Appearances of Inire

Jeff Wilson · 01 Jul 2010, 15:33 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:33:05 -0500
Subject: (urth) Appearances of Inire
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On 7/1/2010 8:24 AM, John Watkins wrote:
> Thanks.
> Obviously, the effect of Tzadkiel's actions is the coming of the New Sun
> and the drowning of Urth.  Lots and lots of people die in this, maybe
> for a redemptive higher meaning and maybe not.  Under 1), we can be
> quite confident that the slaughter was authorized by God, like the Flood
> or the apocalypse, and therefore moral, at least by the author's lights
> (the reader's mileage may vary.)  Under 2), the massacring of Urth is no
> less than genocide.  Under 3), it may be either--a clumsy attempt by
> incredibly powerful but fallible beings to enact what they understand to
> be the divine will.
> I think 3) maybe makes for the best story.  But with 2), there's the
> possibility of something else going on behind the scenes--maybe over the
> course of the next seven books--redeeming the act of evil.  That would
> be a pretty great story.

Tzad cops to #3 although he has the luxury not only of seeing how the 
machinaitons turn out from his perch in Yesod, but of potentially being 
able to undo any changes that turn out to suck more rather than less. 
And arguably, any deaths the Yesodis "cause" have already happened to 
long-dead Urthlings and they're just rearranging the details, or even 
saving some from having to suffer in that vale of tears to begin with.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >

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