Subject: (whorl) merging

From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 17:54:36 +0000

Adam said:
>
>Do you have any references for 2?  Yes, Horn clearly knows that he died on
>Green, that he is in a different body, and that everybody thinks he's Silk.
>But I don't remember any passages indicating that he has drawn the obvious
>inference that he is in Silk's body (prior to the talk with Remora).  Nor,
>apart from the Pas-on-Blue statement, do I recall him saying anything that
>shows he knows that Silk's spirit has merged with his own.
>
>--Adam
>

What about those explicit errors in On Blue's Waters where he calls his son 
Horn and then concludes that he caught the ball, he won the game?  How much 
more explicitly can Horn communicate that he has merged with Silk?
By the way, it's a real hoot to read the descriptions of Horn at the beginning 
of Lake of the Long Sun where Horn writes what a fine, handsome, and 
intelligent boy he is and then he and patera silk talk about the childhood 
toys they had (which come up again in RttW)

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 09:58:22 +0000

> toys they had (which come up again in RttW)

I'm sure Nettle put that stuff in about Horn in _Lake_ over his strenuous
objections.

Also, see the archives for my argument that the bit about catching the
ball and winning the game makes much more sense coming from Horn's persona
than from Silk's.  I don't see why Silk would even remember the details of
that game, much less have a habit of reminiscing about his athletic
triumphs over children, whereas Horn surely remembers well the first
chapter of his Book of Silk and sees it as a metaphor for helping others.

-Rostrum

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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 07:51:23 +0000

> that game, 

Ummm. Because it was the moment when enlightenment came to him?

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 10:14:34 +0000

> more explicitly can Horn communicate that he has merged with Silk?

While I don't have the book with me, so can't comment on this particular
passage (which was the subject of discussion earlier), I would say that
passages like these are the Silk in Silkhorn popping up, outside of Horn's
conscious control, rather than the Horn in Silkhorn signaling that he is
aware of Silk's presence.

--Adam

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 12:00:54 +0000

> Ummm. Because it was the moment when enlightenment came to him?

Look at Silk's conversations with the kids right after the game.  He's so
preoccupied with his enlightenment he's barely paying attention when they
try to talk about the game.  Horn stays behind and talks to Silk about it.  
Silk apologizes for pushing him down and Horn says "You were their best
player, it wouldn't have been fair to them if you hadn't played your
best."

This seems to be the idea the Rajan has in mind after having helped the
Gaonese win their war.  He's saying "I am proud to have won the war for
the Gaonese just as Silk won the game for the small boys."  Silk wasn't
proud of winning the game for the small boys.  At the time, Silk said the
fun of the game comes when a small boy knocks down a big boy.

We know Horn remembers the incident and his own interpretation of it, but
it seems unlikely that Silk remembers it or places the same kind of
importance on it--he was thinking about enlightenment, not lessons learned
on the ball court.

(Incanto expounds a similar idea to Mora in IGJ, telling her that the only
thing that is more "fair" to allow all to do their best than to ask the
strong/rich/talented restrain themselves out of a sense of fairness, but
since Incanto is part Silk, that doesn't count as evidence of whether this
comes from Horn or not.)

-Rostrum