uinnRe: Scanning Typhon

Gerry Quinn · 11 Feb 2011, 14:21 · from 2011-February.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:21:18 -0000
Subject: (urth) uinnRe:  Scanning Typhon
References: <SNT123-W3549889E71377A5D509E2FCFEF0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <548ABF9BC41C4403B9A641C4B31C6A18@jill>

From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>
>>Nick Gevers: It occurs to me that when Typhon's personality was scanned to 
>>create Pas, there
>>could have been an accidental--or even deliberate--incorporation of 
>>elements of
>>Piaton's mind too. Thus, perhaps, the unexpected (relative) benevolence of 
>>Pas
>>and his Plan.

I tend to doubt it, mainly because while surgical accidents do occur in 
which the wrong leg is amputated, such a scenario lacks plausibility when it 
comes to scanning the head of the Monarch.

> This is an interesting alternate explanation. I think most have been 
> content with the idea that
> the benevolence is a result of the principle that we tend to become the 
> role we play. I wonder if
> it will appeal to those readers who prefer nuts and bolts explanations 
> over literary ones.

Why?  Of course there should be valid explanations for everything, but Pas's 
motives are perfectly explicable without invoking any scanning errors. 
Typhon himself would plausibly have acted the same way.  Indeed, although 
the exact nature of the brain operations is murky, Typhon appears to have 
deliberately tried to release the Whorl's inhabitants from his thrall right 
at the start of the journey, so no personality change is even required.

The mistake some people make is to believe that some mythological resonance 
they find in elements of the story can serve as an alternative to 'nuts and 
bolts' explanations.

> I was trying to think of text evidence of Pas having elements of being a 
> slave. For some reason
> the phrase "god of gods, slave of slaves" popped into my head. But I don't 
> even know if this
> phrase is in the Sun series. Is it bibilical? Google and Urth Archives 
> searches were no help.
> Anyone?

Doesn't ring a bell.

- Gerry Quinn

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