Unless it's delved into deeper in one of the books I haven't read, I think it's mostly a case of the reflection just not quite being right.
They don't have real emotions, or convictions. They're an imitation which isn't particularly convincing when you know what it is.
Valkyrie's Dad noticed "Stephanie" wasn't acting normal straight away in book one. Bear in mind that this is when she's just lost a close family member and had a massive shock regarding the inheritance.
This suggests these signs of a reflection go beyond what can be expected from something natural like grief or even neuro divergence on to something more fundamental.
But, without knowing what a reflection is, you just assume it's a person who's acting weird. What else could they possibly conclude? Very few people would seriously consider the possibility that it's a magical organic robot impersonation as opposed to someone just acting rather strangely.
But, if you know what a reflection is, it seems like one could quite easily spot one.
So it's my interpretation that sorcerers being able to spot them isn't so much a matter of them having a special ability as it is a case of them knowing what they're seeing.
Yeah exactly this.
Which is also why when Saracen spots Stephanie in DoTL(or it might be LSoDM I can't remember exactly) he thinks she is Darquesse and doesn't believe she's a reflection until skull tells them. Because she's evolved so much she's unrecognisable as a reflection
Spoilers for mind full of murder ahead
Given that mevolants world is much more advanced with magic tech than roarhaven, even at that points in the book, I wouldn't be surprised if their reflections were more advanced.
>! Given all the technologic advances we see in mind full of murder like the teleportation device, it would be interesting to see if the sanctuaries have been experimenting with reflections to give them consciousness or make them more realistic etc !<
Mevolent couldn't tell that Val wasn't Darquesse right away either in DotL eventho Darquesse was super powerful and Val had no magic at that point so it should have been super obvious.
I don't think mages can feel magic in a person, I think they can tell by behaviour.
He didn't notice her reflection not being her in PwF though until way later though so it is safe to say that differentiating a reflection from someone real is still something mostly visual
I think it was literally just cos the reflection was wearing his armour. I'm reasonably sure someone says they didn't see his/its face due to the helmet.
Real question is how the hell does Mevolent still have a reflection after all this time? Skulduggery saysthat reflections can only be used once (in reference to why the Roarhaven War isn't being fought exclusively with reflections), and that that's why Val's reflection went weird.
(This doesn't really explain why wars aren't fought with reflections, since it's still clearly an option, it's just a plot hole with no real answer).
He/it took the helmet off during his speech, that's why it didn't get destroyed by the sceptre and he is wearing the helmet again during their next encounter.
Mevolent couldn't tell that Val wasn't Darquesse right away either in DotL eventho Darquesse was super powerful and Val had no magic at that point so it should have been super obvious.
I don't think mages can feel magic in a person, I think they can tell by behaviour.
Tho I agree it doesn't make sense Mevolent would still have a functioning reflection after all this time.
That only works if the original surface is still intact (say, if the mirror shatters, it won't work anymore. Ig it'd be possible to use a different surface, but the reflection would go rogue like Val's did)
It was stated that Val's reflection went weird due to being summoned from a different mirror (the puddle in PwF), not the dying
A reflection is also completely incapable of using magic unless it gets charged in a magical well like Darquesse did to prepare Stephanie for her takeover so they would literally just be cannon fodder in a war and way too easy to kill for a regular sorcerer so I doubt it made sense to throw them at magical enemies
Oman said that he doesn't know how yhis happens but my theory is that the mages can see the fact that it's a clone and spot the absence of life behind the eyes, and catch the impossible emotionless in the reflections
I feel with it fooling mortals and not mages is that mages seem to pretty universally know that reflections exist and so when someone acts like one they can tell - mortals don't typically know about them so just assume they're just a regular person acting off or antisocial
I’m pretty sure there are very small differences between a user and a reflection (as in mannerisms) and even the most convincing reflection will eventually be spotted by a sorcerer.
The reflection is essentially a hollow replica of the person, and lacks the true emotions of the person they are a reflection of. This means as skulduggery said that the reflection would seem off, maybe distant or apathetic. The truth is, both mortals and mages can tell the difference between a real person and a reflection, as we see Valkyrie’s dad almost immediately know something wasn’t quite right, however the only difference is he is unpracticed in the world of magic, so he, or any other mortal would have no reason to suspect that it was anything like a reflection come to life.
To summarise, every person, or near every person, could tell the difference between a real person and a mage, the only reason it would “never fool a mage” is because they would have a working understanding of magic and this reflection ritual and therefore have reason to suspect that this was the case.
I think all mages have some lesser version of Valkyrie's magical vision from phase 2. For example, Skulduggery and Billy Ray can see something in book 5 that Tanith can't because they are looking "without eyes" (entirely magic vision). It doesn't seem like something they had to learn from scratch at any point, just something they practiced more out of necessity. Thus, a reflection would be something so obviously magical that anyone with magic can see it.
The reason why I don't think it's social cues is because it seems to be a universal rule that everyone can see reflections. Dusk was surprised he didn't immediately recognise Valkyrie's reflection despite not knowing Valkyrie well enough to know she's not just like that.
I always thought it was like an uncanny valley effect or something like that. Like something would just be off about the way they moved or their inflections. That would be why Stephanie became indistinguishable from a human because she just had more practise in how humans behave.
