Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v011.n001

From: Josh Levitan <josh_levitan at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 02:15:21 +0000

>
>I think it's the same reason why the Neighbors won't tell Horn about
>their gods: it's better if he comes to figure it out for himself (with
>some hints).

As far as Hide is concerned, it's logically better for him to figure out who 
Incanto is.  However, from an emotional standpoint, this makes little to no 
sense.  This is a guy who's been apart from most of his family for a couple 
of years now, lost an adopted son, lost his real son, etc.  So, you'd think 
he'd just come out with it...  Does make for suspenseful reading, though.
>
>That the Neighbors aren't completely forthcoming seems not so much to
>suggest (as Adam speculated) that they believe each race should stick
>to its own gods as that they believe the Outsider (by whatever name
>they know Him) is in the process of revealing Himself to Horn as it
>is, and that it isn't their place to, say, disillusion him about Pas.

Their reluctance to talk about their own gods goes beyond that.  They don't 
even want to confirm or deny that the Mother was their sea goddess.  In that 
case, Horn did figure it out for himself.

Adam Stephanides wrote:

>I think you're thinking of this dialogue from the last chapter, where
>just after Jahlee has argued that she is human inside:
>
>	   "What about the inhumi who destroyed the vanished people, 	Jahlee?
>Were they human too?"
>	   "They were dead before I was born." (376)
>
>Jahlee doesn't recognize the irony of Horn's question (or if she does,
>she doesn't mention it), and I missed it too on my first reading.  But
>what Jahlee should have said was "See?  That proves we're human!"  I'm
>sure that from the author of THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS this irony is
>intentional.

Well, that's a good point.  But I was actually referring to the other 
dialogue, earlier, I believe, when he asked her what it would have been like 
for the Inhumi that fed on the Neighbors, and she replies "It must have been 
wonderful."

One other thing.  I know that Horn and the folks on Green discuss this, but 
it didn't make much sense to me (perhaps the lack of sleep, again).  How did 
Quetzal and company get aboard the Whorl?  It wasn't from flying there -- 
the distance was too great.  And the humans theorize that some of the 
landers left and came back up, but Mainframe tells them otherwise.  And Horn 
says that he believes that that particular information was well-intentioned, 
but wrong.  So did the Inhumi reprogram Mainframe?  This would be hard with 
their lack of tool-wielding ability.  Did their slaves on the Whorl do it?

Narwhal
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