Subject: (urth) The significance of Dr. Talos and Baldanders in Book of the New Sun

From: Joshua Mattson <joshua_mattson at mcad.edu>
Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:49:03 +0000

I recently finished Book of the New Sun for the first time, and, today,
Robert Borski's Solar Labyrinth. Absent from it was specific information
on Baldanders and Dr. Talos. These two, to me, are two of the most
compelling characters in BotNS.

I've heard that Baldanders in some sense is a Satanic/Luciferic figure and
is aligned with the alien monsters of Urth. But how does Dr. Talos fit
into the story? Why exactly is Baldanders an alternate candidate to bring
the New Sun? I thought that only Autrarchs could be candidates.

Thank you.

---

From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:13:47 +0000

> the New Sun? I thought that only Autrarchs could be candidates.

Within the context of the Book + Urth's cosmology (as I and most listers 
understand it), there are no "candidates", only Severian, Who _is_ the 
New Sun. The various powers and posers who have imperfect knowledge of 
the New Sun's nature of course do not realize this, and they believe it 
is possible for a sufficiently powerful person or faction to sieze 
divine favor by fulfilling the prophecy, similar to the Nazis trying 
manipulate moral authority by seizing the Holy Grail or the Ark of the 
Covenant in the Indian Jones films.

So it's not the lack of being Autarch that is holding Baldanders back; 
he could eat brains along with the best of them. It is the lack of his 
being the Theoanthropos; that is, he's not God.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >

---

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:12:56 +0000

Whoa, there, Jeff. I agree with much of what you say, but this ...

> being the Theoanthropos; that is, he's not God.

... requires some serious reconsideration, for Severian is *not* the
Theoanthropos either. Wolfe has gone to great pains to be clear on
that; Severian is purely human -- at least, until he is bonded to the
White Fountain = New Sun after his trial. (That this bonding takes
place in such a way that he has always already been bonded to
it makes matters a bit more confusing, but he definitely wasn't
until he was, then he alway had been. If you see what I mean.)

At any rate, I'm fairly sure that the only case of the Theoanthropos
actually appearing in Wolfe's fiction is in "The Detective of Dreams"
-- and now you can all tell me what I've missed, but anyway, to

> > the New Sun? I thought that only Autrarchs could be candidates.

How does Talos fit in?

Well, one of Baldanders's projects is to make himself more-or-less
immortal by having his body continually grow. It is mentioned that he
must in time become aquatic, for his bones would not be able to support
his weight after a certain size: as Homer Simpson might say, "In this
household, we obey the Square-Cube Law." At any rate, what he
seems to be doing is a very advanced and perverted form of the
"Great Work" of alchemy.

The alien monsters -- the Megatherians, who may or may not all be
"aliens"; _some_ may be like Baldanders -- appear to be a demonic
faction in the same sense that the Cacogens are angelic: the Cacogens
serve (or seek to) the Increate; the Megatherians seem to oppose His
will. Certainly they seek to frustrate the plan by which Urth will be
reborn with a New Sun. They seek dominion over the Urth, but their
power seems to be constrained in some interesting ways, aside from
the limits placed on them by their size, so that they must act through
intermediaries. Among these are/have been Typhon and the Ascians;
whether Baldanders is one of their tools or merely seeks to be one is
unclear.

Doctor Talos is a creation of Baldanders; the two of them say as much.
Talos was created to do the parts of Baldanders's projects -- most of
which focus on Baldanders -- that he himself could not do, either
because there's a limit to how much surgery you can perform upon
yourself, or because as Baldanders's body grows it has new needs
and limits. One of these limits seems to be a high energy consumption,
so that he is tired much of the time, and Talos is responsible for
rousing him in the morning.

As for Satanic/Luciferic, one thing to consider is "Byronic." Dr. Talos
himself draws attention to the thematic links between the two of them
and the Frankenstein story, though of course the parallels are highly
inexact. Recall, then, that the subtitle of Mary Shelley's book is "The
New Prometheus," and recall also that when she conceived it the
Shelleys were hanging out at Byron's place in Switzerland.  To a
reasonably-orthodox Christian like Wolfe, the mistake of Byronism can
be summed up simply: the belief that "Better to reign in Hell than to
serve in Heaven," the words Milton put into Satan's mouth, is
somehow a noble idea -- that rebellion and self-willedness are
inherently good things. (Note that I do not claim that Byron himself
made this mistake, though for all of me he may have; but his claque
did, and his legions of black-cloaked imitators down the years since
certainly have.)

I'm not sure Baldanders is Satanic/Luciferic *as such*; it is, after
all, Typhon and not Baldanders who puts Severian through his
"temptation in the wilderness." But he clearly isn't on the side of
the angels. He is self-seeking, and while that ultimately serves
the side of the devils, it appears that he is also a tool of the
Cacogens to some extent.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire
salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards
reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.