RTTW spoilers, the Silken tongue

Michael Andre-Driussi · 15 Feb 2001, 10:18 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at sirius.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) RTTW spoilers, the Silken tongue
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 10:18:55
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0245 at digest.urth.net>
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Kevin Maroney quoted and wrote:
>At 09:50 PM 2/14/01 -0800, Mantis wrote:
>>Imagine that the biggest Elvis fan in the world suddenly found himself
>>transported into the nearly dead body ("whoa, that was a close one!") of
>>Elvis himself.  Do you think he couldn't fake being Elvis?  Crank it up a
>>notch: make that fan the guy who wrote all of Elvis's songs, and taught h=
im
>>how to move and sing--the guy who created the Elvis that everybody else s=
aw
>>and heard.
>
>Of course he could. But if he doesn't know he's been transported into
>Elvis's body, why would he lapse into acting like Elvis for an extended
>time during a period when he's convinced that Elvis is alive *somewhere
>else*, and desparately wants people to help him find Elvis?

Okay, now we're getting somewhere!

The narrator must know that he isn't "Silk" (whether this is "oldSilk" or
"mainframeSilk" or "litSilk," or some combination thereof, doesn't matter
at the moment) but he must have some inkling that the Silk-he-is-not exists
somewhere else (mainframe, for example, the place where the dead folk go).

I think that the narrator knows he is in Silk's body, but still this is
something that is constantly being grappled with internally, as well as
externally, since everybody he meets assumes that he is Silk.  He acts like
Silk for at least two broad reasons: first, because everybody he meets
expects him to be Silk (and the first people have only known Silk, not
litSilk); second, because he has always wanted to be more like Silk himself
(fanboy, hellooo!).

Now, when the narrator strongly suspects that there is a Silk in Pig,
obviously (according to the reasoning above) he would get very excited.
Must get that Silk!  But judging by the results, which happen before the
first word of TBOTSS is written, the Silk he got wasn't the Silk he was
looking for.

Still--the fact that a Silk was floating around incognito in the body of
Pig means that it is quite possible that somewhere else the Silk he is
looking for has downloaded into somebody else. The old wine in a new
bottle.

Not to erase the delusional/Quixotic angle, since I enjoy a multiple
layering, but just to outline the rational angle.

Note that one implication of what I'm saying is this: a series of
interrupted histories.  Horn knows nothing of what has happened on the
Whorl since he left as a boy; Horn/Silk(body) knows nothing of what has
happened on the Whorl since Horn left as a boy (otherwise he would know
about Silk's failure as ruler of Viron, etc.); post eye operation
Silk/Horn/Silk knows nothing of what has happened on the Whorl since the
scan was taken in TBOTLS (otherwise he would know all about Hyacinth's
death).

Thus there is a big grey area centered on post-Exodus time in the Whorl.
Good thing: then the character can venture forth into the Whorl and try to
find out what happened, rather than just say "Oh drat!" and commit suicide
(again?).

=3Dmantis=3D

Sirius Fiction
Catalog and errata sheet at http://www.sirius.com/~mantis/

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