Odds and Ends

James Jordan · 26 Jan 2001, 15:09 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Subject: (whorl) Odds and Ends
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 15:09:53
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0084 at digest.urth.net>
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Am re-reading OBW and IGJ in preparation for RTW (which just arrived).=20
Noticed a couple of things that MAY have been discussed already -- I did=20
review all the posts I've kept -- and thought I'd share them here.

1. At the end of OBW, Horn hears himself being called to the shore as=20
Babbie. Someone already mentioned that Babbie is to Horn (semihuman to=20
human) as Horn is the Caller (semidivine to divine). Horn goes an lays his=20
own head on the lap of the Caller, as Babbie lay his head on the laps of=20
Horn and Seawrack. Who is the Caller? Someone suggested the Outsider.=20
Maybe, but explicitly he is a Vanished God, and this is said a couple pages=20
later, when Horn tells Brother and Sister about the Vanished People and the=20
Vanished God in their woods. I doubt if it's any more complicated than that.

2. Krait is like Sinew because Krait's mother drank from Sinew. Thus, the=20
traits gained by the inhumi are specific to the persons they drink from ,=20
and are passed on. In Fava's second tale, she says that when she saw a man=20
on Green, she thought that a human form was the best form one of her kind=20
could take, indicating that her genetic history includes human=20
blood/attributes. Remember that Wolfe is not a Darwinian, but a=20
Lamarckian.  Mom did not have to be gravid at the time she returned to=20
Green. She just had to have drunk from baby Sinew before making the trip.

3. It's probably stupid of me to suggest this now, since it may be taken up=20
in RTW, but I'm now betting that iron is part of the secret of the inhumi.=20
Blood is iron-based, and the iron shackles on Jahlee seem to affect her.=20
And it is in this context that Horn threatens her with the secret. In spite=20
of all the ins and outs of the discussion of the Secret, in which I've=20
added my own share of confusion, the Secret seems to be something simple=20
and immediate, and iron might just be the answer.

4. On Horn's hatred of Sinew. I have not seen anyone suggest this, but I=20
wonder if Horn has some reason to suspect that Sinew is not his child, but=20
the child of an adultery of Nettle's? This would explain a lot, even if=20
Horn were wrong in his suspicions. At any rate, it is only my own suspicion.

Patera Nutria

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