The "silence period"

[Erika Maroonmark]

What exactly is up with the vow of silence taken by the apprentice mages? In Exile 1, Ambrin tells you when he teaches you spells, "Don't ask the students for help. They are forbidden to speak without permission." or something like that. However, in A3, Carrie tells you that she had to go through a "silence period" during her first year where she couldn't talk, but now she can.

 

In addition, when you "talk" to the apprentice mages in the dorms in E1, the girl is said to be sixteen or seventeen and the boy is "very young, barely a teen." Neither of them is allowed to talk. It's possible, though, that apprentices could come to the Tower at different ages if they develop power at different times. So they *could* both be first-year students, but I don't remember any mention being made of the one-year "silence period" at all.

 

The only apprentices who talk to you in E1 are the crazy guy (and he's crazy)... I think he was an apprentice... and Kelner (and he's rebellious). Either that or they've finished their "silence periods," which I never heard mentioned in E1.

 

So, was it just changed in the games? Was it also changed, IC, from the beginning of the timeline to later? Also, was there a Tower of the Magi on the surface? Is it ever mentioned what Solberg's, for example, apprentice days were like?

 

(So there's this group of apprentice mages. They don't have any mirrors, and they've all taken a vow of silence. Some of them have red eyes... )

[Alorael at Large]

The only reference to a year of silence that I know of is Carrie, and she only says that she spent a year silent. It's possible that time spent silent is dependent on how fast the apprentice learns. If someone shows up older, they'll be silent when they're older.

 

I don't remember any crazy apprentice in E1, but Kelner talks for a reason. In A1 he returns to silence after you defeat Adze-Haakai. (I didn't get that far in E1, so I don't know.) Note that in E3 Carrie is (if I remember right) a mage.

 

I'd say that only the first year(s) of apprenticehood are spent silently. Then the apprentices become mages, and while they're still students, they're students who can talk and throw fireballs.

 

—Alorael, who doesn't think anything changed significantly. If anything, the process simply remains nebulous throughout all the games.

[Drakefyre]

The silence periods are different depending on how long one spends as an apprentice.

 

Kelner is an important character.

[Erika Maroonmark]

Quote:

Originally written by Involution:
I don't remember any crazy apprentice in E1, but Kelner talks for a reason. In A1 he returns to silence after you defeat Adze-Haakai. (I didn't get that far in E1, so I don't know.)

There was this guy in a corner that you could get to through a secret passage who was having a nervous breakdown and saying cryptic things about Linda and the Haakai Lord. I started a thread about him last summer, and someone said he was important in some way later. I think he was an apprentice. In E1, Kelner doesn't change at all when you kill the Adze-Haakai. Neither does Solberg. Maybe they do when you get Demonslayer *and* kill it. It's all very strange.
Everything makes more sense now... thanks guys. ^^

[Arch-Mage Solberg]

About how the silence period was done when I was an apprentice is something you can privately talk to me about, but not here! It was done way differently.