Tzadkiel/Melek Taus

David Stockhoff · 12 Jul 2010, 23:44 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:44:04 -0400
Subject: (urth) Tzadkiel/Melek Taus
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I assume that there are so few "people" left on Urth (subtract the 
not-quite-human and failed Ascians, who may well control the rest of the 
planet, and some outlying tribes) that this is not a real concern.

Ant?nio Pedro Marques wrote:
> This is worth pursuing but I think there are a number of problems with 
> it.
>
> If Tzadkiel is honest, his intent is to renew the planet and give 
> Humanity a new chance. If there is an afterlife then drowning almost 
> everyone isn't such a catastrophe as it might seem. The fact is that 
> the world is in dire need of moral cleansing, not only terraforming, 
> and I don't see how you achieve the former without some global 
> disaster that at once decimates the population and changes the natural 
> environment. The new world will have a chance to be good.
>
> If Tzadkiel is a liar, then I don't see what does he gain by 
> destroying the world. Sure, he could do it out of sheer evilness, but 
> I don't find it convincing that he would take all that trouble just to 
> have a 5 minute massacre sport. We tend to associate evil with 
> selfishness, and to annihilate your potential servants makes little 
> sense selfishly. And if the intent is to take pleasure in killing 
> them, then a global drowning is possibly one of the least interesting 
> methods - quick and clean. If otoh he wishes to wipe out Humanity for 
> whatever reason, giving a renewed planet to a reduced population seems 
> to run counter to the objective.
>
> Moreover, if Tzadkiel could send the new sun to destroy the world, why 
> not just do it without all the hocus pocus? And if he didn't have that 
> power all by himself, then whoever did have the power is calling the 
> shots, not Tzakdiel.
>
> You mention Severian could have asked for the population to be 
> evacuated. Well, could the building of the Whorl have been done not 
> out of fear that the sun would die out, but that the flood could be 
> irreparably deleterious? And where would you take all those wicked 
> people, and how would you reform them? If it were easy, what would a 
> new Earth be needed for? In the dying earth future, my impression is 
> that the population had been steadily declining for ages.
>
> Does Severian not asking for an evacuation imply that he is evil as 
> well? I suppose your idea is that he is so embroiled in Tzadkiel's way 
> of presenting things that such a question doesn't even cross his mind.
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