Chaz's Mythology (Spoilers for season finale)

[BeatriceEagle]

Funnily enough, this topic is not about Chaz breaking through.  It's about something that's been working its way through my head for  a while.

So, there's always been this big question about Chaz's mythology.  I mean, he's been a jammer since he was a baby.  And babies...  Babies don't really have mythologies.

But then Refining Fire came around, and I've been thinking.  What if patterns aren't his mythology?

Trauma is the crack that the Anomaly uses to enter its victims.

Chaz's very conception was a trauma to his mother.

What if the Anomaly entered Chaz through his mother?  What if Chaz is, essentially, Adeline's mythology?

[Beth]

I'm not so sure about that, but it's a great idea.  Addy's trauma is Chaz's trauma, because an infant can't help identifying with its mother.  But we don't have any sign that Addy herself was a gamma.  Or even beta.

I'm intrigued by the implied genetic link to the anomaly.

[BeatriceEagle]

The theory isn't that Addy was a beta.

The theory is that Chaz was a beta instead of Addy.

Gamma mythologies seem to rest in the most emotionally charged area of a person's life.  Chaz, as the physical evidence of what William did to Addy, would be that area.

And it explains how he would have become a beta without a crack.  Even the other beta we know, Hafidha, has a crack: catastrophic illness.  But Chaz doesn't.  This could explain that.  He doesn't have a crack, because he's the effect of one.

Essentially, my idea is that the Anomaly entered Chaz at conception, not after birth.

[Malthus25]

I always interpreted the "catastrophic illness" part of Hafs' bio as being a euphemism for "going beta" -- I mean, sudden weight loss, computers talking to her, that sort of thing?  Can, unsurprisingly, be interpreted as schizophrenia.

[BeatriceEagle]

I always interpreted the "catastrophic illness" part of Hafs' bio as being a euphemism for "going beta" -- I mean, sudden weight loss, computers talking to her, that sort of thing?  Can, unsurprisingly, be interpreted as schizophrenia.

Yes, but the bio also references a recovery -- clearly, she never recovered from going beta.

Regardless, there's clearly a difference between Hafidha's case and Chaz's.  Hafidha converted suddenly, well into life, at a point when she could have her own mythology, just like all of the gamma's we've seen.  Chaz, on the other hand, was either born anomalous or became anomalous very soon after birth -- not soon enough to have trauma or any real experiences of his own.

But Adeline did have trauma, and Chaz was the immediate result of it.

[VCorvidae]

Hrm... if Chaz is Addy's manifestation, then it makes sense that he occasionally speaks with Addy's voice...

And infants cannot separate their identity from that of their mother. There is no 'self' for an infant, they are a gestalt with their mother. They learn that they are their own person as they get older (I think it solidifies around age three).

Hrm... another thought. If a baby doesn't have a mythology of their own, do they share their mother's mythology until they are old enough to develop their own?

[Beth]

Or...he's a beta without a mythology to control the manifestation.   So perhaps Chaz can control it to some extent.  He was able to see the gamma who was invisible.  He was able to send William's projected emotions back to him. 

But so far, it takes life-and-death stress for him to slam. 

[BeatriceEagle]

He was able to send William's projected emotions back to him.

Yes, but that was clearly a result of breakthrough.  Your point about Frank Scott, though, is interesting.

VCorvidae, Emma and Bear said some really interesting things about Chaz's initial, beta mythology in the Refining Fire thread.  About teaching infants patterns at a very young age.  And that's true.  Babies see the world as a constant struggle to figure out what goes with what.  On the other hand, a young child with the Anomaly (like Melinda Grossman, actually, although I imagine it would be even more visible in someone younger) get all of their experience directly from their guardians, and thus would probably express the Anomaly in a simplified way similar to that which their guardians would.  (This applies to Eddie Cieslewicz too, actually, and he had no genetic link to the person who set his mythology.)

So basically, I think you're right,  in every case except Chaz.  Small children, who are aware of the world, would by and large share a mythology with their parents.


I think I mistitled the thread.  Because really, my idea is more about Chaz's crack than his mythology.  It's not so much about how he expresses the Anomaly; it's why he has the Anomaly in the first place.

[VCorvidae]

Does the Anomaly run in families? Is it gene linked? (Perhaps... if it's recessive, then that explains why Chaz has it, if Addy and William were both carriers).

[BeatriceEagle]

Does the Anomaly run in families? Is it gene linked? (Perhaps... if it's recessive, then that explains why Chaz has it, if Addy and William were both carriers).

My guess is that the Anomaly isn't genetically linked, but that susceptibility to it is.  Thus, like some cancers, you're far more likely to have it if someone else in your family has had it.

[Malthus25]

I always interpreted the "catastrophic illness" part of Hafs' bio as being a euphemism for "going beta" -- I mean, sudden weight loss, computers talking to her, that sort of thing?  Can, unsurprisingly, be interpreted as schizophrenia.

Yes, but the bio also references a recovery -- clearly, she never recovered from going beta.

It references a recovery, but that could just be cover.  I mean, if the illness part was inserted into her bio to explain her crazy behavior, a recovery needs to be inserted into the bio to explain why she's now cleared to work at the FBI.

[jimsmyth]

I always interpreted the "catastrophic illness" part of Hafs' bio as being a euphemism for "going beta" -- I mean, sudden weight loss, computers talking to her, that sort of thing?  Can, unsurprisingly, be interpreted as schizophrenia.

Yes, but the bio also references a recovery -- clearly, she never recovered from going beta.

It references a recovery, but that could just be cover.  I mean, if the illness part was inserted into her bio to explain her crazy behavior, a recovery needs to be inserted into the bio to explain why she's now cleared to work at the FBI.

Good point.

I suspect, however, that the nutritional needs of a "Gates Syndrome" patient were not immediately obvious to whatever medical institution she spent her recovery time in -- the meal service of hospitals seems almost totally unconnected with patient metabolic needs.  (As I learned while hospitalized after my diabetes diagnosis.  After trusting them and eating the meal sent to me, I learned to refuse the fruit juice and similar high-sugar offerings.  A recent visit to the hospital showed that, as of last fall, things have not improved in that area.)  My guess is that Hafs' stay in the hospital had some truly scary moments.

[Ailis]

I always interpreted the "catastrophic illness" part of Hafs' bio as being a euphemism for "going beta" -- I mean, sudden weight loss, computers talking to her, that sort of thing?  Can, unsurprisingly, be interpreted as schizophrenia.

Yes, but the bio also references a recovery -- clearly, she never recovered from going beta.

I would be inclined to read "recovery" in this circumstance as "learned to function within her new parameters." 

[Emma Bull]

(As I learned while hospitalized after my diabetes diagnosis.  After trusting them and eating the meal sent to me, I learned to refuse the fruit juice and similar high-sugar offerings....

It's perversely comforting to learn that my experience wasn't unique. 

[Oshimoi]

(As I learned while hospitalized after my diabetes diagnosis.  After trusting them and eating the meal sent to me, I learned to refuse the fruit juice and similar high-sugar offerings....

It's perversely comforting to learn that my experience wasn't unique. 

Go in with septic ulcer.
Get spaghetti with red sauce.
Be stupid enough to eat it.
On the good side, I scared the crap out of them.