BoM/TWS Message Forum

> First, is it possible to refresh the memories in a golem mask?

I'm trying to remember if that has ever been attempted in the story. I don't think it has been, and even if your explanation isn't the right one, I think your intuition is correct. If you copied a person into a mask, golemized the mask, and placed it on them, it would of course have all their memories up until the moment you copied them into the mask. If you then took it off them, let them resume their life, and then placed it back upon them, I think it would resume with only the memories that were in it when you removed the mask. But someone might correct me on what has been done in the story.

> Does essentia have any characteristics that would help identify who it originally was inside?

No. There might be tests that could be used to match essentia to someone, the way a DNA sample can be matched to someone if you get DNA from them, but essentia has no such markers. Not that you asked, but substantia is even more anonymous -- all substantia is interchangeable, just as carbon molecules are interchangeable.

> The common conclusion in the story itself is that it was put in the book as a kind of ethical test by the author to see how far a person was willing to go to unlock the book. Not sure if there's an different reason out of the story.

That is one hypothesis. It could also be intended as an impediment -- those who are unwilling to experiment on a living person will be barred from reaching the golem-shell spell, when you can *really* start doing some damage. The book has several such impediments in quick succession -- the torn page, and the shift to using sigils and arcane rebuses instead of explicit instructions -- so the insertion of the corpse-golem spell might also be intended to slow at least some people up.

It could also be that the author was just a giant, dripping dick.