Dionysus

David Stockhoff · 08 Dec 2010, 13:49 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:49:38 -0500
Subject: (urth) Dionysus
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W8D10A4A244B554CE29B81CF2D0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W8D10A4A244B554CE29B81CF2D0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4CFF8CF2.4040903 at verizon.net>

Here's the main problem I see with this logic. "Aliens" are by 
definition multimorphic: they come from a near infinity of planets. That 
is their attraction.

Even the three species we know from BOTNS, Hieros, Hierodules, and 
Hierogrammates, are almost too many for me to keep separate, and there 
are many, many others. Some may have no apparent known shapes, like 
Erebus (although there are allusions); some can change shape, some, like 
alzabos, change shape in a different way.

It's true that demons, broadly speaking, are generally able to shift 
shapes, but to say that all aliens are shapeshifters is like saying Odin 
has one eye, therefore Thor has one eye. It not only doesn't make 
sense---it demolishes the whole idea of gods as recognizable, 
distinguishable entities. The very idea of a pantheon would be 
destroyed. The gods would be like Titans, generic and almost 
indistinguishable.

Granted, Wolfe plays with this too; he has characters that are a kind of 
shapeshifter: the inhumi. How can a mutable nonperson be a person?

But this reinforces my point. Inhumi are obviously a special case that 
unfolds over several novels. Inire is not, and any logic that requires 
him to be a shapeshifter requires all aliens to be shapeshifters. First, 
this is demonstrably not the case; second, this knowledge is useless 
without knowing HOW he is a shapeshifter.

If Inire is fundamentally monkeylike, OTOH, then it is a simple thing to 
say, Sometimes he can look more monkeylike than other times; sometimes 
he can look more manlike than others. The text can support this.

On 12/8/2010 3:43 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
> I consider the argument: "An alien has been shown to be a shapeshifter; Fr. Inire is an alien;
> >Therefore Fr. inire is a shapeshifter" to be invalid.  Do you see why?

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