there are so many inconsistencies with the memory spell we see olruggio use in ch. 93. this is a ramble about the inconsistencies we see with the seal, the ink, and effects it has.
i've made a few posts about how i think olruggio still knows qifrey is a silvertree host. you can find that here if you're interested. i think the memory spell was a stop gap until olruggio can cure qifrey fully of the silvertree. and i talked a bit about how his seal is different from the knights moralis seal here. this is kind of a continuation of the knights moralis post.
i can't stop thinking about how many inconsistencies there are with this spell.
so the way olruggio explains it. you gather tears cried over a bitter memory to create a special mixture for the seal.
and just like that you can wipe a person's mind of the memory behind the tears.
of the memory behind the tears.
the tears are important here. the tears determine what memories are wiped away. with olly's explanation, qifrey's tears are the reason the spell would take away his memories of this specific silvertree event.
because olly captured qifrey's tears over the event, olly can use those tears to create the seal that will wipe olly's memory of the same event.
fast forward to chapter 40, qifrey doesn't even mention the silvertree. he mentions that they went to the tower of tomes. olruggio (who is sweating as if he's lying btw) says yeah only you made it inside. then qifrey explains how he learned about the brimcaps plot from what he found inside the tower.
this is apparently all new information. qifrey doesn't mention any of this to olly when they're kids and the silvertree incident happens.
my point here is that qifrey's spell isn't operating like olruggio's did. if qifrey wanted to wipe olly's mind of the brimcaps plan, he would have needed the special mixture for the ink. he would have needed a tear from him (or olly) in that moment to create a special ink to draw the seal with. and just like that you can wipe a person's mind of the memory behind the tears. THE MEMORY BEHIND THE TEARS. the tears specify what memory is erased.
and qifrey does not collect tears, draw a seal, and then use it on olruggio. qifrey uses a seal that has been pre-drawn, he keeps it in his cap. he simply completes the circle. who knows what kind of ink he's using, but he's using the exact seal olly did when they were kids.
so if qifrey's using the same seal, how is he creating the ink? he would need different ink for different memories. and sure, qifrey could continually use his own tears over the silvertree incident to keep wiping olruggio's mind of that memory, but what is happening during all the other wipes after qifrey offers different information.
unless qifrey is collecting tears each time, redrawing the seal, and THEN using is on olly, it doesn't work like olly explains.
something that drives me crazy about ch. 40 is the seal itself changes. at first the spikes on the left arrow point down. and then the next time we see it, the spikes point up.
is it just a continuity issue?? seems likely, but that's such a big detail to miss! that feels like it would change how the spell works. really not sure about this, i don't have enough context to say it's anything other than a continuity issue.
anyway we see another instance of someone trying to wipe memories from a specific moment.
easthies wants to wipe everyone's memory of the night the leach attacked the city. the seal we see doesn't seem to have the arrows that olly+qifrey's does. easthies definitely isn't using tears to draw a special seal.
meaning you can wipe someone's memory of a specific event without the use of a special mixture. so why would olly use the special mixture instead of the one easthies uses? he's in the tower of tomes. surely he could have found both spells if it's what his heart desired. why does he need the special ink if a way to wipe specific memories already exists. why would he pick the harder way.
there are just so many ways olly can circumvent the circumstances during the initial silvertree incident. he could have a counter seal tucked away somewhere qifrey can't see, he could write something down in his palm quire to remind himself later, something about the seal itself might not be what he said it would be. and why does he use the tears. what do the tears actually do?
OLRUGGIO STILL HAS HIS MEMORIES I TELL YOU!!!
and don't forget we see qifrey describe olly like this:
