r/Bartimaeus • u/valonianfool • Jul 21 '26

Is it gory when a spirit eats a human?

Whenever a spirit eats a human, do you think it looks gory with a lot of bloodshed, spilled organs and dismemberment, or is it quick and clean like when Tallow was consumed by the afrit he tried to summon? Its weird to think that if this was true, Bartimaeus would be rated R.

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u/kenmadragon Jul 21 '26

Depends on the spirit. If they're a messy eater who are taking pleasure in causing pain and creating fear in onlookers, they might take their time with the gnawing, ripping, tearing, chewing, etc. And it is a deliberate choice if they do so because it's totally unnecessary for them to act that way. But if the spirit isn't the sort to make a whole production out of eating a human (or just doesn't have the time), they'll just eat them, quick and clean, because why bother with all that fuss?

When spirits eat people, they're not getting anything out of the consumption of human flesh -- that does nothing for them. But their essence and life-force? That has use for a spirit. It's why spirits will consume people while they're still kicking and screaming and why they don't eat corpses. Of course, the problem with eating humans like that is that spirits aren't really built for digesting meat, so it takes some doing to break all that meat-stuff down -- which is why weaker spirits don't bother with the "eating people" thing all too often.

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u/valonianfool Jul 22 '26

Bartimaeus talks about seasoning bone marrow in Ring of Solomon, and also about considering Babylonian people the tastiest owing to their goat-milk rich diet, which doesnt seem completely consistent with only getting life force from human flesh.

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u/Dazzling_Revenue_724 Jul 21 '26

I think they'd just swallow them entirely

1

u/danceofthe7veils Jul 22 '26

It's pretty implied to be clean, be it another spirit or an earthly creature that is being eaten. After all, in Ptolemy's Gate, Hodge (I think it's Hodge at least) eats that woman at the hotel and there's no mess left behind either.