so throughout kotlc, many questions can be brought up: who is sophies father, who are what is elysian, what was the significance of criterion because i forgot. just a lot of whos and whats. But there is one how that haunts me and the fandom to this day: how the hell does mesmerizing work?? well you're in luck, given how im insane, grady is my favorite character, and my main kotlcoc is a mesmer, i feel somewhaaaaaaaaat qualified to speak on the matter.
This post will be divided into sections, because it's easily the most nuanced ability that shannon has cooked in her kitchen of nightmares. eat ur heart out shades.
section two — so, how does it work?
subsection one — will sensing
subsubsection one — actions
subsubsection two — behaviors
subsection two — entrancement
subsection three — command
section three — "motivation"
section four — manipulating parts of the brain
section five — other abilities
section six — resisting a command
section seven — so, how the fuck do you train this?
section eight — theoretical uses
section ten — restrictions
section eleven — conclusion/abridged
book paraphrases and quotes will be in orange
let's get this party started.
Essentially, Mesmerizing can be broken down into this simple description:
“An ability that allows one to sense a will, put another into a trance, where the entranced USUALLY cannot resist a Mesmer's command.” Even simpler than that, it's trance-induced mind control. It's closer to Dracula shit than 5G in your bloodstreams that the conspiracy theorists believe in.
But what can Mesmers do? Well, we'll get into the nitty gritty of it later (if you're still reading) but essentially, it boils down to EVERYTHING. from making one do a stupid dance, to making one jump off a cliff without a second thought.
But this is all surface-level. You want to know the details. well then, the next 6 sections (and 3 subsects) are for you!
section two — so, how does it work?
Essentially, Mesmerizing can be dumbed down into three different stages, which we will go into in their own respective subsections:
Sensing the will itself. (we will get onto this in a later subsection)
But this doesn't really tell us how it works, just that its complex and Shannon despises me in particular. So we need to go into these three stages very in depth.
The best I can explain it, if you dont wanna read another 1k words, is Telepathy and Beguiling's fucked up emo baby.
Subsection one: Will Sensing
Essentially, one of the understated aspects of a Mesmer is Will Sensing. Basically, the best I can describe it is a constant altertness to other people's wills.
"But Ciara," you may be asking, "can you define will in this sense?" And the answer is: Of course I can!
According to Unlocked, Mesmers can sense and manipulate wills, controlling their actions and behaviors. It can reasonably be inferred that the will is what controls one's actions and behaviors. And this is where we need MORE subsections to this post, as if it wasn't long enough.
subsubsection one — actions
To boil down actions to their core attribute, actions are the physical movements that a person can take, I.E. walking.
subsubsection two — behaviors
This is more complex. Essentially, "behaviors" qualify as how one acts and is very similar to emotion. The difference is the lack thereof of emotion. Basically, this would look like possession.
What this means for a Mesmer: essentially, since the will is in charge of all this neat stuff, and a Mesmer can sense it, it's almost a psychic connection that a Mesmer has with the will. They can't sense what someone's going to do next per se, but they feel the presence of another person. Think sixth sense type shit.
Now, one senses the will— but the manipulation is much more complex.
subsection two — entrancement
This is what I like to call the communication stage, the "getting in your head" type shit. To boil it down, this is the part where the will is seized. How does this work, you may ask? Well it's quite simple. This is also the beginning of the quasi-telepathy. Except instead of communication with the brain (though the will is connected to it), it's communication with the will. Essentially, the Mesmer sends a command to the will to stop whatever it's doing (think any time someone is Mesmerized by Grady, they stop what they're doing), and the will stops, causing a trance.
subsection three — command
THIS is the big one— the quasi-telepathy in full force. Instead of a partial communication (we'll get into how people could theoretically resist in section six), the Mesmer dominates the will, unable to resist the command. But how does this work? Here's a diagram of how it does.
To explain the drawing, a Mesmer has a thought (command) and transmits it to the will part of the brain. the will then tells the brain to enact whatever it needs to enact to make it happen.
section three — "motivation"
In Lodestar, Grady uses the word "motivate" to explain his ability and losing himself in it. How he'd motivate others to do whatever he needed them to. This shows the manipulation aspect of Mesmerizing. More specifically, how the will works with parts of the brain. This is where dopamine receptors come into play. Essentially, dopamine is responsible for motivation.
Under certain conditions, a Mesmer could theoretically control the hormones in brain. This is where the line between beguiling and mesmerizing is VERY blurred, but heres how the line is cleared:
When Mesmers control a part of a brain to say, motivate someone, it's mindless. The brain simply obeys. For Beguilers, there's a level of persuasion to it, and therefore a chance of failure.
All this to say, talented Mesmers are EASILY the scariest ability. Especially considering the fact they can really get into your mind.
Section Four — Manipulating Parts Of The Brain
This is the fun part. Let's look at a diagram of the human brain for reference, since we dont know elben brain anatomy yet. From Unlocked, it can be inferred that the elven brain has one extra part w/ a expanded part that controls emotions. According to Exile, Sophie says that Grady has "complete mind control", meaning all of this is on the table.
