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Excerpt from R. Scott Bakker's The White-Luck Warrior


pat5150

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I thought we knew that Akka's puppet was a bound soul.
Kinda. But we didn't know what that meant, and we didn't know why that was necessary. If the Wathi doll was not only a bound soul but an animata, it means that the soul was the interface to drive the action of the body. And it has apparently some actual motive force as well, so that means the wall doesn't just act as Windows 6.1, it seethes with rage and violence.

Really interesting.

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I sincerely believe Bakker is concretizing a new fictive device, that of Layers of Revelation. Each book seems to reveal a novel metaphysical element of Earwaen Reality, each of which exist and add to the layered meanings of the previous books.

TJE: Moral Damnation has an absolute measure, the Judging Eye, and the Gods exist definitively.

WLW: ?

A clue might be that it will be an order of magnitude greater than the previous reveals.

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Was the whole "his hand-bag turned into a dead baby" just part of the Dream, or was it something that Seswatha actually experienced (i.e., the door has warped reality in its vicinity to the point where it's a miniature topos)?

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Bouncing of Kal, my first thought about existence being driven by the watching and the watched was that it is a total quantum mechanical view of reality. I think that's probably a dead end though.

I love the connection of the No God asking WHAT DO YOU SEE? as part of being defined into existence. I think this also has implications for what we learned about the non-men in TJE: they worship becoming. What does that mean? I had theories, but no real great ones. Now, link "becoming" with coming into existence. Underlying reality through the process of watcher and watched. The connections are there.

What does it say about Seswatha and the Sohonc that (i) they are totally cool with enslaving souls to guard treasure but (ii) are totally uncool with closing the world through mass extinction? Is there more between (i) and (ii) than a spectrum of degree? Is mass murder bad in the Sohonc eyes per se? Is it the effect of Closing the World that they want to prevent because that stops the cycle of existence because there are not enough watchers and watched? I don't think it's just that Sohonc is against it because they themselves face extermination. Remember that TTT glossary makes it sound like Shae came back from the Ark with the idea and was totally cool with letting the Sohonc in on the plan, but they booted him.

Also, if Seswatha is ok enslaving souls (sure it makes him a bit queasy, but he deals with it), would he be ok with the Shae method of material immortality of binding his sould to other things? Is Seswatha in some sense "alive" through his soul pieces (for lack of a better term) spread all throughout the Mandate schoolmen? Could Seswatha get his shit together and actually take over a schoolman? So he'd be a character in the series? Is he doing that to Akka (or trying to), which is why Akka is getting more memories? And somehow the No God is in the mix messing it up, or maybe causing it or sometihng?

Is the baby in the dream Kel, the product of the Dunyain in Akka's mind? Makes some sense because of the connection between the scroll and the location of Ishual. Ishual is where Akka thinks he'll learn the secret of Kel/Dunyain and that's what the scroll represents to him.

So much to think about.

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Razorbeef's quote highlights sorcery as the interpolation between subjective (watcher) and objective (the watched). This relationship is the onta, the foundation of reality and sorcery works within that which is built on it (history i.e. the way things change through time is 'natural' metaphysics and sorcery shortcircuits or circumvents this).

Note that a soul is only nessecary on one half of this equation (watching) but is essential in order to wield sorcery. The disfigurment of metaphysics suggests that they are not objective but merely describe relationships and the mark is displayed as an objective (watched) result.

The true reveal here is, as others have already noted, that souls can be enslaved within this interpolation and used to perpetuate the sorcerous effects as a proxy for the sorcerer's ongoing attention - this is, I think, quite seperate to being claimed by a ciphrang (wherein the soul's damnation is apparently dependant on the the individuals actions/choices). However as we don't actually know what use agencies have for souls (if any - inflicting damnation and heavenly reward might just be a hobby) I could be wrong about this. Also note that this is the first time that we have seen magical artifice that is self sustaining (the waithi doll required activation and ongoing command).

NB This analysis is, of course, within the bounds of my own interpretation of Earwan metaphysics. I expect most of you will disagree :D

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Was the whole "his hand-bag turned into a dead baby" just part of the Dream, or was it something that Seswatha actually experienced (i.e., the door has warped reality in its vicinity to the point where it's a miniature topos)?

Achamian followed the grooves of the Dream thoughtful only of what had been thought, oblivious to the discrepancies. Only when he came to a halt beneath the arcane machinery of the Gate, only when he commanded the proxies to roll back the Gate, did he find himself skidding across unlived life...

It seems from the extract that both Akka and Seswatha have some control over the dreams, they both recognize the 'grooves' of lived life, and there are other descrepancies that Akka didn't notice.

So what's this indicate about a Truth Akka can barely survive? Did Seswatha in some way help with the creation of the No God?

ahem, speaking of enslaved souls. Lake of ice full of Emwamma at the end of TJE, dead people, or enslaved to the Gate that Mimara closed?

