Yet another Secret theory: we have met the enemy and he is

William Ansley · 23 Apr 2001, 23:51 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Yet another Secret theory: we have met the enemy and he is
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 23:51:51
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At 8:14 PM -0500 4/23/01, Adam Stephanides wrote:
>Say what you will about Nicholas Gevers' proposal, he's got people thinking
>about the Secret again.

And this is a good thing? <G> I swore to myself that I was not going=20
to contribute any more to this conversation. But your theory is too=20
good to pass up, Adam.

>When Jahlee says that the inhumi take their children's minds from the huma=
ns
>whose blood they drink, she is not merely referring to their intelligence.
>The children's spirits (perhaps their souls, if inhumi have souls) are tak=
en
>from humans.  Krait is Horn's son, not just by adoption, but because his
>spirit is the same as Sinew's.  This is why, during astral travel, the
>inhumi appear human.

Interesting. This may explain why Krait had to die. If he had ever=20
been the catalyst for astral travel, under this theory, presumably=20
his astral body would have looked just like Sinew or at least bourne=20
a strong resemblance to him. (This does raise the question, who did=20
Jahlee's mother bite? Anyone we know?)

>So the way in which the Secret can be used as a weapon is indeed the Golden
>Rule bit proposed here before.  If humans loved each other enough and were
>unselfish enough, then the inhumi, drinking their blood, would produce
>children who were too unselfish to drink human blood.  Then the inhumi wou=
ld
>lose their intelligence, and this would not be cruel to the inhumi because
>they were meant to be just animals: they have no spirits of their own (this
>is what I take to be Wolfe's view, not necessarily my own).  The inhumi as
>they exist now are monstrosities, albeit pitiable monstrosities, like the
>beast-men of "The Island of Doctor Death" (sorry, alga, but I think that
>this fits Wolfe's portrayal of the inhumi better than visions of
>human-inhumi brotherhood [*] do).

I have always thought that an insurmountable objection to this was=20
that humans who truly obeyed the Golden Rule would freely give their=20
blood to inhumi, if doing so made them truly human, in the soul=20
department at least. This would lead to a glorious human-inhumi=20
partnership and they all would live happily ever after. But, if what=20
the inhumi are actually getting is a copy or a piece of a human soul,=20
then perhaps perfectly moral beings (that is, if this isn't too=20
extreme a description of humans who follow the Golden Rule) would not=20
feel it was necessary to give their blood to the inhumi.

(Hey, maybe the inhumi are stealing part of the soul of the child=20
whose blood drink. Maybe that's what was wrong with Sinew. Naaaah!)

William Ansley

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