Question about a Sorcery ! gamebook illustration

[sieg89]

Hi everyone !


TodayI was wondering about an illustration you can find the Sorcery ! gamebook serie. It's featured regularly between the paragraph and I was wondering of the meaning behind this picture, in the lore of the game.

It look like an ouroboros but there's nothing like that in the game (from my memories) and the snake doesn't bite is own tail (hand in this case?), which is an essential component of the ouroboros symbolic.

The picture in question :



If you have any hindsight, thanks !

[CharlesX]

I think SJ just thought the symbol looked cool and magical. In The Never-ending Story they have snakes with the infinity symbol on the book's cover, although there's no special reason to. I think J. Henson's Labyrinth has the Goblin King wear the infinity symbol, again, no good reason about it. As you say, aside from a slightly contrived reference to Sorcery! The Seven Serpents (meaning the serpents), it's arguably slightly irrelevant.

[a moderator]

Magic and hands are closely related in Sorcery! Hands feature prominently in a number of the spell illustrations, particularly at the start of the Spell Book, and the encounter with the Headhunters reveals that it is impossible to cast spells when your hands are tied. Thus, the hand in opposition to the Sperpent head in the illustration could be considered representative of the Analander. As for why the two are connected - well, the Serpents wouldn't be in book 3 if you weren't on your quest, so your fate is bound with theirs.

Or I might be overthinking things.

[Peter]

It looks like a slightly bizarre or unpleasant version of a common symbol, which is a regular theme throughout John Blanche's illustrations in the series (see the snarling sun or the compass on the map).