Actually, Molly's relatives don't see the auras, it's Linda Tavara.
With all this talk of auras, I seem to have misconstrued the situation! Right you are, Jorm. I guess the spirits reminded me of auras in appearance, which is why I thought Ida May could see "auras."
Jormengrund wrote:
Now Linda, she could see the aura, and grandma's aura was a bright gold color, even at her advanced age. I'd say that's how Linda was able to see who had an ability, and who didn't.
I agree!
Somehow, it reminds me of what HRG telepathically told Matt to tell Ted:
"Don't burn hot. Burn bright."
Anyway, my guess is that Linda can somehow differentiate between the powers as well depending on the tpe of ability.
Some passive abilities would look more different than an active ability, after all!
Passive ones are constantly "on" while active abilities have to be concentrated on in order to function properly. So while a passive ability like seeing spirits would show up to her as some kind of "golden" aura, I wonder what an active ability would look like? Do all "special" abilities look the same? If so, how does she know what abilities she's already gotten, and what ones she'd like to have?
Anyway, that's just a thought that's been juggling around in my head..
Anyway, my guess is that Linda can somehow differentiate between the powers as well depending on the tpe of ability.
Some passive abilities would look more different than an active ability, after all!
Alas, THIS time, Jormy, I disagree!
I dunno, I get the sense that while Linda can tell who has an ability, I don't think she can tell WHAT that ability is... I got that impression from "War Buddies: Part 7" and when Linderman showed her his power, but again it's all unclear.
I agree, I didn't get the sense she could tell what the power was. She goes after the person with the power because she hungers for the power, like a vampire hungers for the blood.... it has nothing to do with knowing what the power is OR does...
I don't think she can tell what the power is, but that she can tell that there are different powers out there by the color of the aura.
So she won't know what the ability is, but she'll know that it's different than the last one she saw because the aura color is different.
If all the "special" auras were golden, then that would be the only thing drawing her to these folks.
That's kind of lame, IMHO.
I'd rather know that she can tell of different abilities because of the coloring..
Say that she was able to absorb someone with a deep red aura, and then finds that she's able to read minds. Because of this, she'd then assume that anyone she came into contact with who had a deep red aura would be able to read her mind..
I'd say that her two abilities of reading auras and the vampiric touch would be quite a lethal combination, if that's how the aura reading worked, that is..
If the aura reading only showed gold for special powers, and different grades of blues for "normal" folks, well, then she's lucky she didn't try some of her moves on good 'ol Sylar, now isn't she?
Well I'm a little late into this discussion, but I really liked this GN! It's a same Linda won't be on the show BTW cause she's hot!!! I agree with whoever said that those people with abilities aura's shine brighter. I think that's what attracted her to Ida, and the others that she's taken. I'm not sure she needs to do it to survive cause I think we're lead to believe Ida was the first one she took.
I wonder if her ability to see auras is something that sylar's ability could mainifest to. Since there are three cranial images studied on the primatech assignment tracker, maybe she is a level 2 type of SG. She did have her ability since she was young.
Oh yeah, sylar and linda needed a list to satisfy their hunger. Maybe her character is explaining what sylar or knox's is, or has, goes through along their chosen path.
Linda - Ida may
Sylar - James
Well, i remember adam armus said in a interview this year
RS: It's quite poetic actually. Later on, Kensei (or Adam) betrays Hiro, and he allied himself with Whitebeard. A few scenes later, when Peter and Caitlin go to the Montreal warehouse, you can see Whitebeard's flags in the background.
KF: Yes!
AA: Yes. Ruth Ammon is our set designer, and she's wonderful. We actually told her that part of this huge warehouse that Adam Monroe would have would have to have certain items from the days of Feudal Japan. So if you notice, there's also Takezo Kensei's armor in the background as well. It was basically a nod to the audience to say, "Hey, you all should know, if you were watching carefully, that this man is Takezo Kensei. You just don't know it yet."
I think the answers are simple, but sometimes we may over analyze and lose the real answer searching for the hidden meaning.
Oh yeah, whoever they drew inspiration from to draw linda's look is gorgeous. I thought elle and hana's inspirations were beautiful, but wow linda is amazing.
I agree with what you mostly said, Jorm, except for:
Quote:
I don't think she can tell what the power is, but that she can tell that there are different powers out there by the color of the aura.
So she won't know what the ability is, but she'll know that it's different than the last one she saw because the aura color is different.
