{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/1105", "note": "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.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "whorl", "thread": { "id": 1105, "subject": "Divine Silk and Pas - Perhaps spoiler?", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "2001-02-07T16:01:11+00:00", "last": "2001-02-07T23:33:43+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jonathan Dale", "address": "jdale at fla.fujitsu.com" }, "date": "2001-02-07T16:01:11+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) Divine Silk and Pas - Perhaps spoiler?", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hi,\n\nHaving just finished RTTW and being new to this list, the following\nquestions may already have been answered in the current yet-to-be-published\ndigest! Apologies, if so.\n\nI was quite astounded by the end of RTTW; not so much the question of\nidentity regarding Horn and Silk, but more the chronology of what happens\nwhen; Wolfe manages to masterfully obscure the precise ordering of events\nuntil the very end (I managed to get hints by seeing when Horn/Silk\npossessed the azoth).\n\nAnyway, at the end, I had a number of questions (too many to list), but the\nmost important one are (which I'd like to solicit comments from the list\non):\n\n1. When Horn/Silk meets and talks to Pig the first time aboard the Whorl,\nthere is a passage where the Divine Silk reveals himself in Pig. For a\nmoment Horn (I guess since he's newly transferred into Silk's body) is\novercome because he recognises the voice of the Patera. I guess that I was\na little confused by this because the Divine Silk sounds exactly like the\nreal Silk; what I can infer from this is that the Divine Silk possessed the\nreal Silk at some point during the Long Sun series and that is why they\nshare the same characteristics? Would people agree on this or am I missing\nsomething?\n\n2. Perhaps this is related to the first question, but who is Passilk? My\ntwo inferences are: a) either Pas and the Divine Silk are the same and Pas\nhas been directing things for some time through the real Silk, or b) Pas\nand Silk are two gods of mainframe \n\n3. What is the list of people who are (or who have been) possessed by gods\nof mainframe. My list comprises (currently):\n\n a) Silk (Passilk)\n b) Pig (Passilk)\n c) Oreb (Scycla)\n d) Hyacynth (Krypris?)\n\n Any others? Once I started adding up who had been possessed by whom, the\nbooks seemed to be much more related to the ongoing struggle of the gods of\nmainframe begun in the Long Sun series.\n\n4. Is the nature of the azoth revealed anywhere but when Horn/Silk cuts the\nboat in two in RTTW? What is the speculation on this - that it is some kind\nof shaped antimatter beam? Also, what's the relationship to the black blade\nthat the Neighbour chooses for Horn when he has to clear the sewer - is it\nsome strange precursor to the fact that he will one day get the azoth?\n\n5. Given the nature of the inhumi/human symbiosis secret, I was unclear on\nthe exact specifics of how children were created; in one part of RTTW, the\nprocess of inhumi mating is clearly explained and somewhere in IGJ Fava\nexplains about breaking out of the egg, etc., but I was unclear from where\nthe mind was drawn. Is it that a primal inhumi takes on the mind from the\nfirst victim (which would explain Krait and Sinew) or is it more related to\nwho the parents were?\n\nComments appreciated.\n\n\nJonathan\n+------------------------------------------------------------------+\n| \"To do nothing is a talent, one I have not got. I have known a |\n| few people who possessed it to a superlative degree, as one of |\n| my scribes here does. They can, if they wish, sit or even stand |\n| for hours without occupation and without thought. Their eyes |\n| are open and they see the whorl before them, but see it only as |\n| the eyes of potatoes do.\" -- On Blue's Waters, Gene Wolfe |\n+------------------------------------------------------------------+\n\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Stephanides", "address": "adamsteph at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2001-02-07T23:33:43+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) Divine Silk and Pas - Perhaps spoiler?", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "on 2/8/01 12:01 AM, Jonathan Dale at jdale at fla.fujitsu.com wrote:\n1. When Horn/Silk meets and talks to Pig the first time aboard the Whorl,\nthere is a passage where the Divine Silk reveals himself in Pig. For a\nmoment Horn (I guess since he's newly transferred into Silk's body) is\novercome because he recognises the voice of the Patera. I guess that I was\na little confused by this because the Divine Silk sounds exactly like the\nreal Silk; what I can infer from this is that the Divine Silk possessed the\nreal Silk at some point during the Long Sun series and that is why they\nshare the same characteristics? Would people agree on this or am I missing\nsomething?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "2. Perhaps this is related to the first question, but who is Passilk? My\ntwo inferences are: a) either Pas and the Divine Silk are the same and Pas\nhas been directing things for some time through the real Silk, or b) Pas\nand Silk are two gods of mainframe" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "IIRC, at one point in TBOTLS Kypris (or somebody) offers to upload Silk into\nMainframe, where he would become a god and be linked somehow to Pas (I\nforget the details). Evidently Silk either took her up on the offer, or was\nuploaded against his will. This happened after Horn left, which is why he\nhas never heard of the Divine Silk." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "5. Given the nature of the inhumi/human symbiosis secret, I was unclear on\nthe exact specifics of how children were created; in one part of RTTW, the\nprocess of inhumi mating is clearly explained and somewhere in IGJ Fava\nexplains about breaking out of the egg, etc., but I was unclear from where\nthe mind was drawn. Is it that a primal inhumi takes on the mind from the\nfirst victim (which would explain Krait and Sinew) or is it more related to\nwho the parents were?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The child's mind comes from one of the parent's victims; see p. 316.\n\n--Adam\n\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] } ] }