Subject: (whorl) Re: Horn as Silk

From: Alice Turner <akt at attglobal.net>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:09:57 +0000

Hi John Roberson, and welcome,

Thanks for pitching right in. My take on your two points:

I. I don't detect a hint of Pas (as I see Pas, or as we all saw him as
Typhon) in the "voice" of Horn. Of course we first met Silk filtered through
Horn, but this narration is recognizably similar to that amalgam. Horn tried
hard to do Silk justice and now that they really *are* an amalgam it's
shiftier but not nearly as strange as a Pas addition would make it. So I
think not, though it's an interesting idea. Also, the very title of the
third book indicates to me that we really will be going back to the Whorl
(hooray, we'll see what happens with those super-tall asses!)

2. There have been a lot of guesses about "the secret of the inhumi," and
the front-runner for a while was that it was simply that they took on (or
could take on) aspects of the prey along with the blood; when they
encountered a sentient race for the first time, it revolutionized them.
Another conjecture has to do with their obviously being able to survive a
long time without sustenance in a mummified state. But later thinking is
that it's more complicated than that--it's a secret that if known could
destroy them--and that Wolfe just hasn't given it to us even in clue form
yet.

Arguments invited.

-alga

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From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at crossover.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:27:09 +0000

At 08:09 PM 11/16/99 -0500, alga wrote:
>But later thinking is

I like the later observation (I'm pretty sure it was made here) to the
effect that: If the inhumi only gain sentience from feeding on sentient
prey, the humans could defeat them by methodically protecting each other
from the inhumi during conjunction. But human divisiveness keeps them from
protecting each other completely, and thus some humans fall, making the
inhumi stronger. 

But I agree that Wolfe almost certainly has something more subtle and
clever in mind. 

Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html

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From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 00:58:55 +0000

>destroy them--and that Wolfe just hasn't given it to us even in clue form

It's Rat Time, Slimina!

To begin with, courtesy of Kieran:

Horn: "If only we cared about each other sufficiently. If only all of us
loved all the others enough, they would go back to [mindless beasts]. We
would still think them horrible creatures, and they would still be
dangerous, as the crocodiles in this lower river water are. But they would
be no worse."
Evensong: "That is the secret, what you said?"
Horn: "No, of course not." [p.375]

So, let's invert that. The inhumi take on our characteristics. We are not
very nice people: enslaving others, raping wimmin, etc. What if we become
good, "Green Man" types, like the forerunners of Blue? What would the
inhumi become then? Good guys! Hey, is that why old Quetzal becomes a good
guy, because of hanging around and being near Silk?
	Inhumi are animals, "underpeople" of Cordo Smith, but of a different sort.
Their salvation depends on and proceeds from human salvation.
	My guess. It think the clews are there, but I may be taking them wrongly.

Slavering Nutria of the Dripping Jowl