Personally, I get the impression that all specials give off a gold color as seen in the novel (with the people standing on the staircase in her dream), and that 'normal' people give off the less brilliant colors of blue, green, red, etc. I agree that this would be quite lame, but I still don't think that she can differentiate anything between people other than the fact that someone has a power and someone doesn't. If you lined up three pyrokinetics in front of Linda, I don't think that she would be able to tell that they have the same ability based on their auras. Similarly, if you lined up a pyrokinetic, cryokinetic, and electrokinetic in front of her, I don't think she'd be able to tell that they had different abilities either, IMO.
However, I'd like to point out an inconsistency on the writers' behalf:
In Chapter 78, Linda told the lady on the phone that she couldn't locate Jason Welkes. Then, Linda goes to the bartender and asks him if he knows where Jason Welkes is, and he tells her that HE is Jason. Well, if Linda can see auras, then wouldn't she have suspected that the bartender was the one she was looking for based on his golden aura? She acted as if she didn't expect him to be Jason. Poor writing, IMO...
Other than that, this was a pretty cool novel, especially since it introduced some of Molly's family.
Honestly, the writing of that isn't all that bad if you really think it through..
Linda at the time of that novel, had been moonlighting as a private investigator, so she had some training in finding folks to begin with. The reason she told the woman she couldn't find Jason is because she'd already decided to keep him for herself.
Next, she goes in, and if she can see an aura, well all that tells her is that he's special, but it doesn't tell her who he really is. Sooo.. Next step is to get a name to go with the face and aura. Now that she can confirm from the bartender himself that he's who she's looking for, the last step is to incapacitate him, stuff him in the trunk, and go about her business....
So I don't see it as all that badly written. Sure, it's disjointed, but most of the problem with finding someone is establishing identity. So to me the entire GN still seems to mesh..
I also got the impression that Linda knew exactly where Jason was, and was lying when she said she couldn't find him.
As for the auras, there are a number of different theories/concepts/understandings, but the one I'm most familiar with (I have not seen auras myself, so I can't back this up with personal experience) says that there are a number of different auras around each person, and the one that can be seen is the most prevalent one at the time. If I recall correctly, each aura is associated with a chakra, and energy blockages or abundances will cause that aura to supercede the others. Once again, if I recall correctly, a white (or golden-ish) aura is the "best" color, the outermost aura, meaning that the chakras are aligned properly and everything is in working order. By this system, the color of the aura shouldn't have anything to do with whether or not a person has an ability, UNLESS people will only manifest abilities if their chakras are balanced, which is a possibility, but it seems more likely that the intensity of the aura would indicate an ability, and the color would indicate the energy imbalances (or lack thereof) of the individual involved. As powers seem to be a response to a difficulty in a person's life, it would make sense that the aura would be associated with the chakra that was having a problem... a very emotionally challenged person (like Ted) would have a red or orange aura, regardless of what his ability was, and a person who has difficulty communicating (like Parkman) would have a blue aura.
However, I do not believe that this is the way the auras are being thought of in this GN. We can see when Linda is dreaming, all of the people have golden auras. Note that on the next few pages, "normal" people have all different colors of auras (including dim golden ones). The arrangements of these colors do not match the system that I described above (specifically, the way that multiple auras in an individual are handled differently).
I think that there are two likely possibilities:
1. The writers are following a different aura system than the one I'm familiar with, possibly one that they came up with, that is very detailed and specific about who gets what aura and what a color means, and "bright gold" indicates a person with an ability;
2. The colorist decided on the colors used, without being given specific instructions or thinking about it too much. We've seen artistic liberty before in GNs, and this is what I think is going on. If auras come up in the show, I think the writers will put more thought into it, or at least enforce any ideas that they've already come up with. This is one of the better drawn GNs, in my opinion, but my impression of all of the GNs is that the team is given a rough idea of what it's about and then they go crazy. (example: Linda has blue eyes in this novel, questionably greenish eyes in #78, and undeniably brown eyes in #73.*)
So, the next time we see auras in a GN or in the show, I don't expect them to be treated the same way that they are in this GN.
*I suppose that Jason, or one of the other people whose powers Linda absorbed, might have been an Iriso-prisma-morph, who can change the color of their eyes at will. You might think that this is a lame ability, but you'll never have to buy colored contact lenses.
Good info in this thread !!!! Thanks everyone. However, RD hall should not have a problem spilling the beans on some of your questions though.
If you think this chapter is crazy, wait until you see what kring has planned for the good guys of season three !!!! Hopefully, the webisodes (July), online huts(july/sept and futhur) and GNs will keep everyone happy.
. I guess the spirits reminded me of auras in appearance, which is why I thought Ida May could see "auras."
