Newbie here - couple of questions

[ofelia]

Another thought and possibly an underlying reason I dislike the zombie Hakan part so much is why didn't Eli kick his ace? In the end, it was a scared kid who sh1t himself ends up taking down a zombie Hakan.

Well, i think it's because Eli was trying to find a way to destroy him and that was by fire. Simply kicking him around or in the dick wasn't going to do the trick and Hakan is way bigger than Eli too.

I think it was also to show that Eli actually is vulnerable and that even as a vampire he can't prevent everything bad from happening to him... When I read that part I thought oh poor Eli which is probably what the author intended. And then I thought Tommy deserved to get the better of Håkan because of him having that fear of the undead mentioned earlier, and because I just liked him as a character.

[Wolfchild]

Welcome edwelly!

Hello all. New here as you can see by my post count
I watched LTROI about a year ago and recently saw LMI. Just finished the book last night and I have a few questions. I have been searching the forum and will continue to do so, but thought I would ask anyway.
1) Is it ever told how Eli is actually turned into a vampire?
2) What was the significance or purpose of Eli being castrated?

Here is the relevant passage from the book:

... opens his eyes and sees the blond hair unclearly, the blue eyes like distant forest pools. Sees the bowl the man is holding in his hands, the bowl he brings to his mouth and how he drinks. How the man shuts his eyes, finally shuts them and drinks . . .
More time.. . Endless time. Imprisoned. The man bites. And drinks. Bites. And drinks.

I think the castration was likely a bloody procedure. Thus he has a bowl full of Eli's blood from it. However, since he later bit and infected Eli anyway, it seem that the drinking had a ceremonial or symbolic aspect to it. However, this is all JAL ever tells us about it. I think it was his intention that it seem to be an inexplicably evil act, and he added a bit of detail to make it seem real without having to explain it. Unlike almost every character in his novel, JAL made no moves to flesh out or add balance to The Man in the Wig. To me, this indicates that JAL really intended for him to be plot device, not a character. That is, he is not intended to have motivations that we examine, or an origin or fate that we are intended to care about. I think this is a wise move by JAL. By leaving this evil inexplicable, it somehow seems more real than if he had tried to explain it or the reason why The Man in the Wig did what he did.

3) Did the zombie Hakan actually sexually assault Eli or just tried really, really hard?

Nope, sorry. Not going to excerpt this part of the novel. It is one of the most horrifying things that I have ever read. However, JAL has said that this passage in his original manuscript is the only thing in any of his novels that his publisher has ever asked him to rewrite. Draw your own conclusions.

[TigerEyes]

Nope, sorry. Not going to excerpt this part of the novel. It is one of the most horrifying things that I have ever read. However, JAL has said that this passage in his original manuscript is the only thing in any of his novels that his publisher has ever asked him to rewrite. Draw your own conclusions.

I don't want to draw my own conclusion. Also, i think the original manuscript is irrelevant. What we have now is what we have and i'm thankful that the publishers had him rewrite that passage. I rather he never succeed in what he wanted to do and leave it at that of course.

[edwelly]

First off, thanks for the welcomes and the replies. I am enjoying my stay thus far.

... opens his eyes and sees the blond hair unclearly, the blue eyes like distant forest pools. Sees the bowl the man is holding in his hands, the bowl he brings to his mouth and how he drinks. How the man shuts his eyes, finally shuts them and drinks . . .
More time.. . Endless time. Imprisoned. The man bites. And drinks. Bites. And drinks.

I took this to mean the funny guy cut off his willie, put the blood and willie in a bowl and gave it to the old man. Then Eli sees the old man drink the blood and chew on the willie. Since Eli was tied up, that is what he meant by imprisoned – thus my reason for asking. I do like your version better though.

[metoo]

... Since Eli was tied up, that is what he meant by imprisoned ...

Eli states that he is forever twelve years old when Oskar asks, but he says to the cancer woman that he was eleven when he was taken to the castle. Thus, it may have been around a year between him being mutilated and bitten/infected. Then he might have been imprisoned for any additional amount of time after being bitten the first time.

[TigerEyes]

... Since Eli was tied up, that is what he meant by imprisoned ...

Eli states that he is forever twelve years old when Oskar asks, but he says to the cancer woman that he was eleven when he was taken to the castle. Thus, it may have been around a year between him being mutilated and bitten/infected. Then he might have been imprisoned for any additional amount of time after being bitten the first time.

Well, we don't know when was Elias' birthday, so it may not have been a full year, but for few months more or less. It could even have been days or weeks before his next birthday for all we know.

[metoo]

... It could even have been days or weeks before his next birthday for all we know.

Not really. You know, Eli is fictional. It's JAL writing here, and if it's not just an oversight, he must have meant something with it. So I would say that the time between the events was a year rather than a few weeks.

[edwelly]

Me thinks I need to re-read the cancer woman part again. I think I glazed over that part.

[Ash]

Me thinks I need to re-read the cancer woman part again. I think I glazed over that part.

I was actually quite fascinated by that part of the novel because it showed another modus operandi that Eli employed. Not just opportunistically dropping on whoever happened to be out at night.
I think Eli would have done some quick staking-out of the cancer woman's house to ensure she was alone.
It would be interesting to know if Eli used this method of finding food on a regular basis. It would have been more dangerous than being outside, and perhaps used only when desperately hungry.
It does give us another insight of Eli's survival skills. To have survived so long, Eli must have known all the tricks and methods available to stay alive.

[Nightrider]

I was actually quite fascinated by that part of the novel because it showed another modus operandi that Eli employed.

I'm in complete agreement...Usually JAL like's to give pretty elaborate descriptions of the past histories of his characters(even those on periphery of the storylines)...Eli's past exploits are kind of glossed over in the book and not given much page time at all. So whenever there's a morsel of information about Elias' days gone by it always stuck out in my memory as a compelling clue to what made this character tick...