Inhumi (RTTWspoilers)

Robert Borski14 Feb 2001, 13:16original as archived

Fernando Gouvea having written: <About the secret of the inhumi: can we trust the text here? Since Silk/Horn is writing a "public" document, might he have put down a bowdlerized version of the secret so as to make the point that it was revealed to Nettle without thereby revealing it to us?> I'm sort of with Fernando here. Because I still don't believe the inhumi fly between planets during conjunctions, and that it's this well-kept secret that's somehow involved with neutralizing or eradicating the inhumi on Blue. Yes, we have Jahlee talking about testing her youthful wings and endurance for the Crossing. But in the same passage, when Horn asks her, "Before you came the first time?" author Wolfe very cryptically has Horn note, "She did not answer." Jahlee would also have us believe that those inhumi lacking endurance burn up when they hit Blue's atmosphere. "That little scratch of fire, and you're gone forever." Right. And thunder is Pas breaking wind. (Are we also to believe that Blue's skies are marred by these "little scratches of fire" only during times of conjunction?) Jahlee further notes that she trained "for years, and there were days when I couldn't even get up high above the clouds. There are strong winds at this level, and the air is thin." In space, however, there is no air, thin or otherwise--so why should that make a difference? How also do we explain the death of Fava, who freezes to death in the snow, and Jahlee who almost does so? If the equitorial, reptile-like inhumi can withstand the froric depths of space, why can't they tolerate the colder climes of "frigid, hostile Blue," as Jahlee calls it? Answer: because they don't fly between worlds, any more than they flew to the Whorl. In the latter case we learn that the Neighbors sent them for purposes of reconnaissance. It seems likely that whatever technology was involved there--and if the inhumi have supped on the Neighbors, one would think they would have access to their technosecrets--is still being used by the inhumi of Horn's time, if not from the very beginning. Robert Borski *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

James Jordan17 Feb 2001, 13:15original as archived

↳ follows Robert Borski · by subject

This theory makes a great deal of sense to me. FWIW. So does your notion that Pig is a godling and that Pig may have "killed" Silk. It does seem that Pig once had eyes, and lost them. If your Tartaros theory is correct, I'd say Tartaros moved into him after the loss of those eyes, as into a fit host. Another point. Horn says he learned that the Neighbors have a weird sense of humor. I'd say that the great manifestation of that is their putting Horn into Silk's body. Nutria

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At 01:16 PM 2/14/2001 -0600, you wrote: Fernando Gouvea having written: <About the secret of the inhumi: can we trust the text here? Since Silk/Horn is writing a "public" document, might he have put down a bowdlerized version of the secret so as to make the point that it was revealed to Nettle without thereby revealing it to us?> I'm sort of with Fernando here. Because I still don't believe the inhumi fly between planets during conjunctions, and that it's this well-kept secret that's somehow involved with neutralizing or eradicating the inhumi on Blue. Yes, we have Jahlee talking about testing her youthful wings and endurance for the Crossing. But in the same passage, when Horn asks her, "Before you came the first time?" author Wolfe very cryptically has Horn note, "She did not answer." Jahlee would also have us believe that those inhumi lacking endurance burn up when they hit Blue's atmosphere. "That little scratch of fire, and you're gone forever." Right. And thunder is Pas breaking wind. (Are we also to believe that Blue's skies are marred by these "little scratches of fire" only during times of conjunction?) Jahlee further notes that she trained "for years, and there were days when I couldn't even get up high above the clouds. There are strong winds at this level, and the air is thin." In space, however, there is no air, thin or otherwise--so why should that make a difference? How also do we explain the death of Fava, who freezes to death in the snow, and Jahlee who almost does so? If the equitorial, reptile-like inhumi can withstand the froric depths of space, why can't they tolerate the colder climes of "frigid, hostile Blue," as Jahlee calls it? Answer: because they don't fly between worlds, any more than they flew to the Whorl. In the latter case we learn that the Neighbors sent them for purposes of reconnaissance. It seems likely that whatever technology was involved there--and if the inhumi have supped on the Neighbors, one would think they would have access to their technosecrets--is still being used by the inhumi of Horn's time, if not from the very beginning. Robert Borski *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

Inhumi (RTTWspoilers)Whorl