What on Earth is a Torivor?

 The majority of this post is from my good friend Ryan Baker.  We have been tossing ideas off each other, and he came across a real break-through in the Mull-Tiverse theory as he was reading the third book of the Dragonwatch series.  After this paragraph, I'll be posting Ryan's words.  This one is amazing, and connects the Single-Earth component of the theory as it relates to torivors.  I will supplement with italics in a couple spots:

If all of Brandon Mull’s books take place in the same universe (or multiverse), then one of the

obvious connections between series to explore is the torivor.  Torivors are explicitly mentioned

in both the Beyonders and the Five Kingdoms, and they are clearly the same type of being in

both series.  Therefore, the Beyonders and Five Kingdoms take place in the same universe.

But do Kendra and Seth inhabit the same universe as Cole, Jason, and Rachel?  Are they all

from the same Earth?  I’m going to assume they are all from the same Earth . If they are all

from the same Earth, then a torivor might easily have visited the Earth of Kendra and Seth.

But there’s a problem.  According to Trillian, a torivor who goes to Earth would lose its powers. 

He even says it’s uncertain whether a torivor could survive such a trip.  That initially made it

hard for me to connect torivors to Earth.   I asked myself “why would torivors be powerful in

Lyrian and the Outskirts, but not on Earth?”  Clearly the torivors are quite adept at the “magic” of

the Outskirts (shaping), and although they don't seem to use the resident magic of Lyrian (Edomic),

they are still quite powerfulthere, and do seem to have at least some connection to Edomic (which seems to be involved in

Maldor’s control over them). 

I just finished listening to the audiobook of "Chasing the Prophecy," and a detail I had forgotten was that the torivors are able to use Edomic through Maldor (and vice-versa) as evidenced by their visiting Rachel in her dreams, which allows Maldor to communicate with Rachel. In this way, they are essentially being used as an Edomic router.

So why would they be powerless on Earth?  Why would they not have some access to the magic

present in the world of Fablehaven?  Well, maybe they do.

When Trillian said a torivor would be stripped of power, I suspect he was only talking about shaping. 

Trillian would not have been familiar with any other forms of magic, and when he sent his servant on

the Pilgrim Path, he probably only saw that his connection to shaping would be lost if he walked that

path.  He would not have been looking for, or even known how to look for, other types of magic.

And of course, losing shaping ability upon going to Earth makes sense in the Mull-tiverse.  After all,

Rachel was an adept at Edomic but could not use it at all when she returned to Earth.  It stands to

reason that something similar applies to shaping.

I 100% agree with this speculation.  The closes evidence I can think of to support it is the wolf-headed slaver in "Sky Raiders."  Presumably, this slaver is from Eloweer, and is unable to conceal his true form on Earth.

Ok, so that’s that problem resolved.  But there’s still the issue of a torivor’s ability to survive on Earth. 

Trillian makes clear that Earth could be a very hostile environment for his kind.  And that got me

thinking.  See, torivor’s in Lyrian have a very distinct form- they are essentially living shadows who

apparently cannot speak (except for in dreams, or in Rachel's case, telepathically, which is further evidence of their ability to use limited forms of Edomic).

That’s quite different from their form in the Outskirts.  When Ramarro finally escapes from his prison,

he is described as an albino man, and he does quite a bit of talking.

So if a torivor looks like a living shadow on Lyrian and like an albino man in the Outskirts, what on

Earth is a torivor?  I suggest that we’ve already met one.  Her name is Dezia.

Yep, I think phantoms are actually torivors.  In both Lyrian and the Outskirts, torivors arrived from

some other realm.  In the case of Lyrian, it seems they were summoned there and tied to the

Myrkstone.  In both cases, they had to travel through some sort of gateway to get there.

In book 3 of Dragonwatch, “Master of the Phantom Isle,” we learn where phantoms come from.  We

first hear it from Ronodin, who tells Seth “Phantoms are ethereal.  They have no tangible body. 

Nobody knows exactly where they come from, but they are born out of deep tragedy.”  We further learn,

however, that unlike many undead, phantoms are not a transformed version of an earthly being. 

