Petofi's Hand

[arashi]

Question!

My sister and I were watching a few episodes off boxset 16 last night, and she asked me a question that I suddenly realized I didn't know the answer to. It was the following:

Why was Petofi's hand cut off?

And I thought and realized (I think) that we were given two conflicting reasons on the show, 1. That it was payment from Julianka's grandmother for curing Petofi of his lycanthropy, or 2. It was punishment for the slaughter of 9 gypsies.

Am I getting storylines mixed up? Was there a definitive answer?

[ProfStokes]

He lost his hand for the first reason you stated.  The lycanthropy was the punishment for killing the gypsies.

ProfStokes

[MagnusTrask]

I feel obligated to keep a thread with the fine name of "Petofi's Hand" going for as long as possible.

Man, did I want another glimpse of that disgusting, horrific appendage with that nasty graphic bone sticking out the end of it, for all the 32 years between the original viewing and the purchase of my tapes.    Isn't it strange what we can develop a desire for?

I was very thrown by the fact that events turned out to be different than in my memories of DS.    I was certain that Petofi figured into "present-day" Collinwood.  I had a flash of memory of people seated around a table in Collinwood (though I now realize I couldn't tell as a child whether things were happening there or in the Old House), discussing repeatedly how they had to be deathly afraid of Petofi finding his way to the Hand, because then he would acquire power over All, and the world was doomed.    I thought this was his second coming, sorry about the metaphor, and that we met him in the past, then the present.

[arashi]

Man, did I want another glimpse of that disgusting, horrific appendage with that nasty graphic bone sticking out the end of it, for all the 32 years between the original viewing and the purchase of my tapes.    Isn't it strange what we can develop a desire for?

I was very thrown by the fact that events turned out to be different than in my memories of DS.    I was certain that Petofi figured into "present-day" Collinwood.  I had a flash of memory of people seated around a table in Collinwood (though I now realize I couldn't tell as a child whether things were happening there or in the Old House), discussing repeatedly how they had to be deathly afraid of Petofi finding his way to the Hand, because then he would acquire power over All, and the world was doomed.    I thought this was his second coming, sorry about the metaphor, and that we met him in the past, then the present.

Don't we wish. Well, me anyway. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I thought this was his second coming, sorry about the metaphor, and that we met him in the past, then the present.

Don't we wish. Well, me anyway.

It's not just you, arashi. I would have loved to have seen Petofi show up in the present.

[petofi]

I always felt robbed of a good story without Petofi in the present day.  I once toyed around with a fanfic story(never finished) in which a mysterious fellow from the Far East comes to Collinsport in the 1970s under cover of darkness to threaten the Collinses - his name was Fang, and he was head of an underground cult of magician/assassins - his followers referred to him as "Death's right hand."  Of course, he turns out to be Count Petofi!

Petofi

[Pansity]

I love the sound of that story, Petofi, and hope you find a way to write/finish it someday.

This fandom needs a lot more good fanfic stories about characters OTHER than the main ones!


And I, too would have loved to see them work Petofi into the present day stuff. He's too good a villain not to keep bringing back!

[Aristia]

I always felt robbed of a good story without Petofi in the present day.  I once toyed around with a fanfic story(never finished) in which a mysterious fellow from the Far East comes to Collinsport in the 1970s under cover of darkness to threaten the Collinses - his name was Fang, and he was head of an underground cult of magician/assassins - his followers referred to him as "Death's right hand."  Of course, he turns out to be Count Petofi!

I remember that - and I so wish you had finished it!  

[IluvBarnabas]

Who knows? Maybe if the show hadn't been cancelled, Petofi just might have made an appearance in the present day....no doubt he still had some scores to settle with Barnabas, Julia, and Quentin. It would have been interesting to see what further evil the infamous Count could have inflicted on the Collins family of the 1960's/1970's.

[BuzzH]

Petofi just might have made an appearance in the present day

He showed up in a Christmas Round Robin we did back on the old Sci-Fi boards a couple years ago.  

[arashi]

Now here's another question. Presuming the gypsies didn't find him and take back the Hand, wasn't Petofi immortal?

I remember during the search for the Hand he had said they gypsies gave him 150 years to find it, or he would die. So once he found it was he immortal? Or did he just live for a LOOOOOONG time?

[Pansity]

Petofi just might have made an appearance in the present day

He showed up in a Christmas Round Robin we did back on the old Sci-Fi boards a couple years ago.  

Thanks for reminding me, Buzz.  And for more fanfiction featuring Petofi, here's a link to one of a couple of unconnected stories by the same author, featuring both Petofi and Elliot Stokes in the {then} present day.  http://www.fanfiction.net/s/902863/1/

And Petofi also appears as a pivotal character in these two Quentin novels, one set in the 1920's (Taking Wooden Nickels) and the other (Alternate Destinies) picking up within Leviathan (WARNING WARNING THIS ONE WAS LEFT ON A CLIFFHANGER -- UNFINISHED -- AND ACCORDING TO THE AUTHOR PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE.)  http://www.fortunecity.com/athena/feminism/1252/id47.htm