Long Review Essay on Wizard Knight

brunians at brunians.org · 25 Sep 2007, 09:29 · from 2007-September.txt.gz

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From: brunians at brunians.org (brunians at brunians.org)
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:29:00 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (urth) Long Review Essay on Wizard Knight
In-Reply-To: <000c01c7ff48$dbecb5c0$26c95a42 at rclackey.stic.net>
References: <000c01c7ff48$dbecb5c0$26c95a42 at rclackey.stic.net>
Message-ID: <6953.67.142.130.22.1190712540.squirrel at brunians.org>

The seven layer world is itself an afterlife.

It's similar to Dante's Purgatory, but not identical.

It is an afterlife to which has gone a decent kid (of, English, Norse and
Irish descent, I believe) who is not a Christian. He's managed to write a
letter to his brother by stimulating Gene to write this book.





.



> Stanislaus wrote:
>>>According to Neoplatonism the world was created as a series of
>>> emanations
> of the One; the description in the Wizard is close enough. Our task is to
> return to the One by ascending again the ladder of hierarchy; this can be
> done by mediation or by faithful service to the state (according to the
> pre-Neoplatonic astral piety as eg Somnum Scipionis of Cicero, the
> meritorious civil servants become the astral spirits, in fact - equal of
> gods).<<
> [snip]
>>>An important part is that there is nothing like forgiveness, charity
>>> etc.
> Those that are lower, are lower because they are worse; the higher are
> nearer to the One or to his earthly image, the Emperor, and therefore are
> better. You can rise, best of all by philosophy or by service to the
> State,
> but if you do not, it is your own fault.<<
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> That's a nice theory, but it doesn't fit the facts as sketched in TWK, as
> I
> pointed out two years ago.
>
> The Aelf have no souls. When they die, they die *dead*. But for the sole
> possible exception of Disiri, when the Aelf die they cease to exist at
> all.
> (As does Mani, after his ninth death.) The Aelf will not rise again, to
> Mythgarthr or anywhere else.
>
> The overwhelming majority of humans in Mythgarthr aren't going to rise to
> the next level, Skai, either. Only very few, the chosen slain, get to go
> to
> Skai. I don't know where, if anywhere, humans in Mythgarthr go when they
> die, but that is the way things are set up in the Seven Worlds cosmology
> of
> TWK.
>
> To anticipate possible argument; I could make a case for the eventual
> humanization of the Aelf by way of human blood, but that would drag
> Christianity back into it. And even then, I find it rather difficult to
> imagine any significant portion of humanity ever getting picked to go to
> Skai. And it's harder yet to imagine the denizens of a Norse afterlife
> being
> on the career path to a Christian heaven.
>
> -Roy
>
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