Rather, Ronodin says, “The phantom is what fills the footprint of the tragedy.”  

Ronodin seems to think that the tragedy createsthe phantom, but Dezia tells us otherwise.  She says “Many years ago, fifteen firewalkers lost their

lives inside the volcano Baga Loa.  They are buried here under those coals I helped you cross. 

Their demise opened my gateway to your world.”  (emphasis added).

This suggests that Dezia existed prior to the deaths of the firewalkers, but inhabited some place other

than Earth.  She was able to come to Earth when a gateway opened!The same way torivors travel from their realm to Lyrian or the Outskirts.  Strangely, phantoms are

counted among the undead despite having never been a living, earthly being.  That seems to square

nicely with the questionable survival of torivors on earth.  They are neither fully alive nor truly dead. 

And phantoms certainly seem to be limited in their power.  They have some access to magic, but they

are confined to a limited space and bound to a token, just as torivors in Lyrian were bound to the

Myrkstone!  

The pieces seem to fit.  I believe that on Earth, torivors are phantoms.

What the Heck is Hank?

 I've started re-reading Candy Shop War and I am now even more convinced that the Vista Point Zoo is a magicians lair!  It only took a few pages before lightbulbs started flickering to life in my brain again: remember how Mrs. White says that children are her favorite "customers?"  And I can't believe I had missed this connection before, but through most of the book, Mrs. White is having the kids "work" for her--the tasks getting progressively more risky.  It just makes it all the creepier that Jason is working at the zoo when you think about it in this way, but it fits so well!

But today's post is going to focus on another aspect of this magician's lair: the animals.  I am still convinced that the animals at the Vista Point Zoo, at least some of them, but more likely all of them, are mythical creatures that the magician has started collecting.  If we are following the laws established in Fablehaven, the residents of Vista wouldn't know the difference unless they "drank the milk" of the appropriate creature.  This is possibly one of the things Nate hasn't encountered yet--maybe the owners don't trust him enough yet.  After all, he doesn't seem to be questioning his own safety as he works there--at least not yet.

The big question, though, is what do they have in their mythical creature collection?  Because it's in Colorado, I picture sasquatches that look like gorillas.  I also imagine they probably would be attracted to more dangerous creatures, so maybe an aviary with harpies and sirens or a reptile house with gorgons.  Maybe they have some griffins that look like lions (or eagles?).  But for the most part, we have to use our imagination because, even though it references how many animals they have, we only know of one animal that they have for sure: a hippo.

But what mythical creature would look like a hippo before you "drink the milk?"

Fortunately, we don't have to dig too far to figure out the answer to this one.  Galloran actually gives us the answer on page 82 of "World Without Heroes:"

"'I know how this sounds.' Jason shifted uncomfortably. 'I came here through a hippopotamus.'

'A water horse? Intriguing.'"

Now, I know that hippopotamus actually translates into "water horse," but Galloran could have just repeated "hippopotamus?" when Jason said it.  For that matter, he wouldn't have even had to say that.  He could have just said "Intriguing" and been done with it.  But he didn't.  He said water horse.

So I looked up water horse on Wikipedia.  From this, I learned that it could be a few different things: it could be a kelpie, a hippocamp, or another form of lake monster.  The article there goes on to explain that some use the term kelpie to mean both lake and turbulent water monsters, but others distinguish between still water monsters, like the famed Nessie, and turbulent waters--kelpies being the creatures that live in turbulent waters.

Further Google "research" indicates that hippos spend up to sixteen hours a day in lakes and rivers, that they can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes, and that the Greeks are credited with given them their actual name, which means "river horse."  So--it actually means water horse, but the Google search said "river horse," so we're going to go with that.  So Hank is actually a kelpie!

