Subject: (urth) Tracking enchantment

From: Alice Turner <al at interport.net>
Date: Sat, 09 Aug 1997 15:34:16 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

mantis,
One thing to add wrt your readings. Near the beginning of the story,
Longknife, the head wolf says, "You are under an enchantment. That is well
for you....No one will kill you. When an enchanted animal dies, the spell
runs up the weapon seeking a new home."

That gets sort of lost in the discussion of who and what is an animal, so
crucial to the story. But then, in the nasty staff fight, first "I felt a
different thing, a draining, for which -cold- is the only word I know."
Then, "My life seemed to be flowing down my hand and through the staff."
Then, As he died, I felt a great pleasure and power that left me weak and
shaken and bewildered afterward."

And there certainly seems to be enchantment at work, since Cim and Ketin
see nothing of the fight and Cutthroat feels "that the fighting of the
staffs was taking place outside the ordinary world."

By the 15th day, he believes that the staff has made him much sicker than
he would be otherwise, and it is the reason Mantru was so small (misusing
the tools of humanity?). By the 16th day, he has abandoned it.

Do you want to tackle the dreams? (Seems like a mantic obligation!)

-alga-