Grand Unified Theory

Dave Tallman · 29 Aug 2010, 14:10 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:10:08 -0600
Subject: (urth) Grand Unified Theory
Message-ID: <AANLkTik6wXYHO13jrQLxtDgpOC4VT+pD=ZetTVNjopcB at mail.gmail.com>

James Wynn wrote:

> Dave Tallman - I agree that astral projection/dream travel can involve

> > time travel, and that the "Patera Pike" who appeared to Silk was in

> > fact the Rajan with his dream Oreb (now normal size with Scylla gone).

> I think we should be looking for him elsewhere in the story, as well.

Yes, there may be other places, but given the way astral travel is
portrayed I don't look for years-long roles (like the entire lifetime
of Patera Pike during the time Silk knew him). It's not necessary for
the known sighting -- Silk only got a glimpse of the face of his older
self, shadowed by the culotte. If you insist on identical faces, then
the Typhon clone theory can be brought in, but I don't think it's
required.

I'm not sure about the argument from silence for the lack of relatives
for Hyacinth. She was probably estranged from them all, so they
wouldn't be invited to her wedding. If some of them tried to reconnect
and were rebuffed that might not be important enough to include in the
story. She was bitter about her past: "Hyacinth had hated all men, had
hated men in the aggregate, because of things that had been said to
her and things she had been forced to do for money, humiliations worse
than spoiled fish."

That seems to me the worst thing about this theory -- what it does to
the Rajan's character. I could forgive Silk for killing Hyacinth in a
fit of rage and despair, but to force a young woman into years of
degradation merely to recreate the woman he loved is so morally
repugnant that it would destroy the story for me. He's better than
that.
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