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From: "Ian Smith" <iancsmith at 4unet.co.uk>
Hi Ian, and welcome,
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No-one seems to have queried yet the reason for the sudeen change in Horn between the first two volumes. At the end of OBW we leave Horn still wallowing to some extent in self-loathing, still questioning whether he should be writing his book. At the start of IGJ this has disapppeared, and throughout he confines himself to minor self-depreceatory remarks (very much in the manner of Silk...). As the time lapse between the end of writing the end of OBW and the start of OGJ is purportedly very short (I think there are hints that it is only around 2 days?) what as caused this transformation? Could it have something to do with the mysterious encounter in the woods before Horn meets brother and sister?
No, I think it is, as has been discussed quite recently, Horn's transfer to Silk's body, with Silk's powerful gene-spliced leadership DNA having an effect on those he encounters. I'm not quite sure from your post that you have finished IGJ--this will become clearer.
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"I found him in he forest, sitting in the dark under the trees. I could not see him, it was too dark to see anything. But I knelt beside him, and lay my head upon his knee, and he comforted me."(OBW p.378)
At first I thought this was another neighbor encounter, but in IGJ Horn says he hasn't encountered them since they moved him to a new body. It could also be a particularly obtuse dream sequence, I suppose. Any ideas?
It is Babbie speaking here. It is probably Horn's fever-dream, but maybe not. Babbie is going to turn up again in the third volume (thank goodness, I missed him) and we'll know more.
Hi Wombat,
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At 12:04 PM 7/29/00 -0400, vizcacha wrote:
Second, and more importantly (and here we are getting close to the true secret), there are actually no inhumi. There is only, poignantly, "a girl trapped in the body of a blood-drinking reptile." The inhumi only have "spirits" because their victims have spirits, only have intelligence because their victims have intelligence, and so on.
I don't think this point has been made here: The inhumi seem specifically to be telepathic reptiles tht developed their telepathy to enhance their predation. It seems likely that the assumption of human characteristics is a side-effect of this telepathic ability. I can't tell if they are capable of true shape-shifting; their ability to pose as humans is certainly enhanced by, and may be completely, telepathic projection. Note that this does not seem to be part of what Krait told Horn on Green, since Horn doesn't realize this until he sees the camouflaged hunters in Goan.
They are shapeshifters only to a degree and I don't think it's fully "telepathic." Remember three things: They cannot change their density; a careful upclose look, especially at their limbs and hair by someone who knows what to look for, will give them away; they are cold-blooded and cannot fake otherwise. Horn has been given the ability to know them almost at once, but Fava and Jahlee are very careful not to get too close to any human. This is somewhat important to the plot.
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It seems that Incanto's travel between worlds is a combination of the inhumi telepathic projection and the Vanished People's indeterminate reality.
Again, I discount "telepathy," except on an elementary level--"charisma" might be more like it. This is a gift from the Vanished People, I think, and meant, in some mysterious manner, to bring humans and inhumi together, since neither can do it alone. (Though I guess the VP can.)
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Jahlee describes the
pursuit of Horn at the end of OBW, and how the inhumi all felt they should kill him, but each hoped that another would do it first. They feel this way out of gratitude and also, I think, because the people whose blood they have absorbed would not be quick to kill either. Few are eager to cast the first stone, sinful or not. Result, Horn escapes.
Well, also, the inhumi are strongly biologically conditioned not to kill their prey. In "nature", they will feed on a victim repeatedly over the course of years rather than kill. If the inhumi surrounding the Rajan at the end of Blue have not fed from killers, they will not have "learned" how to kill, themselves.
No, you really can't say that. Horn had to clean the sewers, with thousands of people dead from inhumu greed. Unless that was a dream, and I don't think it was.
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I'd go a step further: If all the inhumi are treated as human by all humans, they will become human. But I think there's one more twist to the secret coming, and I don't know what it is. So far, Wolfe has overdelivered on every promise of the narrative; I'd like to think he's capable of overdelivering on the promise of the secret of the inhumi as well.
I don't quite follow. But your second sentence has been brought up over and over on the list, and I still think it is too simplistic. So sue me.
Asked Raymond:
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I have a quick question. Why did Silk agree to become a part of Pas?
Is
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there an explanation in the Long Sun books? Just wondering.
We have absolutely, positively no proof that he did. This was only a conjecture of the pre Horn/Pas Horn that it MIGHT have happened.
Welcome, Muskrat, and don't be scared of Nutria--his fangs are mostly for show:
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I have to wonder whether you all are making life more
difficult for him. Does he read these archives?
No.
-alga
*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.