# Green *The Urth list — 3 messages, 2 voices, 25 Feb 1999* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Kevin J. Maroney *25 Feb 1999, 10:54* > At 09:49 AM 2/25/99 -0000, Kieran wrote: > And links to the BotNS > (Pas=Typhon, so what?) would be slightly arbitrary if that's all there was > to it. Telling us that Pas was Typhon tells us a great deal about exactly what kind of man created the Whorl and Mainframe. We don't get a lot of insight into Pas's mentality throughout _Long Sun_, but we don't need to--we've met him already, and he's metaphorically Satan. Knowing of the evil behind Pas tells us a great deal about the world against which Silk is striving. ``` Kevin Maroney | Crossover Technologies kmaroney at crossover.com | (212) 777-1190 ``` --- ### Jack Lyons *25 Feb 1999, 11:38 · follows Kevin J. Maroney* On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Kevin J. Maroney wrote: :Telling us that Pas was Typhon tells us a great deal about :exactly what kind of man created the Whorl and Mainframe. :We don't get a lot of insight into Pas's mentality :throughout _Long Sun_, but we don't need to--we've met him :already, and he's metaphorically Satan. Typhon struck me as more of an "Uebermensch" (Overman), what happens when a human considers himself without bounds and acts thusly. c.f. Hitler, Stalin, etc. Typhon was responsible for too much creation/progress to be Satan, metaphorically or otherwise. --- ### Kevin J. Maroney *25 Feb 1999, 12:03 · follows Jack Lyons* > At 11:38 AM 2/25/99 -0500, you wrote: > Typhon struck me as more of an "Uebermensch" (Overman), what > happens when a human considers himself without bounds and > acts thusly. c.f. Hitler, Stalin, etc. Typhon was > responsible for too much creation/progress to be Satan, > metaphorically or otherwise. This should be moved over to Whorl probably... In _The Book of the New Sun_, Severian's meeting with Typhon deliberately echos Christ's temptation in the desert (from Luke and Matthew), complete with the three temptations. Severian, being more hands-on than Jesus, does more than order Typhon to get behind him, but it's clear what Typhon is. In _The Book of the Long Sun_, the builder of the _Whorl_ is very much like the Demiurge, the false God of This World who tries to distract us from worshiping the true God. The Demiurge isn't *exactly* Satan, but he's very close. None of what you say is false: Typhon the man is very much like Stalin or any other despot, moved to the ultimate degree--remaking mountains in his image, building his own universe of worshippers. But remember that Satan is the Lord of Pride, which Typhon has in abundance. ``` Kevin Maroney | Crossover Technologies kmaroney at crossover.com | (212) 777-1190 ``` ---