# Digest whorl.v001.n058 *The Whorl list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 12 Mar 1997* > 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. --- ### Kieran Mullen *12 Mar 1997, 12:21* > On Mon, 10 Mar 1997 18:58:43 -0600, Kieran Mullen wrote: > > : How did Silk know Hyacinth's name when they first met? (Silk is hiding > : in her bedroom, guards come in looking for intruder, and Silk plays role of > : a "client". He tells Hyacinth to go back to sleep, calling her by name. She > : remarks later that he got her name right.) The text is quite suggestive - > : Silk feels as if something in him reaches out to Hyacinth w/o touching > : her. revjack at radix.net (revjack at radix.net) (and others) replied: > When he was in the dressing room, he found a needler decorated with > hyacinths, deduced that it was hers, and took a *big* chance when the > guards broke in. I had thought of this, but that's a rather big leap to make. The text right before hand suggests that he makes some sort of special connection with her, a connection that might explain there love at first sight. I'd bet you a nickel that Wolfe meant more than Silk's just deducing it from the needler design. (Though he does make Brown-esque deductions that almost always seem to be right. Perhaps that's his genetically induced ability :-). And "of course" Hyacinth is the Church (the bride of the messiah, who goes "whoring after strange gods", who cannot accept/does not deserve forgiveness, but who is given it just the same). On names: the name "Silk" is interesting since silk is strong and flexible. It's also made from coccoons, I believe (a transformation image), but is also "man-made" in that you normally only think of silk as a fabric (from "faber", meaning "to make" I believe). It is suggested that Silk is also "fabricated", that is a frozen embryo with perhaps special abilities. But why is Blood named Blood? The word blood is very, very rich in Christian/Catholic teaching. In the storyline he is named Blood because of his bloody (caesarian?) birth. But there seems to be a sacrice/ blood/ransom/salvation theme with the manteion. Kieran Mullen P.S. I like the Italian restaurant/Catholic church link. I'll have to reread _There are Doors_. P.P.S. _Pandora_ seemed like a book where a lot more was happening than on the surface, but I was just too dim to see it. I mean: "Alladin Blue"= "A lad in blue" = police. Anyone get much out of it? Kieran Mullen email: kieran at phyast.nhn.ou.edu Dept. of Physics and Astronomy phone: (405) 325-3961 The University of Oklahoma FAX: (405) 325-7557 Norman, OK 73019, USA http://www.nhn.uoknor.edu/~kieran/ Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com ---