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a) I've long thought the only way in Eärwa to do permanent magic items, or at least ones capable of doing something even slightly complex, was to bind souls to them. I didn't realize this was controversial.

b) I wonder at which point the Sohonc-Mandate line stopped binding souls to objects. Or if they really did stop. (Those candles probably have souls in them. I wonder if the souls are reusable of if they need a new one every time a candle burns down. If the soul will be freed after its time in the candle, perhaps the candle line could be a sign of early squeamishness with the concept of enslaving souls for potentially infinite periods.) I also wonder if the Mandate still knows how and if Kellhus has them doing it again for the war effort. Kellhus's decorative screen is probably soul-based.

c) It is said somewhere in TJE that Nonmen hated doors and would rather have guardians to prevent trespassing to important places. Would the Great Gate of Wheels with its trapped souls count as a violation of their philosophy or a logical extension of it?

d) You can use ABC enumeration if you turn off the emoticons.

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Also, if Seswatha is ok enslaving souls...

Aren't Akka and the rest of the mandate effectively slaves for Seswatha? They live to serve his purpose. Sure, they're willing - they're believers - but I've never really felt they had much choice in the matter.

It holds future importance, as well. Will Akka or Kellhus enslave souls?

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Woa, this was actually way more spoiling than I imagined it would be. Did not finish reading the excerpt.

Edit:

I don't mind that it's posted, let me be clear about that, but I certainly wouldn't call it spoilerfree. Just a heads up.

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More details:

1.

Achamian followed the grooves of the Dream thoughtful only of what had been thought, oblivious to the discrepancies. Only when he came to a halt beneath the arcane machinery of the Gate, only when he commanded the proxies to roll back the Gate, did he find himself skidding across unlived life...

I take this to mean that Acka has had this dream many times by now, but this is the first time it proceeds past the opening of the gate. Still, I speculate that the dream is new in the sense that Acka did not already dream it in Judging Eye. In particular, it’s not part of the normal Seswatha programming broadcast to the Mandati for the last centuries.

2.

Does this dream mean that Seswatha placed the map to Ishuäl in the coffers during the No-God’s attack on Sauglish? As far as I remember, one of the dreams of Judging Eye showed that scene as well, right? There, Seswatha was flying over copper roofs or something, fighting Wracu. No book here, have to look it up.

3.

Qûya magic! I’ve been waiting for this. So far, we have seen two Ishroi (Mekki and Cario) laying down some sweet Nonman magic. But remember that the Ishroi are the elite warriors of the Nonmen, not their mages! Cario is as powerful as Acka, who seems to be very powerful by Mandati standards, so imagine what a Qûya can do…

Here we get our first glimpse. A Mark so deep it makes Seswatha sick just looking at it.

4.

New spell. Cant of Sideways Stepping. As observed upthread, clearly not teleporting.

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Does this dream mean that Seswatha placed the map to Ishuäl in the coffers during the No-God’s attack on Sauglish?

Possibly, but then Ses would have carried around the map for quite a few years before hiding it in the Coffers. I think the dream where Ses gets the map was the same one as the one where he talks about Nimeric and Nil'giccas joining the Ordeal, which would date it to 2123-2124. However, I don't have the book with me so I can't say for certain. Sauglish wasn't destroyed until 2147 though, according to the timeline.

As far as I remember, one of the dreams of Judging Eye showed that scene as well, right? There, Seswatha was flying over copper roofs or something, fighting Wracu. No book here, have to look it up.

Yes. That dream featured twice - once with Ses fighting Wracu and once in a different version when Ses mysteriously wasn't there at all.

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TTT implies that Mekeritrig is both Ishroi and Qûya. He was Siqû too. That means the Great Gate of Wheels could well be Mekeritrig's work.

By the way, this excerpt does not disprove my theory that Cleric a.k.a. Mekeritrig is beaming fake Seswatha dreams into Achamian's head. Mekeritrig could have based this dream on his own experiences, at least if they were memorable enough.

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TTT implies that Mekeritrig is both Ishroi and Qûya. He was Siqû too. That means the Great Gate of Wheels could well be Mekeritrig's work.

By the way, this excerpt does not disprove my theory that Cleric a.k.a. Mekeritrig is beaming fake Seswatha dreams into Achamian's head. Mekeritrig could have based this dream on his own experiences, at least if they were memorable enough.

There are Nonmen other than Mekeretrig, you know.

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I notice the blurb on the other WLW cover has:

Part Dante's Inferno and part Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Is this a new one that describes just this book? Ominous...

There are Nonmen other than Mekeretrig, you know.

I count three times in TJE where Achamian wonders why he doesn't know who "Incariol" is despite Cleric's obvious power and Achamian being an expert on Nonmen. My conclusion is that Cleric gave a fake name because his real name was far too notorious and someone like Achamian would have recognized it immediately.

I think it actually works also as long as you don't use caps. I only jest about this because I've made the mistake myself multiple times.

Caps or not doesn't matter. The smileys are case-insensitive. I know from experience.

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