Subject: (whorl) Odds and Ends

From: James Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 15:09:53 +0000

Am re-reading OBW and IGJ in preparation for RTW (which just arrived). 
Noticed a couple of things that MAY have been discussed already -- I did 
review all the posts I've kept -- and thought I'd share them here.

1. At the end of OBW, Horn hears himself being called to the shore as 
Babbie. Someone already mentioned that Babbie is to Horn (semihuman to 
human) as Horn is the Caller (semidivine to divine). Horn goes an lays his 
own head on the lap of the Caller, as Babbie lay his head on the laps of 
Horn and Seawrack. Who is the Caller? Someone suggested the Outsider. 
Maybe, but explicitly he is a Vanished God, and this is said a couple pages 
later, when Horn tells Brother and Sister about the Vanished People and the 
Vanished God in their woods. I doubt if it's any more complicated than that.

2. Krait is like Sinew because Krait's mother drank from Sinew. Thus, the 
traits gained by the inhumi are specific to the persons they drink from , 
and are passed on. In Fava's second tale, she says that when she saw a man 
on Green, she thought that a human form was the best form one of her kind 
could take, indicating that her genetic history includes human 
blood/attributes. Remember that Wolfe is not a Darwinian, but a 
Lamarckian.  Mom did not have to be gravid at the time she returned to 
Green. She just had to have drunk from baby Sinew before making the trip.

3. It's probably stupid of me to suggest this now, since it may be taken up 
in RTW, but I'm now betting that iron is part of the secret of the inhumi. 
Blood is iron-based, and the iron shackles on Jahlee seem to affect her. 
And it is in this context that Horn threatens her with the secret. In spite 
of all the ins and outs of the discussion of the Secret, in which I've 
added my own share of confusion, the Secret seems to be something simple 
and immediate, and iron might just be the answer.

4. On Horn's hatred of Sinew. I have not seen anyone suggest this, but I 
wonder if Horn has some reason to suspect that Sinew is not his child, but 
the child of an adultery of Nettle's? This would explain a lot, even if 
Horn were wrong in his suspicions. At any rate, it is only my own suspicion.

Patera Nutria

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---

From: James Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 13:04:45 +0000

At 03:09 PM 1/26/2001 -0600, I wrote:

>3. It's probably stupid of me to suggest this now, since it may be taken 
>up in RTW, but I'm now betting that iron is part of the secret of the 
>inhumi. Blood is iron-based, and the iron shackles on Jahlee seem to 
>affect her. And it is in this context that Horn threatens her with the 
>secret. In spite of all the ins and outs of the discussion of the Secret, 
>in which I've added my own share of confusion, the Secret seems to be 
>something simple and immediate, and iron might just be the answer.

         I'd meant to add: (a) the weapon provided Horn is a sword, not a 
sluggun or a needler. Is this because iron is effective against inhumi, 
while the other kinds of weapons aren't? And (b) Horn does not want to use 
this secret, or give it out, because he does not want to destroy the inhumi.

Nutria

---

From: mark millman <millman at us.ncipher.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 12:18:59 +0000

Nutria,

I'm afraid I can't agree with your iron theory.  Wasn't Quetzal 
killed by the wound from a slug gun?  Furthermore, I believe 
(though I don't have my Long Sun books here for reference) 
that we've been told how needlers work, and it's implied that 
the needles must be ferromagnetic, if not actually ferrous (which 
would be the obvious assumption), as the needle guns rely on 
a principle similar to magnetic levitation to propel their needles 
(i.e., they're hand-held railguns).  Although I assume that slugs 
are made of lead, I can't see why they couldn't be made of soft 
iron, other than the fact that it would be expensive and wasteful 
to do so compared to using lead.

Besides, to be frank, the sword Horn was given didn't strike me 
as being made of any conventional(ly human) material.

As far as your point (b), though, I'm in perfect agreement.

Nacre

At 01:04 PM 27-01-01 -0600, Nutria (James B. Jordan) wrote:

>> 3. It's probably stupid of me to suggest 
>> this now, since it may be taken up in 
>> RTW, but I'm now betting that iron is 
>> part of the secret of the inhumi. Blood 
>> is iron-based, and the iron shackles on 
>> Jahlee seem to affect her. And it is in this 
>> context that Horn threatens her with the 
>> secret. In spite of all the ins and outs of 
>> the discussion of the Secret, in which I've 
>> added my own share of confusion, the 
>> Secret seems to be something simple and 
>> immediate, and iron might just be the 
>> answer.
>
>
>          I'd meant to add: (a) the weapon provided Horn is 
> a sword, not a sluggun or a needler. Is this because iron is 
> effective against inhumi, while the other kinds of weapons 
> aren't? And (b) Horn does not want to use this secret, or 
> give it out, because he does not want to destroy the inhumi.
>
> Nutria