Thanks to Alga & Mantis for their input--always a pleasure...but...
In a message dated 10/3/99 10:37:33 PM, akt at attglobal.net writes:
<< The secret he has learned from Krait is how not to kill an inhumu while giving the appearance of doing so. >>
I'm going to have to disagree with the learned Alga.
Doesn't Horn say the The Secret was one that could destroy the Inhumi? Pretty sure he does, though I can't find the reference:(
Obviously, burying the suckers alive doesn't destroy them.
Isn't it more likely that Horn simply used the ignorant and ineffective cultural capital punishment of his Kingdom to his advantage when he felt his "adopted" country threatened? This serves two purposes: provides a distraction while he escapes and turns the tide of the battle.
Alga writes:
1 quoted line · depth 2
...How would he possibly know how to do this, and to plan it so far in advance, without
help? That is why I think this knowledge (and possibly advice too) is Krait's secret.<<
Isn't it more likely that this "buried alive and the captor bargaining for an oath of loyalty" perfectly mirrors Horn's horrible experience in the pit with Krait? It worked then. He just reversed the predicament. Sweet justice.
I suspect that, after OBW, we don't yet have enough evidence to deduct the Secret.
best,
Patrick O'leary
*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.