Azoth color

Jerry Friedman · 20 May 2002, 22:24 · from urth-v0205.mbox · original

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From: Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) Azoth color
Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 15:24:25 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <urth-v0205-1022 at digest.urth.net>
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--- Ashley Crill <ashley.crill at student.oc.edu> wrote:
> I recently read a post in the Urth archives concerning the color of the
> gem in Hyacinth's azoth:
>=20
> >The weird thing is that the jewel in the hilt has changed colors from
> its=20
> >original description in Nightside the Long Sun.  I can't remember the
> color=20
> >right now, but I know I was suprised because it wasn't purple (I was
> reading=20
> >it out loud to my mother a few weeks ago right after reading the
> description=20
> >of the azoth in Return to the Whorl on my own; she has the book now) I
> think=20
> >it was blue or blue-green.  Has anybody noticed if the jewel in the
> hilt=20
> >changes throughout the Long Sun series?
>=20
>  There are two gems on the azoth. One is set directly underneath the
> guard,  and is a red, unfaceted bloodstone.

Incidentally, Wolfe may have made up this sense of "bloodstone"
(though I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it in earlier
pulpish sf).  The only definition at
<http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary> is "a green chalcedony
sprinkled with red spots resembling blood -- called also _heliotrope_"

> The second gem is set in the
> pommel, and appears to be clear. When it catches the light, however, it
> becomes colored. In Nightside p. 304, Silk notices that the pommel gem
> catches a ray of sunlight and "flashed a watery green" color. In Return
> p. 321, Silk/Horn notices that the pommel gem appears to be a "watery,
> somewhat purplish stone". I'm guessing that the color of the pommel gem
> changes according to the light, while the bloodstone that activates the
> beam is always red.

Good catch!

Jerry Friedman

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--=20

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