Bloodsport

JBarach at aol.com · 26 May 2011, 23:07 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: JBarach at aol.com (JBarach at aol.com)
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 19:07:03 EDT
Subject: (urth) Bloodsport
Message-ID: <6d753.6d75e640.3b103717 at aol.com>

Thanks for the response, James.

I understand that a knight can take a queen in chess.  But I'm not  
persuaded that that's what happens at the end of "Bloodsport."  

First, Valorius undergoes a transformation at the end, marked by the  
opening tomb, the presence of his father, now at rest, and the passing on of a  
mantle.  

Second, Valorius is linked up with the sun at the end, and it is by the sun 
 that he is enabled to kill the moon-queen, Lurn.  This is associated with  
their previous conversation about sun and moon combatting.  Sun and moon  
correspond to man and woman or, more specifically, to king  and queen.  So it 
seems to me that Valorius is now a king, which  could happen only in 
checkers (though, I'd add, he's also clearly under Our Lord  the Sun, which is an 
appropriate view for a Christian king).  

And then there is a common expression "X was playing chess when Y was  
playing checkers" (or vice versa): _http://tinyurl.com/444c5pw_ 
(http://tinyurl.com/444c5pw) .

John
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