Beyond the Veil

[jain]

To gain access to the Otherworld, travelers have to pass through the veil of everyday reality into the strange beyond. Sometimes this veil is a mist or portal at the entrance to a cave; sometimes it is the surface of the ocean, beneath which lies a wonderful land. This theme of things being other than they appear runs through the Otherworld like a seam of silver in a rock-face. Illusions are everywhere, and present a major hazard. Sometimes the supernatural world triumphs, the illusions turn out to be snares, and travelers do not return; sometimes they return safely, even bringing back a precious object with magic properties.

--Juliette Wood, The Celtic Book of Living and Dying

Comments

[meacoustic.livejournal.com]

That's so very Sirius-y.

[jain]

It really is. My sister read that passage to me last night (she's using the book in one of her classes) and I completely flipped out.

[glitterdemon.livejournal.com]

sometimes they return safely, even bringing back a precious object with magic properties.

::bites lip and crosses fingers:: Please let JKR be a fan of Celtic mythology...

[jain]

Please let JKR be a fan of Celtic mythology...

From your lips to God's ears. I do think that Sirius fits the paradigm of a traveler in an otherworld where "illusions [have the potential to] turn out to be snares," and where he succeeds or fails to return from beyond the veil on his own; it just suits him somehow. At the very least, it would be nice to have fanfiction that involved this option rather than the increasingly hackneyed Orpheus/Eurydice formula.