I have a strange question about the 7 planes. Ok, so we know that Bartimaeus can be, say, a pigeon on planes 1-4, but on planes 5-7 he remains his true (or truer) form (which he describes as ugly, having tentacles and stuff) right? If so, this form would probably be bigger than a pigeon. My question is: are the planes physical as well as visual?

Could he be something big and something small at the same time, just on different planes? Or when he is something small on the lower planes, does his form on the higher planes shrink to match it? I told you it was a weird question.

Hrm. Interesting question. Seeing as he can do stuff like become a mole on the first six planes and dig into somewhere, I'm guessing the seventh plane-upwards (he says right at the beginning that there are more, and anyone using them is just showing off - i.e. he can't) forms must shrink to fit whatever form he selects on the ones he can control. Weird thought.

yes, that is a likely possibilty. i wonder if he has to maintain his truer form on the higher planes (or just the 7th) even when he is very weak and takes the form of grey liquid or slime etc?

I don't think he has a choice about what he looks like on the seventh plane; if he did he'd change on that too to stop other spirits recognising him on it. That said, it could well be significantly diminished when he's in an extremely weakened state.

Bartimaeus said that his grey liquid guise (which resembles dirty dish-washing liquid) was the closest thing he could get to his actual essence. This is why he is forced to revert to this guise when severely weakened. I wonder if his form on the 7th plane reverts to this too? Or if it somehow remains the same . . .

Mmm...if so poor Barti. Faquarl gets tentacles. :P

Bartimaeus' dirty water form only occurred because he was weak and unconscious at the time.
People's faces don't look perfect when they sleep, same sort of thing here.
As for your question, I'd say his normal 7th plane form shrinks to fit the size, but remains generally the same.
Explain: Mole-sized weird tentacle thing.
Still weird tentacle thing, just mole-sized.

Dansariki wrote:Bartimaeus' dirty water form only occurred because he was weak and unconscious at the time.

I know, I already said that and besides it wasn't part of the question. But yes, as for your solution that's probably the case.

I have a feeling that Bart's true form seen in the 7th plane won't shrink in size when Bart takes a smaller guise. His true form might be like a ghost. It can pass through stuffs as if they didn't exist.

That's why I was sort of asking if the planes are physical. Well obviosly the first one is, but maybe you're right. If he was trying to be a mole to dig underground, wouldn't tentacles and stuff slow him down, even if his form on the 7th plane shrank to match his guise?

Yep.
Ghost works nicely, but complete lack of evidence from the Trilogy.

Dansariki wrote:People's faces don't look perfect when they sleep, same sort of thing here.

I thought people were at peace when sleeping.

People's faces don't look perfect full stop.

umbreo wrote:People's faces don't look perfect full stop.

I never said they were perfect. Just with less stress.

No, I wasn't saying that to you. I should have quoted Dansariki. He said "People's faces don't look perfect when they're sleeping", so I said they don't look perfect full stop.

(My comp stuffs up whenever I try to use the quote button, sorry)

umbreo wrote:No, I wasn't saying that to you. I should have quoted Dansariki. He said "People's faces don't look perfect when they're sleeping", so I said they don't look perfect full stop.

(My comp stuffs up whenever I try to use the quote button, sorry)

Oh. That's alright. =D

Was it ever mentioned what purpose each plane served? I wonder what the spirits with more planes see.

Each plane was supposed to show different levels of magic - usually the higher the plane the more powerful the magic.

Not really... the higher the plane, the more of the nature of the magic is revealed.

Yes, I meant to say that more powerful magic can be seen on the higher planes.