{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/23", "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": 23, "subject": "Quetzal", "messages": 4, "voices": 4, "first": "1997-01-15T09:40:09+00:00", "last": "1997-02-26T18:22:33+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "David_Lebling", "address": "david_lebling at avid.com" }, "date": "1997-01-15T09:40:09+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) Quetzal", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: douge at nti.com (Doug Eigsti)\nSubject: Re: (whorl) the mystery of Q\nDate: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 13:01:55 -0700 (MST)" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " Quetzal is first mentioned in LAKE on page 81.2 (2nd paragraph). On\npage\n86.1 Remora notes that he is fond of beef tea. Remora says \"A man\ncan't\nlive on beef tea and air\", we now know that he was supplementing his\ndiet\nwith blood. " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "That's very interesting; do we know that Quetzal was getting blood\nsomewhere? I don't remember anything specific to that effect. As I\nrecall, we know fairly early that Quetzal is Not What He Seems -- he\nreverts to his snakelike form (or stance) after Remora leaves. (Or is\nthis in a later scene?) It was definitely an \"aha!\" moment for me.\n\nI think the question of Quetzal's intent is one of the major mysteries\nof the series. He is presented (Oreb aside) as a force for good. Is\nWolfe saying (as he has said before) that evil may do good without\nintending to? This seems almost too simple. Another interpretation is\nthat as an enemy \"agent in place\" he has come to sympathize with those\nhe is working against. Again, almost too simple. One can take an\nold-line Catholic point of view (\"ex cathedra nulla salis\"), in which we\nsee Quetzal as analogous to say, a Protestant clergyman who in\nunwittingly leading his flock to damnation. But then Quetzal is\nwitting, so I don't think the comparison holds, and besides, Wolfe's\nCatholicism seems much more sophisticated than that.\n\nI have read somewhere that Wolfe is planning a series set on Blue and\nGreen. Perhaps more answers will be forthcoming when it appears,\nalthough it would certainly be more satisfying to tease out the answers\nnow!\n\n Dave Lebling\n (david_lebling at avid.com)\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "revjack at radix.net", "address": "revjack at radix.net" }, "date": "1997-01-16T03:09:00+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) Quetzal", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "[Hope I'm replying to the correct address here...]\n\nOn Wed, 15 Jan 97 09:40:09 -0500, David_Lebling at avid.com wrote:\n\n: > From: douge at nti.com (Doug Eigsti)\n: > Subject: Re: (whorl) the mystery of Q\n: > Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 13:01:55 -0700 (MST)\n: \n: > Quetzal is first mentioned in LAKE on page 81.2 (2nd paragraph). On\n: > page 86.1 Remora notes that he is fond of beef tea. Remora says \n: > \"A man can't live on beef tea and air\", we now know that he was \n: > supplementing his diet with blood. \n: \n: That's very interesting; do we know that Quetzal was getting blood\n: somewhere? I don't remember anything specific to that effect.\n\nI seem to recall some sort of blood-sucking misfortune having befallen\nTeasel, which Dr. Crane dismissed as some sort of bat bite.\nUnfortunately I don't have my copy of \"Nightside\" - I just finished\n\"Exodus\" and happily turned around to read the four again, only to\nfind the first one missing. Damn.\n\n: I have read somewhere that Wolfe is planning a series set on Blue and\n: Green.\n\nI certainly hope so. Do you suppose the dark, flitting thing that Horn\nsaw at the end of \"Exodus\" could be Oreb?\n_________________\nrevjack at radix.net\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Derek Bell", "address": "dbell at maths.tcd.ie" }, "date": "1997-01-16T19:20:59+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) Quetzal", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "In message <199701160127.RAA08736 at lists1.best.com>, \"revjack at radix.net\" writes:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I seem to recall some sort of blood-sucking misfortune having befallen\nTeasel, which Dr. Crane dismissed as some sort of bat bite." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tThe mention of a bat-bite - vampires traditionally turn into\nbats; what other shape-shifting powers are they attributed?\n\n\tMy guess at Quetzal's motivation is that he (and other inhumi)\nview the crew as a resource to be fed off. Perhaps he wanted human\ncolonies on Green and Blue as the population would presumably be\nlarger and more resilient to disasters. (Including the Whorl's gradual\ndemise.) To that extent, his motives dovetailed with the Plan of Pas.\n\n\tQuetzal seems to target the young, not adults - I'm not sure\nof the significance of that." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": ": I have read somewhere that Wolfe is planning a series set on Blue and\n: Green." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tThey were mentioned on pduggan's Gene Wolfe page under news\nand rumours: _On_Blue's Waters_, _In_Green's_Jungles_ & _Under_the_Long_Sun_\nThe series is to be called _The_Book_of_the_Short_Sun_. (What else\nwould do?)" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I certainly hope so. Do you suppose the dark, flitting thing that Horn\nsaw at the end of \"Exodus\" could be Oreb?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tI thought it was one of the inhumi, though I may well be\nmistaken.\n\n\tDerek\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "xury", "address": "xury at pacbell.net" }, "date": "1997-02-26T18:22:33+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) Quetzal", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " Another question one must ask, is that of the matter explaining, how\ndoes Quetzal know so much? He is inhumi and the Prolocutor, but does this\nexplain why he knew Pas' plans or even that Pas was dead, especially since\nthere have been no theophanies for 30 years. Also when Pas' theophany\noccured he was able to hear the instrucions that the god gave also, so he\ntoo is able to communicate with the gods even though he is a stowaway? I\nwould like to know some opinions on these matters, thanks.\n Xury\n\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] } ] }