The problem with hollowing, or hallowing as some call it, is that it's like putting up plaster over an ants' nest and hoping they won't tunnel through. It works along the same principles of reincarnation, but you don't get a brand spanking new body.
You also are at the mercy of whoever's hollowed you. I can hollow, but I'm not so good at making a new person. The seeds of a new personality must be planted and helped to grow. Hmmm, maybe a better analogy would be a garden plot that's had the black spot and you tote in new soil to plant your tomatoes, but the fungus is still down there, waiting for the roots to find it.
Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that someone hollowed Dodgy a long, long time ago. So he's had a long time to reinforce his current personality with memories. But whoever did it, and I'm thinking it was the Assassin since there's no reason to think anyone else would do something like this, he did something I've never seen before.
Hollowing is kind of a misnomer. The memories never go away, they're just covered up and replaced. A real master of this kind of thing can actually use real memories to reinforce the new personality. It's like breaking a plate and using the pieces to make a mosaic... it's not a plate any more; it's something new. But pieces of the plate are still there and the mosaic wouldn't be the same without them.
So Dodgy got hollowed and slapped with a new (obnoxious) personality. Then the Assassin took an extra step and put this thought eating thing in his head so that if Dodgy thinks too hard about the missing pieces in his mosaic, this "jellyfish fog monster" will eat his concerns. And the more he presses, the more riled it gets until it's not just removing his confusion; it starts taking out thoughts and then the memories that inspired those thoughts. It's got "stingers" all through his mind that I hadn't noticed before. If he thinks too hard in a direction it doesn't like, it adjusts him. No wonder I wasn't getting anywhere with my tortures.
I don't know what do about this thing. It's like his mind is booby trapped. I press too hard, it'll turn his brain to mush. I wonder if the Assassin did this just in case he was ever captured, Maybe Dodgy has secrets we could use against his master.
I'm going to have to talk to Mercury about this. He might have some ideas.
Again, I'm glad Liger's punishment is finished. It sounds like you really need to be able to focus your attention on Dodgy
ReplyDeleteWhat's been done to Dodgy's mind is rather chilling in a way
I'm glad I'm done with Liger too. It was nerve racking. I don't think I could sit still for something like that. If he was upset at all, it was because I had to do it, not because it was done.
ReplyDeleteDodgy... I don't know. I kind of feel sorry for him now. I mean, maybe the Assassin's secrets are behind that wall, or maybe a completely different person is locked away there. Maybe he wasn't always our enemy. Father will sometimes take our enemies and hollow them to make them our allies. What if the Assassin did that to Dodgy, but in reverse?
How exactly do you "hollow" a person?
ReplyDeletePersonalities are made up of genes, environment, and experience. So the first step would be to get rid of their memories, but you have to genetically alter a person to alter their personality completely. And how do you find the certain genes that do that? I mean, there are billions and billions of genes in our cells, so how do you single out the specific ones regarding personality?
And would memory loss really change a person's personality? A personality is made when neurons fire and wire in the brain, making a connection. For example, if I got injured a lot when I was little, my neurons would make a connection that getting injured often is painful. Because of this, I might become a more cautious person later on in life. But if I lose my memories of getting injured, would become less cautious? The source the personality trait may have left, but the trait itself stays.
Just none of it really makes sense.
Oh, you're one of those nature over nurture people.
ReplyDeleteGenes have nothing to do with hollowing people, and memories can be warped, as I said. It's easy enough to make a person forget everything, it happens accidentally all the time... head injuries and "temporary madness." You just find a place that's already fractured and widen the gap, or if there is no previous damage, you can always create some.
But as I also said, a real master of this can take former memories and "characteristics" and use them to make a mosaic of the previous person. That kind of work is much stronger than a simple hollowing and seed-personality because it's using what was already there.
You obviously didn't read my entire my entire comment.
ReplyDeleteAs I said before, it doesn't matter if you wipe someone's memory, the personality itself will stay the same. And yes, genes have to do with your personality, and if you're wiping someone's memory, then genes must play a role in that somehow.
So what's the real science behind it? Or do you not know? If you don't understand the specific reactions happening in one's brain while they're being "hollowed," how can you know if it's effective? How do you know it will last forever?
It doesn't seem to add up.
Where have you been?
ReplyDeleteSee you around?
-Cage