Not convinced yet?  Let's look at some of the other details.  Look at this passage from page 17 of "World Without Heroes:"

"Jason paused to stare over the railing at the enormous hippo resting motionless below the water on the floor of the tank.  Hank was the only hippo in the zoo, an adult male with his fortieith birthday coming up in the summer.  Jason shook his head.  The majestic hippopotamus--hard at work as usual.  They might as well replace it with a statue.  No visitors would know the difference." (17)

Hippos can hold their breath underwater for five minutes.  That's a really long time, but Hank seems to be able to hold his breath for a lot longer than that.  If Jason has been working at this zoo for a while, this probably isn't just a random thought of adolescent hyperbole.  He is completely submerged a lot.  In fact, when we see him again in the second book, he's completely submerged then, too.  The little red-headed kid wants his mom to "make him come up."

Additionally, hippos are social creatures, who thrive in family groups.  I'm not claiming that Hank is "thriving" by any means, but he is massive, as indicated in several parts of both scenes where he is featured.  But he is alone.  And kelpies are more solitary creatures.

But what about their magical abilities?  Galloran explains that Jason's arrival to Lyrian via the hippo is "the residue of very old magic."

So what magic do kelpies have?  An article on historic-uk.com says this: "Kelpies can also use their magical powers to summon up a flood in order to sweep a traveller away to a watery  grave." (https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Kelpie/)

This one, admittedly, is more of a stretch, but think about this: Jason was a traveler (though not intentionally) who was "swept away to a watery grave."  Not his own, but that of the Giddy Nine.  And even when he comes back (this time as an intentional interdimensional traveler), Tark was on his way to the same watery grave before Jason rescued him.

Sure, it wasn't a flood, but he was sent to a river where people were about to die.

Considering that Jason is from the same Earth as Seth and Kendra, which means he lives in a world where mythical creatures are hiding, sometimes in plane sight, from human, it makes more sense that it was a mythical creature that brought him to Lyrian, and a kelpie comes closest to what would be able to do that.  Plus, it makes sense that those without access to the special milk or butter that allows you to see mythical creatures would see a kelpie as a hippo.

There's Something Weird About the Vista Point Zoo

 I LOVE the Beyonders.  It is an amazing series.  The wizard races are awesome, the adventure and the moral messages of the series are fantastic.  Most of the time, I had no issues with suspension of disbelief throughout the series.  But even early on, there were a couple things that just felt off about the Vista Point Zoo.

Here's a passage from page 16 of "World Without Heroes":

 "Although the family-owned institution was no match for the Denver Zoo, Vista Point held a respectable population, with more than four hundred animals representing almost one hundred and sixty species."

The zoo is family-owned?  Private zoos are not unheard of: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a privately owned zoo.  Even family-owned isn't entirely unheard of.  The book "We Bought a Zoo," by Benjamin Mee, is a true story.  But most, if not all, it's not that simple.  Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was deeded as a non-profit public trust, and its founder, Spencer Penrose, was the founder of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society.  Even the Mees no longer "own" their zoo.  Eight years after buying it, it was donated to the Dartmoor Zoological Society, which is a charity.

Still, privately-owned, and even family owned zoos are not unheard of, so let's dig a little deeper. Jason is thirteen years old, and he's working... at a zoo.  It's weird enough that he's thirteen and has a job, but it's even weirder that his job is at a zoo.

Jason lives in Colorado, so out of curiosity I looked up the three zoos in Colorado.  In size order from smallest to largest, that is the Pueblo Zoo, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, and the Denver Zoo.  All three require employees to be at least 18. 

To be fair, let's say there is a youth volunteer program at the Vista Point Zoo.  All three Colorado zoos have these, too.  in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, these programs are for fourteen and up, so Jason almost makes the cut... almost.  The Denver Zoo has a Teen Intern program, and participants have to be at least thirteen.  Sweet!  There you go!  But there's a catch.  All three of these programs are summer programs.  And Cole is working there in the winter. 

Even if you can shrug off the fact that it's family-owned and the idea of a thirteen-year-old working at a zoo, let's look at the display in front of the hippo exhibit.  Here's another passage from page 16:

"When he entered the hippo viewing area, Jason paused to admire a glass case on the wall labeled: MONUMENT TO HUMAN STUPIDITY.

"It contained various items workers had fished out of the hippo tank over the years: aluminum cans, glass bottles, coins, cigar stubs, two cigarete lighters, a dental-floss dispenser, a pocket knife, a tangled Slinky, a plastic wristwatch, a disposable razor--even a few rounds of ammunition." 

