Rogue Appreciation 2021

[ChronoRogue]

That seems to be an artistic choice or writer directive..."for effect" (Or probably that's just how her silly absorbtion from a distance powers worked...)
It's been shown countless number of times under Claremont that her "victims" just fall unconscious as when she absorbed Kurt, Colossus, Storm, Val Cooper and even Carol. Juggernaut just "deflated". Physical degradation is not the norm. The Cody incident, being the moment her powers activated would always be the sole outlier.

While it is a far distant future AU possibility that she could develop her powers to "feed" off others and extending her lifespan...knowing how she actually feels about how her powers affects others here in the 616...I don't see her going that route, at all.

I mean I guess you could argue that but at this point it's happened with multiple creative teams.

Another interesting interaction this time from Carey, Rogue looks visibly sick and aged after the encounter with Pandemic.


Shortly afterwards Rogue deliberately absorbs the entity Hecatomb. Cable outright says she absorbed near 8 billion lives after touching it.


And despite Hetacomb breaking her mind, you can see absorbing those lives has restored her health.


I'm sure I could find more examples if I looked hard enough but I'm not sure it'll matter if you only put significance into what CC portrayed. While I think his portrayal matters a lot, he's not the only one defining the character.

Though I'd argue most of Rogue's absorption during Claremont's run weren't long enough for the effect to have a visibly dangerous effect. The only exception being Carol, who did end up in a coma even if she didn't die. It's also one of the first time Rogue used her powers in that way, so it's expected Rogue didn't outright kill her; though I expect it was a near thing.

It also means MIND...as in how she's been able to adopt memories, feelings, characteristics like speech patterns from those she touches.

My question on her stealing souls is simply...how and why do those she touch become whole again once they revive? And what happens to the part she took, once she's depleted the power use?

This is probably in essence philosophical but the mind could be argued to be the soul or part of it. Isn't that sort of how the Krakoan resurrection process works actually? Especially since you need a telepath to complete the resurrection process, otherwise it's just a husk.

That's an interesting question. I think it's rare for her to keep "souls" permanently but it can happen, usually if the encounter is fatal.

I'd argue that if Rogue keeps the absorption, they don't become "whole". We saw how Carol struggled to reconnect emotionally with her memories even as they returned in some respect, so it's clear Rogue took something permanent there. A part of her soul it could be argued.

I'd say Rogue probably releases the mind(s) or soul back into the "ether" or whoever she recently absorbed if she has no use for it or if she gets wiped 'clean' ala Hope. Since it's rare for her to take a noticeable piece, it's not something we've seen happen often. Huh... I wonder if Apocalypse would've been able to be resurrected if Rogue 'held' onto his soul ala Carol.