About the ghosts (SPOILER)

So I get that ghosts can linger around up to 40 days after their death and take care of unfinished business. That's why Mason starts shimmering in the end and is even more translucent, he's supposedly about to cross over and disappear.
But then again, on the plane, Rose sees Lissa's family although they've died years ago and are way past their 40 day deadline (no pun intended). So how come she could still see them?

That's a VERY good question! I can't help but wonder if they weren't real, like Mason...if they were some sort of hallucination that came with the migraine. The only person, really, who could answer this question is Richelle Mead herself.

I'm also wondering if Mason didn't actually aim for a bit of revenge in the end. Maybe he lied, seeing as he had a little thing for Rose and Rose had a huge thing for Dimitri... Grasping at straws, aren't I?

Perhaps, but I like that idea! I really hope either Mason was wrong, or like you said, he told a lie to get back at Rose for not requiting his feelings for her. Because if you think about it, basically everyone else at the Academy pretty much, except for Lissa, could tell Rose was infatuated with Dimitri! For sure, Mason noticed it, too. Maybe he just didn't say anything. Or didn't get the chance to say anything.

Maybe the 40-days is wrong. Maybe the ghosts stay around until the issues are resolved. Maybe the Dagomir car accident was no accident and they need people to know it. Maybe Victor set it up to see if Lissa had a power to heal.

That also makes sense...the whole sticking around thing until all earthly issues are resolved. Now that you mention it, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that the car accident wasn't an accident. Would I blame Victor? I'm not too sure. How crazy would it be if it turned out to be one of Christian's relatives???

I was wondering about that too. I guess Rose is connected with both the world of the dead and the ghosts themselves. Maybe the ghosts can come back, even after the forty days, but only to whatever location Rose is in because she's some sort of link. Or maybe she was hallucinating after all. I doubt that, though. I just don't get why the ghosts appeared when they did and why her head hurt so much. Was that ever explained? I don't remember - it's been a while since I read it.

The more I think about it the more it would seem as though the car "accident" wasn't actually an accident. And the whoel 40 days thing was just the religious view of it, remember Rose figured that out from whats-his-name, so yeah.

Or maybe it's like a sort of thing where they can contact Rose when they want to, but after they decide to move on to peace they no longer have that access or something...

OR! Since it took the car accident to "awaken" Lissa's powers to heal and everything, maybe it took Mason dying to open up Rose's connection to the world of the dead/undead or whatever...

Magdalene wrote:

So I get that ghosts can linger around up to 40 days after their death and take care of unfinished business. That's why Mason starts shimmering in the end and is even more translucent, he's supposedly about to cross over and disappear.
But then again, on the plane, Rose sees Lissa's family although they've died years ago and are way past their 40 day deadline (no pun intended). So how come she could still see them?

Well I haven't really thought about this but here I go.

1.) The priest could have been wrong about the whole 40 days thing. Lets face it, priests don't know everything. But considering that Mason appeared to be less visible with each appearance it may be true.


2.) Whether the priest was wrong or right doesn't matter, Rose is shadow kissed after all. I mean she can feel when the Strigoi are near by, so maybe she can see the dead no matter how long they have been gone.

Well first of all in sk it was explained that after killing the strigoi in spokan she awakened the shadow kissed link to the world of the undead. The more death she dealt the more linked she would become. Also remember the priest said the ghosts often come back for revenge, well that is what mason did. Rose thought he was seeking revenge for her but I think he was seeking revenge against strigoi who had ended his life before it even began. Mason always wanted to kill strigoi but never had the chance. IN his ghost like form he lead the guardians to the cave so technically in his death he was equally responsible for the killings. He also warned rose and dimitri of the strigoi on campus. Maybe because he fulfilled that revenge thing he was able to find peace. I really still don't think Mason would lie to rose about Dimitri being a strigoi, that just wasn't his character. I loved mason's character and would lose respect for him if he lied about something like that. Remember Mason praised Dimitri as well and was really sad when he told rose that Dimitri was a strigoi.

That's a good question about why Rose saw Lissa's family though,I wondered the same thing. I also wondered why she had to ask Mason if Dimitri were dead, surely she would know he wasn't dead when she couldn't see his ghost. If Dimitri were dead I think he would have stayed behind for her, he couldn't find peace with out rose. I wonder why mason was fading out that leads me to believe the 40 day thing was true and if I take the 40 day thing as fact then I don't understand why rose saw Lissa's family. I know that the car accident was no accident, but who is to blame I'm not quite sure. Part of me would want to say Victor but if he saw lissa bring rose back then he already knew about lissa having spirit and wouldn't have had to test her with the dead animals.

I really thought that at the end of shadow kissed when rose walked away on her own the shadow kissed crow would have landed on her shoulder and went with her. That would have been cool.

I think Rose began seeing the ghosts for the same reasons everyone has already said, that she's Shadow Kissed and she's been awaken to the world of the dead. But when she saw Lissa's family and all the other ghosts she also saw a dark black shape behind them that she believed was the world of the dead. Therefore I think it's possible to see other ghosts when they're not far from their resting place (ie. the world of the dead) Mason was probably fading because he'd spent so much time trying to escape the 'dead' to warn her and possibly used up all his energy. At least that's my theory.

that makes sence.

