Hierodules and time

b sharp · 26 May 2006, 13:43 · from 2006-May.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 09:43:40 -0400
Subject: (urth) Hierodules and time
Message-ID: <BAY103-F186330DF5F72589446238BD79E0 at phx.gbl>

Thalassocrat, sorry I should have been more clear!  If the knowledge of the 
play at Baldanders' castle is not a Wolfe mistake then seems to be using 
Ossipago in that capacity ("he has a memory like yours").  Q. How do they 
know?   A. Ossipago told them.

Hence the deus ex machina reference (and thanks for finding it!).  Gosh, who 
could be more of a God and a Machine than hierodule/robot Ossipago? He fits 
the phrase (defined below) almost perfectly and I suspect Wolfe had this in 
mind as he wrote.

On deus ex machina, Wikipedia says:

>Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase that refers to an unexpected, artificial, 
>or improbable character, >device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of 
>fiction or drama to resolve a situation or >untangle a plot. The phrase has 
>been extended to refer to any resolution to a story which does >not pay due 
>regard to the story's internal logic and is so unlikely it challenges 
>suspension of >disbelief; allowing the author to conclude the story with an 
>unlikely, but more palatable ending. In >modern terms the Deus ex machina 
>has also come to describe a person or thing that suddenly >arrives and 
>solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty. While in storytelling this might 
>seem unfulfilling, in >real life this type of figure might be welcome and 
>heroic.

-bsharp

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