Difference between hosting a power and devouring it?

[kkck]

The series has more or less elaborated on how people within the series can acquire external powers to their own and use them to power up basically. There are two types so far:

1.- The first would be to simply host a power. There are a few instances of this in the series. One would be kallavan with his essence of bravery. Another would be evankhel with his ancient. Aguero with his fire fish is another instance. And the last one I can think of is hell joe with the red bari.

2.- And then there is bam's way which seems slightly different. He basically devours things he runs into and adds them to his arsenal. Both thrysas, souls, black march. As SIU has explained in blog posts the implication is that bam calls out on these powers via his revolution.

So... what is the difference between hosting a power and simply devouring? The series has kinda made the point that bam devouring something makes it an actual part of him however in practice it doesn't seem like it works substantially different from simply hosting a power. Kallavan, aguero, evankhel didn't seem to need to go through the hassle of revolution to use the powers they host. Perhaps the difference is that devoured powers are inherently compatible with the host? Or perhaps a normal being can host just a few powers meanwhile bam can devour as much as he likes?

 

[hblock]

Baam could already devour things before completing his revolution, it's basically an original trait of him.
Revolution is, the way I view it, just an amazing booster to all his stats, just like the Thorns. For example, SIU stated that it allows him to poor more deeply within B&R thryssa's powers, enough to make appear horns. He couldn't do that to this extent before but he was already able to use R&B Thryssa's strength.

 

[Dutchy]

I think the point is that Baam's potential is limitless and the power he consumes doesn't even scratch the surface. He is able to acclimatise almost instantly to any boost, which leads me to believe he is borrowing power he doesn't actually need.

 

[kkck]

Baam could already devour things before completing his revolution, it's basically an original trait of him.
Revolution is, the way I view it, just an amazing booster to all his stats, just like the Thorns. For example, SIU stated that it allows him to poor more deeply within B&R thryssa's powers, enough to make appear horns. He couldn't do that to this extent before but he was already able to use R&B Thryssa's strength.

Bam could definitely always devour things. However it is revolution that allows him to fully draw from within what he has devoured.

 

[Lombert]

I think,Baam's skill is creation.Somethink,like admin powers,but more perfect,without negative effects.
For example,Evanhell can reduce yourself,but with losing part of strenght.With Baam's plot armor skills,there won't be negative effect.

 

[OneEye]

The series has more or less elaborated on how people within the series can acquire external powers to their own and use them to power up basically. There are two types so far:

1.- The first would be to simply host a power. There are a few instances of this in the series. One would be kallavan with his essence of bravery. Another would be evankhel with his ancient. Aguero with his fire fish is another instance. And the last one I can think of is hell joe with the red bari.

2.- And then there is bam's way which seems slightly different. He basically devours things he runs into and adds them to his arsenal. Both thrysas, souls, black march. As SIU has explained in blog posts the implication is that bam calls out on these powers via his revolution.

So... what is the difference between hosting a power and simply devouring? The series has kinda made the point that bam devouring something makes it an actual part of him however in practice it doesn't seem like it works substantially different from simply hosting a power. Kallavan, aguero, evankhel didn't seem to need to go through the hassle of revolution to use the powers they host. Perhaps the difference is that devoured powers are inherently compatible with the host? Or perhaps a normal being can host just a few powers meanwhile bam can devour as much as he likes?

Well, I'd rather assert that " hosting " a power is pretty much well understood and explained with the above mentioned examples. But Then, " devouring " powers seems different from what Baam actually does! A devoured power normally losses its individuality and particularity to become part of a new whole, then it literally ceases to exist. For example, White devoured his siblings and they're no more; as such, when White blocks an attack it's not by for instance summoning Vicente's blocking style, no, Vicente no longer exists cos he's devoured and reintegrated to form a new entity.

What Baam seems to do is therefore neither hosting nor devouring; it rather looks like absorption, in a manner that permits each entity to maintain its personality and have a say on whatever is going on around Baam, deciding whether to and how to help Baam or not ( Blue Thryssa decided on It's own to form a shield against Kallavan; Red Thryssa decided to assist against Gado when Baam cried out for more power; Black March decided to provide endurance against Charlie in the last station).

Absorbed powers therefore tend to provide limited and progressively increasing assistance ( powers) to their owners, depending on various reasons like training, killing intent, etc; unlike hosted powers (Koon A.A) and devoured powers ( White) that provide instant crazy advantages

 

[kkck]

Well, I'd rather assert that " hosting " a power is pretty much well understood and explained with the above mentioned examples. But Then, " devouring " powers seems different from what Baam actually does! A devoured power normally losses its individuality and particularity to become part of a new whole, then it literally ceases to exist. For example, White devoured his siblings and they're no more; as such, when White blocks an attack it's not by for instance summoning Vicente's blocking style, no, Vicente no longer exists cos he's devoured and reintegrated to form a new entity.

