I have a rather important question regarding Noah: How does the whole being dead thing work? Does his mind age even though he's dead? Does he have the consciousness of a twenty four/twenty five year old (albeit a super immature one but hey) or is he just going to have the maturity of a seventeen year old boy forever? Ghosts confuse me a great deal and I know that was technically three questions, but, to be fair, it's amazing that I managed to limit myself to three when it comes to Noah.
I will tell you a secret about the magic in the Raven Cycle: 70% of it follows the same basic rules. I know the fandom gets a certain zinging thrill* to imagining that I despise Noah or otherwise malign him by saying that his deadness is the most important thing about him, but the truth is that when I write Noah, as a dead thing, I write him following the rules of magic first and the rules of his character traits second. Everything about the backstory I invented for him is diminished and subverted by the rules of being dead.
*How does she know, they gasp! My inbox, she replies drily, informs me daily how I loath this character or that character, then threatens to take them away from me. It’s a riot.
RULES FOR BEIN’ DED IN TRC
Rule one of being a spirit in the Raven Cycle universe: it isn’t about me, baby, it’s about you. I have a pair of sunglasses that are so reflective that even though I’m the one wearing them on my face, when someone looks at me, all they see is themselves. They’re not about me, baby, they’re about you. Likewise, a ghost in the Raven Cycle universe is defined first and foremost by the seer. Recall, if you will, the first time Blue sees the spirit of Gansey stumbling along the ley line because at some point in the future the author has done terrible things to him. Blue doesn’t even see human features on his face, she realizes — her brain is telling her there is a boy in front of her, but there really could be anything or nothing at all. Likewise, when they discover that Noah is dead, they more often see both his living Noah form (not real) and his busted up dead body form (totes real). Their minds know the truth and project both into the space in front of them. Noah didn’t change; their minds did. There is some essential truth of Noah, but it’s sort of negotiable.
Rule two of being a spirit: you’re powered by energy. What energy? All energy! Blue’s energy, the ley line’s energy, creepy coughspoilerspoilermumblespoilercough energy. No energy, no Noah. Lots of energy, lots of Noah. Or lots of something. Hard to keep playing that Noah Czerny melody when you’re not quite running with the right amount of current. coughspoilercough
Rule three of being a spirit: all times are the same time because you exist outside of it. You don’t age. You don’t change substantially, because every time is the same time or no time at all. You are a song sung again and again, sometimes with more feeling, sometimes with a verse missing. You are dead.
Rule four of being a spirit: You’re last year’s Halloween candy, and you’re slowly being eaten by cats. The dead are not the living: the living are cumulative, additive, growing, changing, becoming more of themselves. The dead are subtractive, decaying, simplifying … rotting. If there weren’t consequences to being dead, no psychic in the Raven Cycle world would mind anyone dying. They could just phone them up on the deadphone and have a conversation every evening. Noah was doing okayish in book one. Not great. But okay. Now, over three books, he’s been eaten by cats, and let me tell you, book four has a lot of cats.
Rule five of being a spirit: it’s not a good time. Stay alive, if you can.
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