Horn's appearance

Alice Turner · 15 Apr 2000, 13:26 · from whorl-v0010.mbox · original

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From: "Alice Turner" <akt at attglobal.net>
Subject: (whorl) Horn's appearance
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 13:26:07
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Nacre replies to Nick:
>=20
> > Has anyone on this list tried to picture exactly how
> > Wolfe intends an inhumu (or inhuma) to look in its
> > undisguised state? Various zoological parallels are
> > suggested by Horn, IIRC including an owl, a serpent,
> > reptiles generally; but I have trouble visualising the
> > creatures exactly...=20
>=20
> I don't know whether this will help anyone, but I tend to
> visualize a sort of a tailless cross between a naked flying=20
> squirrel (substitute lemur or possum for squirrel, as geo-
> graphically appropriate) and a pterodactyl--the sort with-
> out a beak, of course.
>=20
> I suspect, however, that Wolfe's key idea about the inhumi
> is their mutability, and that attempts to visualize them undis-
> guised probably miss the point a little bit.  I have also won-
> dered how much the guises adopted by inhumi depend on=20
> physical alterations, and how much on psychological (or=20
> possibly psychical) effects.

Horn at one point (sorry, I don't have time to look for it) speculates that=
 the imagery of demons was based on inhumi. Which is not so different from =
Nacre's image. (There was quite a lot of lattitude in pre-Renaissance demon=
 imagery, however.) I think that the human guise is virtually entirely psyc=
hological (or psychical). Krait pledges to Horn that he, Horn, will always =
see him for what he is, though everyone else (including Seawrack, somewhat =
surprisingly) is fooled. But there are two things an inhumu cannot disguise=
, first, density (they are much lighter than human beings, have to be or th=
ey couldn't fly), second, temperature--they are cold-blooded. So they can't=
 get physically close to anyone without being discovered. I think it's a ma=
rk in Horn's favor, "feet of clay up to his neck" or not, that his love for=
 Krait, which I take as entirely genuine, is despite his always seeing him =
in this demon aspect.

And yes, the Gate of Horn is the one for true dreams. With all the discussi=
on about Sev's veracity, it seems to me that Horn does the best he can to d=
eliver the truth (the same need not be said about his own Creator).

-alga

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