The Conciliator

Jim Henley · 27 Nov 1999, 12:01 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: "Jim Henley" <jlhenley at erols.com>
Subject: RE: (urth) The Conciliator
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 12:01:41
Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0541 at digest.urth.net>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: urth-errors at lists.best.com [mailto:urth-errors at lists.best.com]On
> Behalf Of Jim Jordan
> >
> >Okay, Erebus rules the pole and his domain would shrink, so he has a
> >motive. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure why Erebus is still
> alive in the
> >first place. If he's a giant and he's living on the Antarctic
> land mass -
> >we're told his namesake mountain is his seat of power - why hasn't he
> >collapsed into a puddle of bile and bone meal already?
>
> 	Interesting. In Dante, Satan is in a block of ice at the
> center of the
> earth. Hell is frozen. Make Erebus a Satan-figure then. Does Satan want
> humanity annihilated, or does he want them to worship him? The latter.
> Perhaps that's why Erebus and his minions oppose any New Sun.

Good job, Nute: that's two out of three, and an excellent two. The Urthes
say that everything in the saga has three levels - the science-fictional
(plot/world) significance, the literary (allusive) significance and the
religious significance. Your theory does nicely for the latter two: alas,
it still doesn't explain how Erebus survives being land-bound and
giant-sized. (One possible explanation: Erebus isn't really a giant.
Another: He's a "chem," giant robot division.) Nor does it quite explain
why the warm-water Abaia is in league with the ice-god Erebus. But you've
reduced the number of things I worry about by one, for which I thank you.

Best,

Jim
 *****************************************
"It ain't the knife thru your heart that tears you apart
  it's just the thought of someone sticking it in"
              -- Graham Parker, "Protection"

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