What Baam seems to do is therefore neither hosting nor devouring; it rather looks like absorption, in a manner that permits each entity to maintain its personality and have a say on whatever is going on around Baam, deciding whether to and how to help Baam or not ( Blue Thryssa decided on It's own to form a shield against Kallavan; Red Thryssa decided to assist against Gado when Baam cried out for more power; Black March decided to provide endurance against Charlie in the last station).

Absorbed powers therefore tend to provide limited and progressively increasing assistance ( powers) to their owners, depending on various reasons like training, killing intent, etc; unlike hosted powers (Koon A.A) and absorbed powers ( White) that provide instant crazy advantages

The implication is that the powers bam absorbs do become an actual part of him though. Of course, within bam they continue to display their original personalities but the implication is the same. We have yet to see a single instance of a power loosing all of its personality once its within someone. Even white's siblings continue to exist, they simply are not conscious. Maybe. That's why when the spell was undone within the hell train we saw the siblings simply roaming around. The souls do loose their... individuality when devoured by white but to me that reads more like it is because the souls join a formless mass of souls rather than specifically because they were devoured... Either way, its definitely not something that applies to bam..

Devouring is the actual term that has been used in the series to describe what bam does. Though it is true that it might not be a technical term or entirely accurate. but it is the best we got.... And I can't stress enough that we have not seen a single instance of a "power" that had a life of its own lose it when hosted or devoured.

I am thinking that perhaps a key difference here is how many powers bam can absorb and perhaps bam can ignore specks for this. Or perhaps force the power to adapt to him. As in, kallavan was presumably worthy or at least capable of wielding the essence of bravery, hence why he took it. Basically kallavan had the right specks to wield such a power. In bam's case though.. he has taken many insanely powerful beings at no real cost to himself. Even as a powerless regular he is able to take all of those things continuously. We saw how powerful the red thrysa is for instance. the blue thrysa is also presumably insanely powerful... Bam has a substantial amount of souls as well (though not necessarily as many as white has)... and so on. Meanwhile aguero has just the sweetfish and he suffers a rebound of sorts after using his power a lot and he is also literally threatened by it.

 

[OneEye]

Upon second thought, devouring and hosting now look very much alike: in each case, some form of "revolution " and progressive mastery seem to be needed before being able to fully access the abilities of the hosted/devoured powers:

- Baam needed revolution to mastering most of all what he devoured. Even his mastery of the thorn was progressive as he used to complain about the effects it had on his body in season 2 (he was even warned several times to limit its use back then).

- Koon a.a. received his fire fish after his revolutionary training with his data dad, which resulted in him understanding the basics of manipulation of elements. He had trained with ice and so fire just looked like a variation of that.

- we have no idea of how much time Evankhell needed to master hers, but nothing suggests it was instantaneous.

-White had already been a high ranker, so all he needs is to remember his former self and so doesn't need any further adaptation time after absorbing new souls. ( but then, he trained a lot and researched extensively on spells before ever reaching his prime the first time; that may have been his own form of revolution).

- Kallavan too was already insanely strong as a mere ranker, but seems to have needed time, during Jinsung 's absence, to get to master the EoB (he was shown meditating on it). They never even fought back then so we can't confirm his mastery was already total. ( plus all the people he fought and collected were probably his punching bags to master his power).

- All those receiving 13th months appear not to master it instantaneously as we saw with Anak and Yuri. But then, 13th months are awards destined for people who have already found themselves (revolution?) and need no serious training.

- lastly, Hell Joe absorbed a baby admin and so needed time to grow its powers. ( the period of time during which he was still sympathetic).

In conclusion, all those hosting or devouring power can be viewed as containers who's limits seem to be defined by a number of variables: training (Kallavan, Koon), spells (White), wrath from disappointment (Hell Joe), courage (Evankhell), contracts... and above all, heredity from irregular parents (Baam and direct descendants probably all have great hosting abilities). The difference with Baam being that he was specially remade by an outside god to be a tool of revenge, to be able to exaggerating extend his absorption/ devouring limit until he can equalize and surpass Zahard's power ( reason for which Rachel saw a real monster in him with such virtually limitless devouring ability)

 

[Dutchy]

Albelda's assumptions about a host experiencing shock as a side effect of receiving vast amounts of souls is an indication of difference between Baam and pretty much anyone not an irregular.

Whether his body can handle how that power is manifested is another issue, but fact is, he has a god-tier reservoir and has an even more voracious appetite than White.

 

[Orbs2op]

Bam abilities to devour powers and instantly copy skills come from the power the God outside, also erase things seems to be a ability as well, Bam real talent is wave controlling, anything shinsu related and fighting on instincts, possibly spells if that gets expanded upon.

Arlene called bam a monster so he might have devoured her spell hax or copy it and upgraded it, she stayed away and had Rachel take care of him instead, imo he had these abilities since his resurrection outside the the tower not an innate talent, just fragments of god power.

As for devouring vs host goes, the powers can leave their host when they die or take away power from them at will, in bam case when he activates revolution he can forcefully use all powers as he wishes to any extent he can handle, if bam dies the powers are lost with him maybe.