Subject: (whorl) Missing pieces (was: Quadrifons) (Spoilers)

From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 23:09:05 +0000

At 11:37 PM +0000 2/14/01, Christopher Culver wrote:
>Reading again Horn's Eucharist scene at the Neighbor's altar in IGJ, 
>which I believe is one of the most moving things Wolfe has ever 
>written, I was suprised to see him mention that he "sacrificed for 
>Olivine." I think it will be interesting to go back through the 
>first two books and put together all the pieces now that we have 
>RttW.

Well, when you put all the pieces together, I'd really appreciate you 
telling us all about it. I personally don't believe Wolfe has given 
us all the pieces or anything like it.

In fact, he has left *so many* loose ends, especially with regard to 
Scylla (Is she going to possess Oreb again? Why did Marble say "Oh, 
Scylla!" when she could see again and why is Silk so concerned about 
it?) that I can only assume he is seriously considering writing 
*another* series of books about the Whorl and its five year journey 
to discover new life and new civilizations...

Now, I am sure that this, if true, would be good news to some, but I 
am really not sure if I am going to bother with Wolfe's next novel if 
it is part one of _The New Book of the Long Sun_ (Egad! That sounds 
like a title Wolfe might actually use. It will be followed by _The 
Long Book of the Short Sun_, _The Short Book of the New Sun_, ...)

Here's another missing piece: What the heck are Mora and Fava doing 
possessing anyone? I don't even remember, did both of them die in 
IGJ? Is this possession supposed to have something to do with the 
fact that they are another human/inhumi pair?

I feel pretty sorry for Mucor. Not only was she genetically 
engineered as an embryo, stolen and sold, brought up by someone who 
didn't love her but just wanted to make use of her special powers, 
given brain surgery on to make her more tractable and then starved 
and imprisoned and used as a brood mare to incubate lynxes (and other 
animals?) but her special powers aren't even special any more. Mora 
and Fava can possess people and Horn/Silk and any inhumi can astrally 
project themselves and anyone else who happens to be nearby.

Hey, here's a theory: Mucor did it! Did what? Made Silk murder 
Hyacinth, bust up his home and injure himself, not necessarily in 
that order. After all, what *was* she doing for all that time when 
Horn was waiting for her to return when he was out on the island with 
Marble and Mucor? But these events wouldn't happen for months you 
protest? Well, she figured out how to project herself astrally 
through time as well as space.

Well, I thinks it's as likely as Robert Borski's theory. 8->

William Ansley

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