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.