The limits of Gladstone's luck

[Orora]

I think we have noticed limits about Gladstone's luck.

Despite having so much having handed to him, it seems he can't:

- Use his luck to willingly harm somebody else.
A few times, I have seen him antagonize someone (not always Donald), but he had to resort to casual tricks to do that, like Donald would do.
And it would not really work out for him in the end, since even Gladstone needs to deal with karma sometimes.

- Use his luck to willingly help somebody else.
Gladstone is very selfish and usually doesn't care about other people's misfortune, but I remember a couple of times where he wanted to help someone else, but because his luck could only work on himself, he had to use "loopholes" by asking his luck to help him by helping this other person.

- Have his luck not work willingly, or have bad luck come to him on purpose.
One story has Gladstone make a bet with a man: could he have bad luck on command? He goes through the day without any problem... but that was because Donald followed him around and made his best to keep him out of trouble, because he (DD) thought he accidentally cursed him (GG), felt guilty about it and tried to protect him.

Are those "laws" coherent with most stories? Are they confirmed, outright stated somewhere?

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Oct 27, 2017 0:40:45 GMT Orora said:

- Use his luck to willingly harm somebody else.
A few times, I have seen him antagonize someone (not always Donald), but he had to resort to casual tricks to do that, like Donald would do.
And it would not really work out for him in the end, since even Gladstone needs to deal with karma sometimes.

That's explicitly true in DuckTales, where he outright loses his luck after semi-accidentally helping Magica De Spell with it. 

[Lieju]

For me it always made most sense to think of Lady Luck as a character on her own right. She is giving Gladstone that luck and favouring him, but can get annoyed with him, or jealous. Happy romantic life seems to be one thing he can't have for example even if that's a case of Luck being jealous or like a possessive mother going 'no way you're good enough for my boy!'

What Lady Luck allows is up to her and her whims.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Feb 25, 2018 15:56:12 GMT Lieju said:

For me it always made most sense to think of Lady Luck as a character on her own right. She is giving Gladstone that luck and favouring him, but can get annoyed with him, or jealous. Happy romantic life seems to be one thing he can't have for example even if that's a case of Luck being jealous or like a possessive mother going 'no way you're good enough for my boy!'

What Lady Luck allows is up to her and her whims.

And that's actually canon(ish), too! I recall an Italian story where Gladstone's Luck was a personified entity.

[Lieju]

Feb 25, 2018 17:55:55 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Feb 25, 2018 15:56:12 GMT Lieju said:

For me it always made most sense to think of Lady Luck as a character on her own right. She is giving Gladstone that luck and favouring him, but can get annoyed with him, or jealous. Happy romantic life seems to be one thing he can't have for example even if that's a case of Luck being jealous or like a possessive mother going 'no way you're good enough for my boy!'

What Lady Luck allows is up to her and her whims.

And that's actually canon(ish), too! I recall an Italian story where Gladstone's Luck was a personified entity.

Oh yes I know. But it's not the way how it's always written and lot of the time the logic isn't really that clear.

Don Rosa went with his luck being a thing that always sort of supports him against the odds but I don't think that really works...

Thinking of his luck as a conscious choice by a sentient (if inhuman) being allows for plots where he does feel hardship or his luck doesn't always give him everything right away or seems to do things like work against his happiness and still make sense.

[Orora]

Feb 25, 2018 17:55:55 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Feb 25, 2018 15:56:12 GMT Lieju said:

For me it always made most sense to think of Lady Luck as a character on her own right. She is giving Gladstone that luck and favouring him, but can get annoyed with him, or jealous. Happy romantic life seems to be one thing he can't have for example even if that's a case of Luck being jealous or like a possessive mother going 'no way you're good enough for my boy!'

What Lady Luck allows is up to her and her whims.

And that's actually canon(ish), too! I recall an Italian story where Gladstone's Luck was a personified entity.

Was the luck shown as a female anthropomorphic duck? I remember a story with a panel where she was represented as such.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Jul 21, 2018 21:05:15 GMT Orora said:

Feb 25, 2018 17:55:55 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

And that's actually canon(ish), too! I recall an Italian story where Gladstone's Luck was a personified entity.

Was the luck shown as a female anthropomorphic duck? I remember a story with a panel where she was represented as such.

It was a pixie-like being, dognose I think. She was featured throughout the (short) story, IIRC. What you're referring to also rings a bell, but that's not what I was talking about. 

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Jul 21, 2018 13:04:23 GMT Lieju said:

Feb 25, 2018 17:55:55 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

And that's actually canon(ish), too! I recall an Italian story where Gladstone's Luck was a personified entity.

Oh yes I know. But it's not the way how it's always written and lot of the time the logic isn't really that clear. 

Er, if you know what story I meant, would you possibly… er, know what story I meant? No idea what its title was or where to look for it but I'd really like to find it again…