This, admittedly, is hilarious.  I love that they have a display labeled "Monument to Human Stupidity."  But it's a little on the nose for a zoo.  Zoos now days are all about conservation.  They take good care of their animals and use a lot of the money they make to promote animal conservation projects.  They are very friendly about it.  And their signage reflects that as well, often using the word "Please" or using gentle reminders that litter and foreign objects are not good for the animals.

Calling your guests stupid, as funny as it is to read about, is not great business.

And then there's the list of things in the exhibit.  Most are not too surprising.  But how many people floss while wandering around a zoo?  Or shave!  Or fire off guns!  Even the slinky is a little extreme, but maybe a little kid got it at the gift shop and dropped it in.

As hilarious as this passage is, it makes me wonder about the owners, and the guests at the Vista Point Zoo.

Let's look at the owners.  We know very little: they are a family, which means it's a private zoo.  Most private zoos are affiliated with a Zoological Society--conservationists and charities.  With Cheyenne Mountain, Penrose's personal animal collection was getting big, so he made it a zoo so others could enjoy seeing the animals.  Over time, it has evolved into an organization that promotes animal conservation projects, as many zoos do.  If we are drawing, or even jumping to conclusions about this, we can assume that the family who owns this zoo are animal enthusiasts who want to show off their cool collection.  Maybe they're affiliated with a charity, but most charities don't insult their guests by calling them stupid, even if it's an indirect statement.

At Dartmoor, the Mees wanted to save the animals, so they bought the zoo, and when it was better established, donated it to a charity that could do a better job of running it than he and his two kids could.  Benjamin Mee is still the CEO of the charity, and still lives at the zoo.  So maybe this family is more like the Mees.  They saw animals who were not being properly treated, and did something to solve that problem by buying a zoo and living on it.

Who else do we know of in the Mull-Tiverse that cares about animals and lives with a wide variety of unique animals... and creatures?  Hmmm... Wait!  What if the Vista Point Zoo is actually a preserve for mythical creatures!  I really liked this idea for a while, even though all the other preserves are on massive amounts of land... in remote areas... and most of the creatures roam free on the land, restricted by magic rather than physical barriers... and the caretakers do everything they can to prevent people from seeing the creatures they protect... okay, so it's probably not a preserve for magical creatures.

But then there is the connection between Fablehaven and Candy Shop Wars that magicians exist as "pretenders" and Wizards are actual magical beings.  So what would a magician, who wanted to have a collection of mythical creatures look like?  Well, they could never leave their lair--they'd have to live at the zoo.  And magicians don't seem to have any issue with people unknowingly traversing their lair.  Not only this, at least some of them have shows that they want people to come into their lair.  Why else would you make your lair a candy shop or an arcade?

This also would explain their lack of tact with the "human stupidity" display in front of Hank the Hippo's exhibit (if Hank really is a hippo... just sayin'...).  

And it could potentially explain the stupidity of some of the guests!  Maybe there's cotton candy that suddenly makes people obsessed with hygiene--they just have to floss... or shave... and don't even realize they're doing it.  Or maybe White Fudge is involved somehow.  It has always made me sad that Jason's parents were so inattentive to him, but not his older siblings, and this, while in some ways, could make it even sadder, also means that it really isn't their fault: if they are the victims of a cruel magician who causes them to neglect their son, who unwittingly is working for them around creatures far more dangerous than he realizes... at least it's not their fault.  See what I mean?  Way worse, but also... in a tiny way... mildly better because they're good parents, just not themselves lately.

And as the icing on the cake, it supplies some fodder to bring the Beyonders series more firmly into the One-Earth piece of the Mull-Tiverse theory!

I know this leaves a lot more questions, but would love to hear what other people think.  Is this too far fetched, or does it make Brandon Mull's books more enjoyable to read and talk about?  Do you have any other tidbits that would support the Mull-Tiverse theory?

And what kind of creatures do you think they have at the Vista Point Zoo if they really are mythical creatures in disguise?