Lois’s answer to “In “The Hallowed Hunt”, Learned Hallana was annoyed by a rude man, and turned him into a pig tempor…” > Likes and Comments

Certainly it was a bit of fun, I enjoyed it, and it contributed to the introduction of Learned Hallana.

But the man wasn’t just hypnotized to think he was a pig: as far as I could tell, he became a pig, and everyone around perceived him as a pig (including Hallana herself, again as far as I could tell).

If she put a geas on everyone in the area, she should have bled like a pig, if Penric’s example is anything to go by.

Turning people into animals and back again is an ability traditionally associated with magicians, and I think you allowed her to do that casually, and only later realized that it didn’t really fit into how magic works in your world. Although yes, I suppose it could have been an ability bestowed on Hallana by a god for some particular reason. Which is actually quite a fun idea. (I liked Hallana; I wish we could meet her again.)

I’m not here to give hostile criticism. It just occurred to me that this was a bit of an anomaly in principle, and I couldn’t resist mentioning it.

The temptation to say (at great harm to mythology for the sake of a poor pun) that this Circeanly seems worth a thought, is too hard to resist...

@ Jonathan -- No, he was just hypnotized. "Else the delusion will wear off in a few hours," as Hallana states.

Granted, the moment might have been under-described, if you were picturing a material pig. But falling to all fours and grunting may indeed be done by any human.

Ta, L.

Ah yes, I apologize. Reading the scene in the past, I always assumed that he’d actually been turned into a pig; but, reading it again more carefully, I see that he was indeed suffering from a delusion rather than a transformation. So the only anomaly is that Hallana should have had a nosebleed; which she was spared for some unknown reason.