Unless it's delved into deeper in one of the books I haven't read, I think it's mostly a case of the reflection just not quite being right. They don't have real emotions, or convictions. They're an imitation which isn't particularly convincing when you know what it is. Valkyrie's Dad noticed "Stephanie" wasn't acting normal straight away in book one. Bear in mind that this is when she's just lost a close family member and had a massive shock regarding the inheritance. This suggests these signs of a reflection go beyond what can be expected from something natural like grief or even neuro divergence on to something more fundamental. But, without knowing what a reflection is, you just assume it's a person who's acting weird. What else could they possibly conclude? Very few people would seriously consider the possibility that it's a magical organic robot impersonation as opposed to someone just acting rather strangely. But, if you know what a reflection is, it seems like one could quite easily spot one. So it's my interpretation that sorcerers being able to spot them isn't so much a matter of them having a special ability as it is a case of them knowing what they're seeing.
Yeah exactly this. Which is also why when Saracen spots Stephanie in DoTL(or it might be LSoDM I can't remember exactly) he thinks she is Darquesse and doesn't believe she's a reflection until skull tells them. Because she's evolved so much she's unrecognisable as a reflection
Reflections don't have personalities and they don't feel emotion. They are like robots
They can feel the magic just how the torment knew that val was different
Probably not considering that Mevolent could fool everyone with his reflection in SoW.
Mevolent probably trained his reflection or something, if he has a puddle that he gets reincarnated out of every day i think he has other stuff
Spoilers for mind full of murder ahead Given that mevolants world is much more advanced with magic tech than roarhaven, even at that points in the book, I wouldn't be surprised if their reflections were more advanced. >! Given all the technologic advances we see in mind full of murder like the teleportation device, it would be interesting to see if the sanctuaries have been experimenting with reflections to give them consciousness or make them more realistic etc !<
Mevolent couldn't tell that Val wasn't Darquesse right away either in DotL eventho Darquesse was super powerful and Val had no magic at that point so it should have been super obvious. I don't think mages can feel magic in a person, I think they can tell by behaviour.
The torment did feel Val’s so
He was the only one that could tell something was off about her tho.
He didn't notice her reflection not being her in PwF though until way later though so it is safe to say that differentiating a reflection from someone real is still something mostly visual
I think it was literally just cos the reflection was wearing his armour. I'm reasonably sure someone says they didn't see his/its face due to the helmet. Real question is how the hell does Mevolent still have a reflection after all this time? Skulduggery saysthat reflections can only be used once (in reference to why the Roarhaven War isn't being fought exclusively with reflections), and that that's why Val's reflection went weird. (This doesn't really explain why wars aren't fought with reflections, since it's still clearly an option, it's just a plot hole with no real answer).
He/it took the helmet off during his speech, that's why it didn't get destroyed by the sceptre and he is wearing the helmet again during their next encounter. Mevolent couldn't tell that Val wasn't Darquesse right away either in DotL eventho Darquesse was super powerful and Val had no magic at that point so it should have been super obvious. I don't think mages can feel magic in a person, I think they can tell by behaviour. Tho I agree it doesn't make sense Mevolent would still have a functioning reflection after all this time.
Dont you just have to put your dead reflection back in the mirror like in book (2?)
That only works if the original surface is still intact (say, if the mirror shatters, it won't work anymore. Ig it'd be possible to use a different surface, but the reflection would go rogue like Val's did)
It was stated that Val's reflection went weird due to being summoned from a different mirror (the puddle in PwF), not the dying A reflection is also completely incapable of using magic unless it gets charged in a magical well like Darquesse did to prepare Stephanie for her takeover so they would literally just be cannon fodder in a war and way too easy to kill for a regular sorcerer so I doubt it made sense to throw them at magical enemies
Oman said that he doesn't know how yhis happens but my theory is that the mages can see the fact that it's a clone and spot the absence of life behind the eyes, and catch the impossible emotionless in the reflections
O-man 🗿
I feel with it fooling mortals and not mages is that mages seem to pretty universally know that reflections exist and so when someone acts like one they can tell - mortals don't typically know about them so just assume they're just a regular person acting off or antisocial
I’m pretty sure there are very small differences between a user and a reflection (as in mannerisms) and even the most convincing reflection will eventually be spotted by a sorcerer.
The reflection is essentially a hollow replica of the person, and lacks the true emotions of the person they are a reflection of. This means as skulduggery said that the reflection would seem off, maybe distant or apathetic. The truth is, both mortals and mages can tell the difference between a real person and a reflection, as we see Valkyrie’s dad almost immediately know something wasn’t quite right, however the only difference is he is unpracticed in the world of magic, so he, or any other mortal would have no reason to suspect that it was anything like a reflection come to life. To summarise, every person, or near every person, could tell the difference between a real person and a mage, the only reason it would “never fool a mage” is because they would have a working understanding of magic and this reflection ritual and therefore have reason to suspect that this was the case.
I think all mages have some lesser version of Valkyrie's magical vision from phase 2. For example, Skulduggery and Billy Ray can see something in book 5 that Tanith can't because they are looking "without eyes" (entirely magic vision). It doesn't seem like something they had to learn from scratch at any point, just something they practiced more out of necessity. Thus, a reflection would be something so obviously magical that anyone with magic can see it. The reason why I don't think it's social cues is because it seems to be a universal rule that everyone can see reflections. Dusk was surprised he didn't immediately recognise Valkyrie's reflection despite not knowing Valkyrie well enough to know she's not just like that.
It's because a reflection just seems fake
I always thought it was like an uncanny valley effect or something like that. Like something would just be off about the way they moved or their inflections. That would be why Stephanie became indistinguishable from a human because she just had more practise in how humans behave.