Bigger Lune

Roy, unfortunately, you are missing the small detail at the end of Return to the Whorl where Hoof looks up in the sky and claims that Lune (he calls it "Green") is much bigger than Green ever is in the sky (and at 30,000 leagues distant at conjunction, this is much closer than the moon ever is (approximately 80,000 leagues in our time)) [even though the moon is much much closer in Rudesind's time according to the Shadow of the Torturer - we don't know HOW much closer - enough to compensate?]. I already commented on this. This means, if they are at equal distances, Lune would have to be either closer than 30,000 leagues or much much BIGGER than Green. This means Green should even have LESS gravity than the moon, maybe. Read that chapter again if you don't believe me. Let's face it, arguing about the size is pretty fruitless without the sizes in real units; we are just guessing. I don't think this really puts the nail in the coffin for Blue=Ushas. Remember how at one point the narrator says we only have to think of three whorls to solve the mystery of the inhumu? Then why does Juganu claim "We are everywhere!" I believe that the previous statement can still apply - and how do we reconcile them? By making only three whorls total. Oh well. You will never believe me. That's cool. No hard feelings. Marc Aramini PS - For Dan'l: Does my name lend itself easily to the latin "Marcus Araminius"? My friends used to call me that a lot, too. They used to throw in my middle name Anthony as Antonius, too. I think it's pretty cool, myself. Have a good night, everybody!

Marc wrote:

He doesn't say that it is "much bigger", nor was he looking at Lune. He was on Blue and looking at Green. What he says is: "Our Green is not as big as theirs, but ours was plenty bright." (366) So, Lune appears bigger to Hoof than Green does when viewed under similar conditions, but that hardly makes Lune "much bigger" than Green. As you have noted, Lune was closer to Urth in Sev's day than Moon is to Earth in ours, which is sufficient reason for us, the readers, to account for it appearing larger in Urth's sky than it does now. But Hoof doesn't know that--he can't. If Hoof was viewing the same object (Lune/Green) from the same platform (Urth/Blue), as you contend, it should appear to him as the same size--everything else being equal. What isn't equal, at least for Green and Blue, is the six-year cycle of convergence/divergence. That Lune looks larger to him indicates that either Lune was closer to Urth in Sev's day than Green comes to Blue even at conjunction, or he wasn't looking at the same object from the same place.

distant at conjunction, this is much closer than the moon ever is (approximately 80,000 leagues in our time)) [even though the moon is much much closer in Rudesind's time according to the Shadow of the Torturer - we don't know HOW much closer - enough to compensate?]. I already commented on this. This means, if they are at equal distances, Lune would have to be either closer than 30,000 leagues or much much BIGGER than Green. This means Green should even have LESS gravity than the moon, maybe.<< Even if we ignore the rest and stipulate that Green is Lune, how would the inhumi ever be able to overcome what for them would be 6 times (or more, if you had your way) the gravity they grew up with, and be able to fly back to Green from Blue, in order to breed? -Roy