Oddly enough, the archetypal serpent was a well-developed concept before J. K. Rowling was born.
Both involve social incapacity, compensated for with cold analytics. Both are potential sources of powerful knowledge, complicated by disrespect for, or incomprehension of, traditional limits on the safe use of such knowledge. Both have an unnervingly primordial feel.
Oddly enough, the archetypal serpent was a well-developed concept before J. K. Rowling was born.
Both involve social incapacity, compensated for with cold analytics. Both are potential sources of powerful knowledge, complicated by disrespect for, or incomprehension of, traditional limits on the safe use of such knowledge. Both have an unnervingly primordial feel.
Don’t worry; I don’t actually think Rowling made that up.
But I’m surprised by the “social incapacity” part: I would think of a serpent as sort of a sociopathic master manipulator.
Doesn’t sociopathy qualify as a type of incapacity?
An emotional one. Not necessarily a social one (though it can be).