huldre hollow

[marycatelli]

A huldre, of course, looks perfectly normal from the front.  However, if you go behind, you will discover that it's all a front; the huldre is in fact hollow.  (How thin varies -- no thicker than birch bark is one I've heard.)

So how exactly did that work?  A huldre kept her face always facing exactly toward the human, so he didn't notice she just sorta stopped when she twisted her head even a little?  (Especially since they were in the habit of seducing men.  Not twisting even a little seems -- improbable.)

Reminds me of a Middle Eastern tale in which a sage managed to convince half the king's court that a company he marched between them wore red, and the other half that they wore blue, by having the men in the company wear a uniform half red and half blue -- something that would work only if all the courtiers and the king himself looked straight ahead while they were marching and had absolutely no peripheral vision.

Not of course that that stops the muse.  A court filled with elegant courtiers that just happen to be utterly hollow and visibly so from behind.  What fun!  Especially if she makes it crucial to the plot!

Err -- ummm -- well, let's say that they are three-quarters front and only the back quarter is missing.  And they face the main characters often enough that those characters notice it.  And it's not for long -- and they don't even try to seduce any of them.

We'll see how it goes.

Comments

[superversive.livejournal.com]

I believe the accepted technique among the huldrene is to wear a wig and tie it down with a kerchief, so that your victim cannot tell the back half of your head is missing; and then to chatter very rapidly about fashion and travel and reality TV shows, so that the victim cannot tell your brain is missing. It also helps to have large bouncing breasts; if a hulder has those, her victim will not care whether she has a back half or not.

[marycatelli]

Those techniques would definitely help.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

What if it was one of those dynamic animation types of things where the appearance can change and flow? As the human walks to one side, for instance, the huldre doesn't just turn mechanically to keep the front side facing the human. The side facing the human now has its nose in profile, but is nonetheless still hollow behind? You'd have to trick it or run very fast to get around behind it faster than it can shape change/harden the visible side to match what you expect.

[marycatelli]

That might work indeed.