Sea Monsters

Daniel Petersen · 30 May 2011, 12:41 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com (Daniel Petersen)
Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 13:41:14 +0100
Subject: (urth) Sea Monsters
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-w2349FE8950ABE73699F86FCF780 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-w2349FE8950ABE73699F86FCF780 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <BANLkTiky9SqFF2e5G0enQpEJZ34jv-XvuQ at mail.gmail.com>

Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:
I think The Mother and Great Scylla highly qualify as
Lovecraftian leviathan monstrosities and I find their presence to have a
behind-the-scenes
impact on the story at least as great as Abaia and Erebus in BotNS.


Point happily taken.

-DOJP

On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 12:13 AM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> Andrew Mason: "..Great Erebus, who has established his kingdom there, will
> soon be driven before them, with all his fierce, pale warriors. He will
> unite
> his strength with Abaia's, whos kingdom is in the warm waters..."
>
> Thanks Andrew. I've always thought that was a key passage. I find it
> graphically
> illustrated by Maxellindis' uncle's story about the ship on Gyoll with
> voices
> coming from the water and the bottom roiled carrying giant pandours which
> seem to
> be a good semblance of "cold, pale warriors". In other words, the scene
> describes
> a partnership between Abaia and Erebus. That's why I recently asked James
> about his
> contention that Erebus is long dead. Personally, I suspect WOlfe intends
> these
> creatures, like their mythological analogs, to be essentially immortal.
> Like all
> (false?) gods, their power and survival depend the number (and fervency) of
> their
> followers.
>
>
> >Daniel Peterson: I feel Wolfe is engaging with that kind of cosmic horror
> in the
> >background of the whole BotNS (in fact, I'm sad to find it pretty much
> missing in
> >the rest of the Solar Cycle - but perhaps the vampiric Inhumi make up for
> that).
>
> I tend to disagree. Not that the Inhumi aren't a horror element. But I
> think the gods
> of the Whorl add an electronic ghostian version of the sea monsters in Long
> Sun (while
> the giant fish in Scylla's lake is closer to a real version of them).
>
> But most especially in Short Sun, I find that trilogy bookended by a
> depictions of The
> Mother (partly via Seawrack) in in OBW and Great Scylla in RttW which are
> much more
> graphic views than anything we get in BotNS (except for giant Tzadkiel's
> pinching off a
> small version of herself). I think The Mother and Great Scylla highly
> qualify as
> Lovecraftian leviathan monstrosities and I find their presence to have a
> behind-the-scenes
> impact on the story at least as great as Abaia and Erebus in BotNS.
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