What are the differences between the finns ?

[grump]

Mat didn't have nearly as much trouble with the first group and we dont know what benifit they got

Second group was a bear for him What differances do you see?

[reyler]

Mat's different experiences were mostly a result of his ignorance. He went in expecting the same result as the first doorway, and kept on as such even after discovering he was not dealing with the same people.

 

Although his differing experiences would at least seem to indicate that the Aelfinn are not as ready to kill as the Eelfinn. The Aelfinn were more concerned with getting rid of Mat than killing him. But then, the fact that the Eelfinn wear peoples' leftovers kind of hints towards their inclinations.

 

As for what they get out of it, it has something to do with the difference between their emotions and sensory perception and a human's. I don't quite follow it myself. They feed on a person's memory and experiences. Moiraine gives the basics in the Great Hold.

 

And then of course there's the obvious physical differences. Snakes versus foxes, all that.

[Phiotr AlManera]

The main difference obviously is that the Eelfinn answer questions and Aelfinn grant wishes.

[Myyrth]

They always kind of struck me as a sort of Genie.

 

I kind of compared them to Djinn and Efreet.

 

Yet instead of fire and air it's fox's and snakes. I know it's not even close to a direct comparison, yet it's what I thought of when I read about them.

[Luckers]

It puts me in mind of the seighlie and unseighlie courts in celtic mythology. Basically both are of faerie kind, and from both insight, truths and magical artifacts can be gained, but the seighlie are generally helpful, and non-threatening (though they can kill when the rules are disobeyed) and the unseighlie are more threatening, and dangerous, and you have to take measures to protect yourself in dealings with them.

[Myyrth]

I just started reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and the faerie courts in his book really do remind me of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn.

 

I would totally want to be an Aelfinn if I was sent to Randland. Aelfinn rock.