The masks of inscrutability, or are you really you?

[Maeggaladiel]

Today on "Behind the Mask," we examine a peculiar specimen of Wight known among the Barrow Downs as Maeggaladiel of the Four Eyes.

Althought the so-called "President" of the questionable Society of Nearsighted Elves, careful research has proven that the creature who claims to be Maeggaladiel is actually human.

Where "Maeg" is talkative and spontaneous, her offline counterpart is quiet and tranquil. The OTHER Maeg spends her time drawing and writing, whereas BD Maeg spends it staring at pictures and making up captions for them, or claiming that she is dead.

Although Maeggaladiel claims to be a fan of Figwit, her alter-ego drools over Orlando, Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Antonio Banderas, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Harrisson Ford (when he was younger), Cary Ewles (in Princess Bride), Matthew Modine (See "Cuthroat Island" for details) and a variety of other actors who make up what is known in her household as "THE LIST." You should all be glad that she refrains from speaking of THE LIST while on the Downs.

Offline Maeg likes a variety of films that she does not discuss on the Downs, from VanHelsing to Pirates of the Carribbean to French Kiss to Ten Things I Hate About You. (She just remembered that Heath Ledger is also on THE LIST.)

She is indeed nearsighted, and has astigmatism in her right eye.

NEXT TIME ON "UNMASKED": MODERATORS: DEMONIC UNDEAD OBSERVERS OR NORMAL GUYS WITH TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS?

Heh heh!!! (Dodges as Pio, the BW, and Bethberry throw things at Maeg)

[Saraphim]

No, Diamond. I'm not nearly that clever.


Anyway, I have recently asked my friend to look at a thread I participated in on the Downs and pick which poster I was. He couldn't. Therefore, it is only plausable to assume that Saraphim is a different person than Kira.

Or maybe, my insomniacal friend was too tired to tell the difference.

At any rate, props to Maeg for a super-funny post!

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Hmm...

Aylwen is a thirty-something innkeeper. Aylwen's offline counterpart is just turning fifteen this Saturday and works as a student. I feel like I'm more...stubborn and assertive in real life. Offline I feel more like a leader in that I always make sure everyone is on task and that everyone (including myself!) is doing their work to bring a project together. Aylwen sometimes needs a little nudging, and is affected by a more outgoing RL persona. Mallory likes to run (as a sport) in her free time...Aylwen just stands behind a bar and yells at people. Aylwen tends to follow the rules of the place she roams about (the Barrow-Downs) while Mallory tends to be a bit more...crazy and spontaneous, I'm told.

However, both Mallory and Aylwen like music. Neither of them have died yet (Aman!), so they are similar in that respect as well.

-Innkeeper/Student

[Lhunardawen]

Now I am rather confused myself as to who is really sitting in front of the computer right now.

*takes a deep breath*

Lhunardawen is a myopic Halfelven queen who likes to think she is quite as mature as she wants to be. But behind the royal spectacles, Abby (who is bespectacled herself) is merely a 15-year-old Tolkien fan who desires to discuss Middle Earth with others who share her interest, finding none as intensely addicted as her (except for her brother, Nilpaurion Felagund). The Barrow-Downs, for this reason, feels like home to her. As Abby can be very trusting and easily opens up to others, Lhunardawen cannot be so because of obvious reasons. But all the same, both of them can be very crazy one minute and serious the next.

And Abby can be very insane, doing something as silly as talking to her stuffed seal (as she is doing right now).

[Eowyn Skywalker]

...Hmmm... am I really me? You'll never know... maybe I am really Eowyn Skywalker, and I really do have Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, and... well, my title is a paragraph long... and I can't remember it all. But then, maybe I'm NOT. Hm... who'd ever know? Maybe I'm actually a computer here, trying to discover the secrets of the hidden pathes of the Barrow-downs... maybe I'm a Jedi, who somehow made it to Earth. Maybe I'm an Elf, though I'd be more inclinded to say Hobbit here.

No, Eowyn Skywalker is very much like me... though she's a bit... stranger. Yeah... well... actually... I can be as odd as her... plus. Snrk.

I would say, indeed, that I am Eowyn Skywalker, and she is me. But you'll never know that... *laughs evilly*

Well, of course we do have many things in common, as both Eowyn Skywalker and I write, love Anakin... yeah, we must be pretty simular... I would say that I am Eowyn Skywalker, and, if I wanted to, could get away as her in real life... I even have the right costumes... and a lightsaber. I think I am me... hmmm... but what else would I be?

-Eowyn Skywalker

[Joy]

Well, Joy is me and I am Joy

I pretty much talk the way I write, except for the fact that I get to proof-read here.

[The Perky Ent]

Well, quite frankly, The Perky Ent is a whole lot smarter than ******(sorry, it will always be a mystery of time). Although, I'm probably a lot more interesting. Perky is basically the same, just a little more perky

[Morsul the Dark]

Andrew and Morsul are indeed Seperate however they usually converge At home Morsull is prominent at work Morsul sits quiet waiting to get home and onto the Downs On the downs Morsul reigns as top mind in the body of ours

[Mithalwen]

My cyber-self (I won't call her Mithalwen ..which just happened to be my main RPG char elsewhere when I signed up.... Mithalwen to me is that particular char - and is an elf and so gets to be elegant and ever-young ) is expression of my own personality undiluted by the restrictions placed on it in the actual world ..... in some ways this is the most real me for good or ill...... in a place, where I am surrounded by people with common interests, and we "see, no longer blinded by our eyes" .... So you get the best and the worst of me ..... depending whether my mind is in meat-cleaver, stream of consciousness or just plain ditzy mode.... the cyber-me can be a lot nastier and say the things I would only think off line - at least when ston-cold sober ! - but I am really trying to curb the inner bitch...but I fear I will always find the flippant remark irressistable and suffer the guilt when a blow falls heavier than I ever intended..... But the on-line self sometimes has the wits to edit or moderate thoughtless or intemperate remarks....

The internet is really the place where I do my talking mainly..... so many of my friends seem now incapable of talking of anything other than their children (what happened to those funny, clever women I knew at university? and will they ever recover ?) so I tend to have to do a lot of listening .... .Work conversations are usually faily mundane and..... so I think I would go quite mad or curl up and die if I couldn't talk about literature and psychology on-line ...... intellectual is still a bit of an insult in England ........ and there is such a risk of seeming affected of pretentious ....... I spend my life trying to wear my learning lightly...... so in a strange way it is a huge relief to come somewhere where most people are so evidently so much more learned and intelligent than me..... trying not to seem utterly stupid is the main challenge ... it is like the year I spent in Paris .... just about everyone I knew was at least an undergraduate, but many had Doctorates or were amazingly talented ...... it was humbling but very mentally stimulating.......

The cyber self gets to ramble on more cos noone can interrupt her ...lol