Eli's Strength?

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metoo
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Re: Eli's Strength?

Post by metoo » Fri Dec 22, 2017 8:08 am

sauvin wrote:In the novel, when Eli discovered that Haakan was still alive, she was immediately concerned and told Oskar to stay indoors for a while. I remember Oskar remonstrating "what, you're my mother, now?" Earlier in the novel, when asked if she was a vampire, she denied it. I don't remember the wording, but she said something like "I love off blood, yes, but I'm not... that." When asked what the difference was, she said emphatically there was a very BIG difference.

I'm a bit fuzzy on what her motivations were, but it seems clear that when she learned of Haakan's survival (ahem), she'd very quickly resolved to find and destroy him. Maybe that was just out of concern for Oskar's safety and for that of such people as might be in his life, or maybe it was just some kind of responsibility she felt for preternatural pest control.

Whatever the case may be, I think it likely she knew something about infected people in Haakan's condition that Eli and JAL just didn't share with us.
Yes, Eli told Oskar to stay indoors, obviously relying on some ideas about what to expect. It also seems that Eli concluded that Håkan was on his way back to Blackeberg, back to Eli. He did have some knowledge, but it was incomplete:
Odöden. Eli visste ingenting om den. Visste inte om varelsen som stod framför honom styrdes av samma begränsningar som han själv. Om det ens hjälpte att förstöra hjärtat. Att Håkan stod stilla i dörrhålet tydde ändå på en sak: han behövde en inbjudan.
The undeath. Eli didn't know anything about it. Didn't know if the creature that was standing before him was governed by the same limitations as himself. If it even helped to destroy its heart. That Håkan was standing still in the doorway yet was a sign of one thing: that he needed an invitation. My translation.

Well, that last thought was a mistake, as we learn in the next few sentences of the novel, but it illuminates how limited Eli's knowledge was about the undeath. I think he knew the concept, but had only heard rumours and anecdotes about it. No first-hand testimonies. Therefore, he warned Oskar as best he could, but didn't know how to handle the situation when finally confronting Håkan.

Finally a minor correction: Eli didn't decide to destroy Håkan immediately. Eli was about to leave Blackeberg the next night, and plausibly expected Håkan to follow him. It wasn't until he had locked Håkan into the air raid shelter that he made the decision.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Re: Eli's Strength?

Post by sauvin » Fri Dec 22, 2017 8:14 am

metoo wrote:Yes, Eli told Oskar to stay indoors, obviously relying on some ideas about what to expect. It also seems that Eli concluded that Håkan was on his way back to Blackeberg, back to Eli. He did have some knowledge, but it was incomplete:

Odöden. Eli visste ingenting om den. Visste inte om varelsen som stod framför honom styrdes av samma begränsningar som han själv. Om det ens hjälpte att förstöra hjärtat. Att Håkan stod stilla i dörrhålet tydde ändå på en sak: han behövde en inbjudan.
The undeath. Eli didn't know anything about it. Didn't know if the creature that was standing before him was governed by the same limitations as himself. If it even helped to destroy its heart. That Håkan was standing still in the doorway yet was a sign of one thing: that he needed an invitation. My translation.

Well, that last thought was a mistake, as we learn in the next few sentences of the novel, but it illuminates how limited Eli's knowledge was about the undeath. I think he knew the concept, but had only heard rumours and anecdotes about it. No first-hand testimonies. Therefore, he warned Oskar as best he could, but didn't know how to handle the situation when finally confronting Håkan.

Finally a minor correction: Eli didn't decide to destroy Håkan immediately. Eli was about to leave Blackeberg the next night, and plausibly expected Håkan to follow him. It wasn't until he had locked Håkan into the air raid shelter that he made the decision.
I accept the correction with gratitude. I don't remember the novel well. I strongly suspect Eli knew something, we just don't know what that might be. As you say, it might just be things she'd heard, but whatever it might have been, it very clearly alarmed her.
Fais tomber les barrières entre nous qui sommes tous des frères

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