What's So Great About Ushas?

Dave Tallman · 09 Jun 2008, 08:24 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:24:56 -0600
Subject: (urth) What's So Great About Ushas?
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Andrew wrote:
> My reading: because it would lead in the future to the conclusion 
> actually reached at the end of UOTNS. 
>
> That is: Sev + a small band of Urth humans (but not too small: I 
> suppose the mind-wiped sailors are there to make the gene pool 
> viable while at the same time small enough for Sev's genes to 
> quickly percolate through the whole race) + a viable planet.
>
> For this, they need an Urth humanity too weak to avoid genocide; 
> and the mythos of the New Sun to produce a Sev willing to 
> participate in the genocide; whatever line of descent in the 
> interim required to produce a Sev with Sev's genes/powers/whatever; 
> and a revitalised sun. They use admirable economy of action in 
> achieving all of these rnd-points.
>   
I have two issues with this idea; one is practical and the other 
artistic. On the practical side, the Sev who brings about the New Sun is 
an aquastor. The aquastor Malrubius acts as a mouthpiece for the 
Hierogrammates. If all they wanted was a puppet with the right genetics, 
then permitting Sev his adventures was a waste of time.

The artistic issue is that a heroic story has been converted into a 
horror story. In this reading, evil triumphs. Had Sev failed to bring 
the New Sun (if that were even permitted by these all-powerful 
puppeteers) then Urth humans would have been just as much at their mercy 
after the Ragnorak evacuation. The whole epic becomes pointless,

Roy seems to be theorizing that Wolfe started with a heroic story and 
then converted it to a horror story when his original happy ending 
wouldn't work. I disagree with this; there was ample foreshadowing that 
the New Sun would have calamitous side-effects (Talos' play, the 
statement by the Autarch that many would seek to flee, and the dead 
rooster on the road). But I think the intention was for the reader to 
find a mixture of hope and sadness in the ending. Whether the reader 
does or not depends on the assumptions and attitudes one brings to the book.

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