Juturna

The meeting in the throne room with Juturna was the third for Sev. The second meeting was at the Cephissus river, when she tried to seduce him. At that time she mentioned having previously saved him from drowning among the clotted weeds in the Gyoll. Ergo, since from her perspective there in the throne room she had yet to save him from drowning in the Gyoll, for her the meeting at the Cephissus cannot have happened yet, either. Yet she seems to know Sev. If that meeting in the throne room was not her first, when could she have known him earlier, if not from their coming encounter (coming from Sev's point of view) after the flood? -Roy

Roy, I don't think I have understand the problem with this.

he makes his "prophesy" that she will save him from drowning in Gyoll. She searchs "backwards" through his life and meets Sev at the sand bank where (among other things) she mentions that it was (will be) her that saves him from the weeds. When she reaches the moment where the nenuphars attempt to drown the NS she saves him. Why are these plants the image of "the death of the sun" anyway? "glossy, pale leaves and azure flower." "black roots as fine and strong as hair, reaching down into the dark waters". What forces are represented by these plants? Why do they wish to drown the sun? Would they not thrive in a sunnier Ushas? Are they non-terrestrial? I think they must be. They are "weeds" after all. They have roots reaching into dark waters, but are opposed by the Undines. Who can clear this up? nastler --- "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net> skrev:

There are references throughout the NS books to the paleness of the plants; presumably the dying sun is not bright enough to stimulate chlorophyll production. This is contrasted with the rich green of plants under a healthy sun. So by the very fact of their glossy paleness, the nenuphars reflect the dying of the sun. Then I suppose there's the metaphorical meaning of their role in Sev's near-drowning. (Question: Why are the plants on Urth pale, while those on the moon apparently quite green?) Tristan tristan_davenport at hotmail.com

Purely speculation but -- Lune has a less dense atmosphere, so the surface receives more insolation. --Dan'l

Perhaps, but Wolfe has also shown time and again that he his willing to forsake literal truth and internal consistency to make room for the right poetic imagery. The laws of dream and story far outweigh the laws of physics in his work, imho. Quite in keeping with the Catholic undertones of his major works, I think. Don

Purely speculation but -- Lune has a less dense atmosphere, so the surface receives more insolation. --Dan'l

Perhaps, but there's no guarantee that there are any plants still on Lune at the time of the narrative. Conflation and multiplication of identities over ages is a very strong theme here as in other Wolfe. The green color could be something else entirely, and presumed to be the forrests of old, if it ever was. Algae farms meant to feed the many billions of Earth could retain their green color from superficial, topical growth even after millenia of neglect. Or some ancient ruler could have proclaimed the moon be pained green in his honor. The real answer is of course that the author really likes to write about blue planets with bright green companions, as he does in 5HC and SS.

It seems perfectly possible to me that the present plant life can strike one as pale when seen up close, but their underlying green visible en masse from a distance. But only science fiction readers would worry about rationalizing such a cool effect ;) Anyway, there are plenty of descriptions of "green" greenery in BOTNS, plus heat and humidity in the "true jungle at the waist of the world", so insolation hasn't dropped that much. David Duffy