{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/898", "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": 898, "subject": "The inhumi's secret: another clue and a speculation", "messages": 3, "voices": 2, "first": "2000-08-02T22:43:05+00:00", "last": "2000-08-02T23:44:24+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Stephanides", "address": "adamsteph at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2000-08-02T22:43:05+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) The inhumi's secret: another clue and a speculation", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I had earlier posted a list of the clues regarding the inhumi's secret I\nhad found in IGJ. I just came across one I'd overlooked. I also came\nup with a fairly wild speculation as to what the secret might be, at\nleast in part. It's probably wrong, but it might at least spark some\nthought.\n\nThe new clue is on p. 21. The Neighbor, who is fetching Horn to have\nhim clear the sewer on Green of human corpses, tells him that \"'We want\nto wake all of you up....To your safety,'\" at which Horn tells us: \"Now\nthat I understand Krait's secret, I understand his remark as well; but\nat the time I had no notion of what he meant.\" It could be that the\nNeighbor is simply alluding to the united-we-stand idea Horn had\nadvanced in OBW, but it could also be he has something more specific in\nmind. What this might be I have no idea, but I can't help suspecting a\nconnection with Horn's later talk with Hide in which he uses the\ncorpse-filled tunnel as an example of how the inhumi's victories over\nhumans make them weaker.\n\nNow for the wild speculation. What if we take \"inhumi are killers\nbecause humans are killers\" a step further? What if the choice of\nspecific victims is determined by humans' conscious or unconscious\ndesires? That is, when an inhumus/a attacks a human, it's because some\nother human consciously or unconsciously wants the victim to die.\n\nOne advantage of this theory is that it's the only thing I can think of\nwhich could serve as a weapon against the inhumi (whether wieldable or\nno), explains why the inhumi drink human blood, *and* connects with\nKrait's mother feeding on Sinew. This last bit works out rather nicely,\nin fact. On p. 157 Horn has a \"flashback\" to Krait's death on Green,\nwhich leads him to recall that Krait's mother had nearly killed Sinew;\nhe then, seemingly irrelevantly, tells Mora the story of how Nettle's\nbeing pregnant with Sinew cost her and Horn the animal they should have\nhad, and so contributed to their extreme poverty; made worse by the need\nto buy milk for Sinew. In such circumstances, Horn may well have wished\nthe baby Sinew dead. (One could go further and speculate that Horn's\nbelief that Sinew wishes him dead is a projection of Horn's guilt over\nthis.) My hypothesis also fits neatly with one of the themes of OBW and\nIGJ: that the inhumi are cruel, but no more so than humans are to each\nother. \n\nI freely grant that there is no positive evidence for this speculation\nwhatsoever, and that I have no clear idea of the mechanics. There are\nother problems too: it's dubious whether this passes the test of being a\nweapon the inhumi would think that humans could use (by not wishing each\nother dead). It doesn't fit Horn's remarks in OBW that if \"the weapon\"\nwere used, the inhumi would be stupid but remain dangerous. It has no\napparent relation to the new clue above. And if it's correct, it would\nmake Krait's telling Horn the secret an act of sadism. Still, it seems\nworthwhile to explore all alternatives (after all, the obvious guesses\nhave all proved fatally flawed). And I can't help thinking that it\nworks too well in some respects for there not to be something in it.\n\n--Adam\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "William Ansley", "address": "wansley at warwick.net" }, "date": "2000-08-02T23:23:39+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) The inhumi's secret: another clue and a speculation", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Now for the wild speculation. What if we take \"inhumi are killers\nbecause humans are killers\" a step further? What if the choice of\nspecific victims is determined by humans' conscious or unconscious\ndesires? That is, when an inhumus/a attacks a human, it's because some\nother human consciously or unconsciously wants the victim to die.\n\nOne advantage of this theory is that it's the only thing I can think of\nwhich could serve as a weapon against the inhumi (whether wieldable or\nno), explains why the inhumi drink human blood, *and* connects with\nKrait's mother feeding on Sinew. This last bit works out rather nicely,\nin fact. On p. 157 Horn has a \"flashback\" to Krait's death on Green,\nwhich leads him to recall that Krait's mother had nearly killed Sinew;\nhe then, seemingly irrelevantly, tells Mora the story of how Nettle's\nbeing pregnant with Sinew cost her and Horn the animal they should have\nhad, and so contributed to their extreme poverty; made worse by the need\nto buy milk for Sinew. In such circumstances, Horn may well have wished\nthe baby Sinew dead. (One could go further and speculate that Horn's\nbelief that Sinew wishes him dead is a projection of Horn's guilt over\nthis.) My hypothesis also fits neatly with one of the themes of OBW and\nIGJ: that the inhumi are cruel, but no more so than humans are to each\nother." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I think you may have something here. But surely, \"not wishing each \nother dead\" is included within the Golden Rule?" }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "William Ansley\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Stephanides", "address": "adamsteph at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2000-08-02T23:44:24+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) The inhumi's secret: another clue and a speculation", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "William Ansley wrote:\nI think you may have something here. But surely, \"not wishing each\nother dead\" is included within the Golden Rule?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The Golden Rule includes it, true, but is more stringent. Not wishing\nyour neighbor dead is sort of the minimal program to the Golden Rule's\nmaximal program. (Although if unconscious wishes count, that\ncomplicates things.)\n\nBut yes, if this is the secret, then in giving all these hints about \"if\nonly we loved each other,\" Horn was coming awfully close to violating\nthe spirit, if not the letter, of his oath. So that's another point\nagainst my hypothesis.\n\n--Adam\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] } ] }