Subject: (urth) walk through brush magic

From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 15:36:04 +0000

Woah! I never considered the connotations of the "magic" abilities that Silk 
obviously has until it was phrased in a previous post as "walk through brush 
magic."  This seems to me a pretty obvious affinity with plants and scrubs - 
maybe he is a tree man. (Pig can avoid trees because he has sonar, being a 
godling machine). I think that particular power (avoid flora) really jives 
with my tree theories - perhaps Silk has some tree in him.

Another strange power is the narrator's ability to change the story of Fava 
while she is telling it.  I actually think that this is an ability that Silk 
has and can exert on everyone.  People will tell stories about him, and he can 
influence those stories unconcsciously (or consciously).  I think this is 
another of his special qualities - I think he actually influenced the writing 
of The Book of the Long Sun and the intercalary chapters of Return to the 
Whorl - which makes a much better case for a possible divine nature in Silk: 
he can inspire texts written about him just as God can inspire biblical texts 
without them being literally true (in a Catholic sense, anyway). However, I 
think this is an engineered talent he always had.  Notice how quickly people 
are telling stories of his enlightenment in Nightside after he just tells one 
or two people.  His power involves people'sm willingness to tell stories about 
him.
I asked Wolfe the question "Can Silk change the accounts written about him, as 
he did the story of the inhuma, to hide or obscure things?"
Wolfe responded: "I don't think Silk would do something like that unless it 
was for emphasis." He did not deny that this was a special quality Silk had. 
Since that question, Wolfe has not addressed any more of my inquiries.
Marc Aramini

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