fae and the law

[marycatelli]

So we have folklore of the fae and fatal Love-Talker -- whose victims fade away and die after the seduction.  Which apparently is magically easy. . . even possibly not under his control.

And the writer goes hmmm, what is the legal standard for someone whose powers, however lethal, are intrinsic and can't be turned off?

Probably the Typhoid Mary standard:  lock him up.  What other choice do you have?

Well, as the author, I have the choice of making the powers something you acquire.  Willfully and by choice.  With the added power of being pretty immune to other people's love magic -- since being irresistable to women is not much of a power if you proceed to fade away to nothing on your first victim's grave.  Then you have no one but yourself to blame if you end up in a cell without human -- err -- elfin contact for the rest of your life.

Especially after you got into a seduction face-off with a mermaid, also capable of seducing and not being seduced, and the consequences were wide-spread.

Comments

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

Good, I hate the "he's a homicidal maniac, but it's not his fault" shtick. The Dresden Files did the best job I've seen of it, and even then it was acquired, just not entirely willingly.

[marycatelli]

There's that, too. (People who think them more interesting than their victims are scary.)