Here's what each part of the brain does:
ability part: the part of an elf's brain that controls their ability.
How it affects Mesmerizing: See Section Five
spinal cord: transmits signals between the brain and the rest of the body.
How it affects Mesmerizing: Basically what happens in the rest of the brain will be transmitted through the spinal cord.
temporal lobe: affects sensing and understanding of the world around you.
How it affects Mesmerizing: Theoretically, a Mesmer could disorient someone, creating a drunk-like state. I think this is the highest impacted space in the Entrancement phase.
frontal lobe: literally everything. personality, emotion, and decisionmaking are controlled here.
How it affects Mesmerizing: This is where Mesmerizing is almost like possession. Since this is "behavior," this is one of the main areas affected. Technically, when Mesmerized, the personality and behavior of a person can easily be shifted. This is the part that is probably larger in elves.
parietal lobe: processes sensory information
How it affects Mesmerizing: Similar to the temporal lobe, this would play a hand in disorientation and spacing.
occipital lobe: visual processing
How it Affects Mesmerizing: Alright Shannon please nerf this ability because IN THEORY A MESMER COULD CAUSE HALLUCINATIONS AND REALLY CONFUDDLE PEOPLE SEEING SHIT.
Cerebellum: Coordinating and fine-tuning
How it Affects Mesmerizing: Can easily affect someone's ability to walk and move healthily. This is most likely the part that has to be trained the most, as well as proof that Mesmers can control different parts of the brain, given how easily grady made fintan or brant (pick yer poison) walk. But we will get to training way down the line.
Oh my god that was a lot and I became a neuroscientist for that. Are you happy? I believe that since this is a lot, some Mesmers are more talented than others in particular sections, hone in on one or two. Well, that's just the real parts of the brain. We need to talk about the ability portion of the brain in an elf.
Section Five — Other Abilities
I believe it's Exile or Lodestar where Grady said he tested his ability on a psioniopath, and it was rather disturbing.
Let's get one thing clear: Grady is a very talented Mesmer and probably the four there are can't pull off half the shit he's brought up doing. That's a large reason why Sophie was adopted by him and Edaline, they're the best of the best for their abilities. But this ain't about them. This section is about how this is possible, and how it would look.
You know how you can pick up so much on a topic you become an amateur expert on it? Think of Mesmerizing people into using their abilities like that. Read up on a subject, get super good at understanding it to the point you can answer any questions on it, BAM you're basically an expert in the field, even if it's a secondary interest of yours. So, when a Mesmer understands the nuances of another ability, they can basically control it from someone else. But since someone's trained an ability their entire teen + adult life, there's more resistance around that section of the brain. So a Mesmer would need to understand what they're doing, otherwise things could go horribly wrong.
Section Six — Resisting a Command
In theory, a command could be resisted. It's super difficult and more fault of the Mesmer than the Mesmee. But it's technically possible. Essentially, it boils down to certainty; how much a Mesmer is sure they've got that section of the brain down. I.E. the cerebellum. We'll get more into training later, but that's why training more than likely consists of a lot of reading as opposed to actual control.
Section Seven — So, How The Fuck Do You Train This?
As I mentioned before in the previous section, reading. A lot of reading. However, I dooooooo think that they may be able to train on their Mentors, only cuz they'd have such a high resistance that it would be very unlikely a teen could break through. It's strategic, since if the teen could break through, they'd be of high use to the council. When they get out to the field, they'll be stronger.
Section Eight — theoretical uses
Alright, I just spent 7+ sections going over how terrifying this ability is. There's a big question here: what could this ability be used for that isnt shady at best and malicious at worst? Well, am I glad you asked!
The first one that came to mind was healer. In theory, theory, theory, if one was able to control sections of the brain, they could control the senses and help rehabilitate people who have been in accidents, and since Mesmers have such a profound understanding of different species bodies, they'd be excellent at helping people heal after tragedies.
Along those lines, mesmers would make pretty good trainers/mentors, for similar reasons. The whole "having to understand every muscle and ability" may comein handom during Mentor shortages.
Section Nine — Enhancement
So, what would a Mesmer look like while enhanced? Well, we got a good sense of that in Nightfall. The obvious is able to Mesmerize animals, as seen in Nightfall. Buttttt, Sophie's a weird case. So, it's probably wayyyyyy closer to a more intuitive understanding of the wills around them, and therefore the parts of the brain. Basically, they'd be a lot more in tune to the parts of the brain they didnt study as much (since there is a LOT.)
Section Ten — Restrictions
Obviously, there are a LOT of restrictions around this ability to serve as a nerf. There's the obvious ones, but also less so. Like for example, control over certain parts of the mind are strictly limited to specific Emissary missions only and not taught at Foxfire, one would have to obtain the books on how to control these parts directly from the Council, since they'd be for very specific and probably creepy missions.
Section Eleven — Conclusion/Abridged
To run this down super easily:
Mesmers can control different parts of the brain, but learning certain parts are restricted. Picking and choosing what parts to focus on > jack of all trading it.
Grady needs to get creative
That concludes this, if you liked what I had to say please interact! this took two days of my life. Thank you so much <3