So i wonder, now that we know that spirits can come out of the world of the dead...I wonder if Rose can go in and talk to spirits, and come back ou tunharmed or at least still alive...

I'm not sure I'd want her to test that theory, I don't believe it works that way at least. I think she might risk getting stuck on the side of the dead.

Hahah when I came up with that question I was totally thinking about Hercules (the disney cartoon version of it) and how he went and saved Meg's soul out of the world of the dead/dead soul pool type thing... haha

ah Disney, what would we do without it?

okay... this is my theory.

The ghosts lasting for forty days or less is what the priest said because it probably fit into the lent season or something and it purely religious. However, the ghosts thing is only happening to Rose because she is shadow-kissed and ghosts haunt in the after-life because they are not at peace and will stay for however long they want to... until they find that peace.

Secondly, I also think that Lissa's family is haunting because they were murdered (somehow) *shrugs shoulders* and want them (more specifically Rose) to protect Lissa from them by killing them and making sure she is safe from them or something.

And I think lastly that Mason was too good a friend to lie to Rose even through all that she put him through. He really told the truth and probably faded into the "great adventure" * for all you HP fans... we get it...* because he finally accepted that Rose was not into him and she was happy. Cause I mean he began to fade the day she and Dimitri sealed the deal.

essa.

yeah I agree that there has gotta be a reason for her seeing lissa's family, they are sticking around for a purpose. They are not at peace. but what, why, and who? You know this icon reminds me of eddie when rose is asking him about dimitri.

I'm wondering the same thing. In the Bitten By Books Q&A thing RM did she said they (Lissa's parents/Andre) weren't at rest yet. I'm thinking that they were probably killed because if Lissa is the last full Dragomir then killing the whole family would have wiped them all out. So that sore of makes sense as to why they were killed, buy who arranged it is still a mystery to me.

Where was that one?I went to her thing on BBB and didn't see that part. This weeks poll sux. I couldn't make up my mind I wish i could vote more than once.

after scanning through the Q&As again (thank goodness for saving it to my computer) I found the question!

Quote :

154. But I really wanted to know why Rose saw Vasilisa’s family when she was on the plane… I mean they didnt find peace?
A: They haven’t found peace…but why? That’s a secret you’ll have to keep reading to find out.

EDIT: You're right, this week's poll is hard...at least I don't have to pick between books/characters..haha

Thanks for that. Yeah I already knew what people were going to vote for on the poll "True blood" so I decided to vote for the underdog of my favorites. Smallville. sure enough it's nearly in last place. I felt I should give a little.

No problem.
I didn't really like True Blood all that much (though I only watch 4 episodes before giving up). I was trying to decide between Charmed and Supernatural. Charmed won, but I think that's only because I'm re-watching the series at the moment

I voted for Reaper. And all of 4 other people agreed with me. LOL! I haven't really watched the other programs either.

i've got my theories on what's next, mostly it's the entire stregoi thing that worries me (sic.) there's just a lot of questions.
like, blood magic and stregoi, and how that started, and how spirit would work in combination with elemental magic, etc.

being shadow kissed may have other benefits, mason might be easier to see and communicate with because she spent more time with his spirit while alive, so that connection remains, it may also mean she's able to do more than insta-seance's, or communicate with anyone who has died recently, the possibilities are quite open. rose has a fairly open schedule in the next book, so i imagine she's going to see how omnipresent the dead become when she's flying off to siberia through unwarded cities and unwarded aircraft, etc.

also, it may not be rose who is attracting the ghosts, but lissa. when she's alone, she sees mason, when they're together, rose can see hundreds of dead. the connection was never explored all that well, so its hard to rule anything out that way.

there may be another kind of use for spirit in the 5th book, to remove the blood magic that animates stregoi ? possibly. it would be a bit iffy, but it's an open book so far. it might make some people giddy to think so, i.e. those who want to redeem dimitri. as i don't think lissa has even been near a stregoi to note if spirit will even work on them, or that ghosts also may be attracted to lissa, or that the stregoi would stand still long enough for lissa to try anything adventurous, we might not see any of that for a while. and, lastly, i don't know why, but i think rose may be able to do the same pacifying for adrian that she does for lissa. it seems too obvious, and i can't say why.

really, too many questions.

SecretMagic wrote:

I didn't really like True Blood all that much (though I only watch 4 episodes before giving up). I was trying to decide between Charmed and Supernatural. Charmed won, but I think that's only because I'm re-watching the series at the moment

as for True Blood, the second series is more watchable.

there's actual vampires in action, all the characters are set in place, and the mystery is better paced, i.e. the shadowy big bad isn't obvious (unless you read the books),
admittedly, the vamps in TB are rather pedestrian and play victim, it's tough to make vampires real without making them seem like animals, or just vicious without reason (*cough* most of book 3's stregoi *cough*)

though, to be fair, since it's a TV show, they need to drag the story into a more dramatic fashion, i.e. ad-breaks and dialogue, etc. i.e. Dollhouse doesnt even really get started until the 6th episode, and there's only 12 of them. if you think about it, VA as a TV series would also have the exposition problem, it would turn very quickly into dawson's creek level dialogue to save money on CGI & stunts, with plenty of off-screen feeding, off-screen classes, off-screen training, magic, lots of between-class dialogue, etc.