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Entry tags:
Abilities
Susan is the granddaughter of Death, and as such she has inherited some of Death's powers. This is in defiance of all the rules of biology - seeing as Death is a skeleton whose daughter, Susan's mother, was adopted - but when it comes to anthropomorphic personifications like Death, logic and basic biology don't really apply. So Death is in Susan's family, and she's inherited an instinctive knowledge of Death's work and is a mix of human and an anthropomorphic personification herself. She is 'a little bit immortal' - what exactly this means in practice is never specified entirely, but she can die. Presumably, while Susan can be killed, she's not bound by the usual human limitations of ageing and time.
And time, indeed, is something she can manipulate to an extent. Susan lives in time, but she's not bound by it. She can pause it, entering into a kind of personal time loop until she's finished what she want to do. And when time stops entirely, while all life on the Disc is utterly frozen Susan is unaffected, and can move around unhindered. Her memory is also not entirely linear, as she has the ability to 'remember' the future. For the most part, though, this is largely unhelpful - as unlike Death, her mostly human mind can't handle remembering everything all at once. So all she sees if flashes of fragmented images and dreams, which don't mean much until she actually gets to the future.
She also seems to have some nebulous ability to manipulate space as well - she transports her class to other places all over the Disc, where the classroom manages to exist both in, say, Uberwald, and Ankh-Morpork as well. The exact limits of this ability, however, aren't really defined, and it possibly only applies to the classroom, which is her domain.
She has more direct abilities, however. Susan can walk through walls, and there's no door that's closed to her. She can also make herself unnoticeable - not just in the case of making it so that people don't see her, but even making it so that they don't remember that she was even there in the first place. Not all creatures are affected by this - other mythological entities will see her perfectly well, as do any creature that is used to seeing things like her, such as wizards and cats and children.
Susan herself can also see the world as it really is - which is much harder than seeing things that aren't there, which humans do naturally all the time. Bogeymen, tooth fairies, other anthropomorphic personifications - Susan can see them all quite clearly, and she has a kind of hyperawareness about the world around her.
She can also speak using Death's voice, which is INDICATED BY SMALL CAPS. Described as being more like actions than words, Death's voice works by stating the way that the universe will be. As such it can be used to intimidate others, and to compel people to obey or answer her. However, even the power of an Eldritch voice can only go so far - she can't make anyone do anything they'd really never do (such as making a head teacher give her a raise, an always impossible task).
She can also summon the scythe of Death, at least when she's 'acting' as Death. She doesn't summon it when Death himself is in the role. But she does certainly have an affinity for stick-like weapons, with the fireplace poker being particular notable. She might not have any formal training with a sword too, but she certainly isn't uncomfortable using one and it's possible that she's inherited some knowledge of how to use one as well.
If she knows a person's name, she can find anyone she wants to. However, this doesn't apply to things that cannot die - for instance, she can't locate Lobsang, who as the son of Time is not bound by Death. And indeed, limits on death itself are limits on Susan's power - in places where death has no power (such as Tooth Fairy's house - where in this child-created world people don't die, they "go away"), none of Susan's abilities work at all.
While she didn't gain this ability until she was seventeen, her hair also has the ability to self-style itself. Partly according to Susan's direct wishes, but also according to her general mood (hence why it takes the form of a severe bun most of the time, but loosens when she's performing Death's duties).
Outside of her supernatural abilities, Susan is highly adept at logic and mathematics, speaks multiple languages, and has in general had a very good education. When she's older, she uses this education in her roles as both a governess and as a teacher. She is in fact very good with children, who respond well to her practical sensibility and unusual teaching methods.
She can also give you the Look. The Look is not threatening, or aggressive. It just makes you want to never, ever, see it again. The Look is also something she's developed over time - she's a master of it as a teacher, but when she's still a teenager her glares had none of this effect.
And time, indeed, is something she can manipulate to an extent. Susan lives in time, but she's not bound by it. She can pause it, entering into a kind of personal time loop until she's finished what she want to do. And when time stops entirely, while all life on the Disc is utterly frozen Susan is unaffected, and can move around unhindered. Her memory is also not entirely linear, as she has the ability to 'remember' the future. For the most part, though, this is largely unhelpful - as unlike Death, her mostly human mind can't handle remembering everything all at once. So all she sees if flashes of fragmented images and dreams, which don't mean much until she actually gets to the future.
She also seems to have some nebulous ability to manipulate space as well - she transports her class to other places all over the Disc, where the classroom manages to exist both in, say, Uberwald, and Ankh-Morpork as well. The exact limits of this ability, however, aren't really defined, and it possibly only applies to the classroom, which is her domain.
She has more direct abilities, however. Susan can walk through walls, and there's no door that's closed to her. She can also make herself unnoticeable - not just in the case of making it so that people don't see her, but even making it so that they don't remember that she was even there in the first place. Not all creatures are affected by this - other mythological entities will see her perfectly well, as do any creature that is used to seeing things like her, such as wizards and cats and children.
Susan herself can also see the world as it really is - which is much harder than seeing things that aren't there, which humans do naturally all the time. Bogeymen, tooth fairies, other anthropomorphic personifications - Susan can see them all quite clearly, and she has a kind of hyperawareness about the world around her.
She can also speak using Death's voice, which is INDICATED BY SMALL CAPS. Described as being more like actions than words, Death's voice works by stating the way that the universe will be. As such it can be used to intimidate others, and to compel people to obey or answer her. However, even the power of an Eldritch voice can only go so far - she can't make anyone do anything they'd really never do (such as making a head teacher give her a raise, an always impossible task).
She can also summon the scythe of Death, at least when she's 'acting' as Death. She doesn't summon it when Death himself is in the role. But she does certainly have an affinity for stick-like weapons, with the fireplace poker being particular notable. She might not have any formal training with a sword too, but she certainly isn't uncomfortable using one and it's possible that she's inherited some knowledge of how to use one as well.
If she knows a person's name, she can find anyone she wants to. However, this doesn't apply to things that cannot die - for instance, she can't locate Lobsang, who as the son of Time is not bound by Death. And indeed, limits on death itself are limits on Susan's power - in places where death has no power (such as Tooth Fairy's house - where in this child-created world people don't die, they "go away"), none of Susan's abilities work at all.
While she didn't gain this ability until she was seventeen, her hair also has the ability to self-style itself. Partly according to Susan's direct wishes, but also according to her general mood (hence why it takes the form of a severe bun most of the time, but loosens when she's performing Death's duties).
Outside of her supernatural abilities, Susan is highly adept at logic and mathematics, speaks multiple languages, and has in general had a very good education. When she's older, she uses this education in her roles as both a governess and as a teacher. She is in fact very good with children, who respond well to her practical sensibility and unusual teaching methods.
She can also give you the Look. The Look is not threatening, or aggressive. It just makes you want to never, ever, see it again. The Look is also something she's developed over time - she's a master of it as a teacher, but when she's still a teenager her glares had none of this effect.