reckless speculation on Typhon and Quetzal

James Wynn · 04 Sep 2003, 22:12 · from urth-v0309.mbox · original

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From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at hotpop.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) reckless speculation on Typhon and Quetzal
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 17:12:42 -0500
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Don posited:
> Typhon ...is the father of the unsleeping serpent that guards the
> Golden Fleece.  So I spent the next hour or so googling around
> randomly and came across these two sites. The first is
> interesting because it places the Golden Fleece as a solar
> representation.  I don't expect anyone to buy this but the
> Kholkian Drakon (do inhumi sleep?), the offspring of Typhon is
> the guardian of the Golden Fleece (which I read somewhere
> could also be a golden apple)/Sun.  What I mean is Quetzal, the
> offspring of Typhon (or a clone thereof), is the guardian (via the
> Chapter) of Silk (the Long Sun).  I know, I know, you don't buy it.
> Still it's in the record now.

Crush responds:
The importance of archetypes in understanding what is going on in the Long
and Short Suns can hardly be overemphasized. And I agree that the serpent
Ladon the is to be found on the Whorl.  The thing is that Quetzal is not the
only serpent on Whorl (he's not even the only inhumi). There are lots and
lots of them. The Trivigaunte are serpents and so is Newt and Kingcup. The
Lemur family are all serpents because they have shed their skin in a bid for
immortality as serpents were classically believed to do. Wolfe has used this
shedding skin analogy before. And so consequently, I have asserted that
*Pas* is Ladon. Pas is Typhon's "son" in the same complex (and Biblical)
sense that Number Five was Maitre's "son". He is a serpent in that he Typhon
having shed his skin to acheive immortality.

The exasperating part of assigning archetypes in Wolfe's works is that he is
so clever about it.

-- Crush

--=20

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