51 pm

a_contemplative_life wrote:It was suggested near the end of the story that it had some kind of connection with the Sea, that it had come from it, or belonged to it somehow.
Possibly it was the good or beneficial part of the sea as opposed to the force that required sacrifices :think:
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lombano
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Re: Spiritus

Post by lombano » Sat Apr 09, 2011 10:48 pm

Well, it kind of did require sacrifice as well, just nothing nearly as bad.
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Re: Spiritus

Post by shaggles » Wed Nov 23, 2011 4:24 pm

drakkar wrote:The Spertus, or Spiritus, has been mention in nordic folklore. paranormal.se about Spertus writes:

Nordiska Museet describes the Spertus, or Spiritus, as a small worm kept in a box. I provided the owner with silver coins the owner coul just take from the box.
The downside owning a Spertus was that you owed your soul to the devil. To buy the soul back was impossible, you could only be saved by a priest. (Which should be fairly easy, regarding you had plenty of silver to buy one - :oops: sorry, my comment).
Thanks for that. I tried googling spiritus but didn't get anything. I was beginning to think it was just something JAL made up.

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