Can a player who currently has the Hag Mesmerize another characters followers?

He can't have any other Followers if he has Cursed by a Hag, so he would be casting Mesmerism for no effect.

You can't cast Spells without effect, just to get rid of them. This is not so clear from the Rulebook, but has been added as a (still not very complete) FAQ clarification:

Spell Targets
Characters cannot cast Spells unless the Spells have a valid target. Characters may not discard Spells just to get rid of them.

Example: A character has the Mesmerism Spell which allows him to take a Follower from another character. If none of his opponents have any Followers, he cannot cast Mesmerism just to get rid of the Spell because there are no valid targets available.

Since you are new to this forum, it might be good for you to download the current Talisman FAQ:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Talisman/support/faq1-1/Talisman%20FAQ%201-1.pdf

We play that he can. But the follower has to ditched. The target of the spell is another character so it should be legal to use but when the follower realises that the spellcaster is cursed it refuses to join. Just like a follower drawn from the adventure.

I don't remember the exact wording and I don't have the cards in front of me so I might be missing something... The example you have quoted has nothing to do with this question though.

The target of the spell is another character so it should be legal to use but when the follower realises that the spellcaster is cursed it refuses to join. Just like a follower drawn from the adventure.

I don't remember the exact wording and I don't have the cards in front of me so I might be missing something...

Mesmerism

Cast at the start of your turn, before you move. Take one Follower of your choice from any character.

The example you have quoted has nothing to do with this question though.

True, the right example was in the Rulebook, on page 16:

Characters are not permitted to take cards that they may not have. For example, if a character may not have Followers, he may not take one by casting the Mesmerism Spell on another character.

This closes the book on the question posed by the Original Poster.

However, Mesmerism does not target a Follower and does not target a character, but it has NO TARGET. This is a common problem of Spells, especially earlier ones found in base game and Reaper. After FFG published Reflection, they suddenly realised that a target was needed, not only the timing required for casting, but it was too late to amend previously released Spells with incomplete wording.

We have to play with the few rules that we have. The Rulebook doesn't say anything about casting Spells. It says "A Spell can only be cast as stated on the Spell Card", which is a statement open to every possible interpretation. The FAQ pretends to clarify everything with 2 short sentences: 1) it must have a legal target 2) it cannot be cast just to discard it.

There are Spells without specified target, Spells without specified timing, Spell stacking and priority problems, Hydra Spell, etc....

The FAQ 1.1 is dated November 2011 and I don't think other comments are necessary.

True. I stand corrected. I really have to go through the base game rule book in full again. I can't remember how many times I've said that during a game... so many details I keep forgetting.

And true about spells and targets. So many spells have been used so many times the wording has been lost.

True. I stand corrected. I really have to go through the base game rule book in full again. I can't remember how many times I've said that during a game... so many details I keep forgetting.

I've forgotten that part just as you did and was very relieved when I found such an explicit statement. I was sure it ought to be that way, but I forgot where I read it. Perhaps I was biased by a wrong statement from my side in the "Necromancer query" thread, where I answered considering the rulebook but not considering the FAQ 1.1.

I wish we could have an updated FAQ. Well, I wish we could have a merged Rulebook for this edition of Talisman, where all rules were clearly stated and easy to find... but perhaps I'm just daydreaming.