[H]

Why did mekeritrig let kellhus go?

This reminds me that we don't actually know how Seswatha got off the Wall of the Dead either.  Did Mek let him go?  Or did he escape the same sort of way Akka did from the SS?

[Madness]

Who was theliopa named after?

Bakker actually said she was named from some actual Latin name he heard and decided that was what he wanted to use.  It was in one of the more recent podcast interviews.

"Recent podcast" is not necessarily inaccurate? I mean, it was Grim Tidings podcast, which is the third most recent almost a year ago ?

[H]

Who was theliopa named after?

Bakker actually said she was named from some actual Latin name he heard and decided that was what he wanted to use.  It was in one of the more recent podcast interviews.

"Recent podcast" is not necessarily inaccurate? I mean, it was Grim Tidings podcast, which is the third most recent almost a year ago ?

You got me, I have no idea what day or year it is any more.   

[Monkhound]

Doing a re-read of TTT right now and the three questions I have off the top of my head so far (that haven't been mentioned yet):

1) What's up with the halos on Kellhus' hands? Other characters have seen them, so it's not something Kellhus is imagining

2) What did Kellhus do when he hypnotized Akka in TTT and "spoke with Seswatha"? How did he know he could do it? It mentions that Kellhus "stared at a point between [akka and Kellhus]" before realizing it was Seswatha that was stopping Akka from yielding the Gnosis.

3) What's up with this "Head on a pole" thing from TGO?

Regarding 1, the halos start already being seen by other characters in TWP, starting with Serwë. At that time I thought, illusion from someone who is not quite 100% mentally coherent. Yet later on, the halos are seen or glimpsed by others as well. I dunno...

That could alternatively mean that by the time of TAE everybody is "not quite mentally coherent"... which is plausible as well.

[codebread]

Doing a re-read of TTT right now and the three questions I have off the top of my head so far (that haven't been mentioned yet):

1) What's up with the halos on Kellhus' hands? Other characters have seen them, so it's not something Kellhus is imagining

2) What did Kellhus do when he hypnotized Akka in TTT and "spoke with Seswatha"? How did he know he could do it? It mentions that Kellhus "stared at a point between [akka and Kellhus]" before realizing it was Seswatha that was stopping Akka from yielding the Gnosis.

3) What's up with this "Head on a pole" thing from TGO?

Regarding 1, the halos start already being seen by other characters in TWP, starting with Serwë. At that time I thought, illusion from someone who is not quite 100% mentally coherent. Yet later on, the halos are seen or glimpsed by others as well. I dunno...

That could alternatively mean that by the time of TAE everybody is "not quite mentally coherent"... which is plausible as well.

Akka notices it in The Thousandfold Thought. He seems pretty sane at the time, but questions whether or not he's seeing things. I doubt that there are so many major characters imagining them.

[Francis Buck]

Who was theliopa named after?

Bakker actually said she was named from some actual Latin name he heard and decided that was what he wanted to use.  It was in one of the more recent podcast interviews.

I've wondered for a while now if Bakker has in small ways drawn from, or was moderately influenced by, William Blake's mythologies. One entry into that mythos is The Book of Thel. This commentary from the wiki page has stuck in my head:

Thel – The word in Greek (θέλ) means “will” or “wish” or “desire.”[5] The name is often viewed as a reflection of the poem’s allegory of desire. Others have attempted to connect Thel's name with the word “female”.[5] Various interpretations of the character have been proposed, including the idea that she is an unborn soul who refuses to live as a mortal in the material world[6] or that Thel is an immature human virgin who shies away from the life of mature sexuality.[6] Another popular interpretation sees Thel as emblematic not only of the surface of female frailty, but of the feminine frailty of humankind in general.[7]

Obviously that's Greek (where there's a bunch of other "Thel-" or "Thal-" deities, mostly feminine), so whether he just found a similar sounding Latin name or if it means absolutely nothing at all, I have no clue. But it's interesting either way! (to me anway)

[Hiro]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

[MSJ]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

I have seen convincing argument from HP here somewhere that it was Sarl. By use of phrases he uses throughout.

[Hiro]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

I have seen convincing argument from HP here somewhere that it was Sarl. By use of phrases he uses throughout.

Really? I would like to see that argument. I looked back at that scene, and the text is quite clear that the traveler is new to the Skin Eaters. He speaks as 'we', and knows about the nickname, - Ironsoul -, Kellhus gave Kosoter during the Unification Wars. He says he's looking for the one who is called 'Ironsoul'. Sarl was there, or at least he says so to Akka, when Kellhus named Kosoter Ironsoul. That does not seem to be the same person.

The 'we' implies that the traveller is an agent from one institution or another. I guess the Empire. And I furthermore think now, as others have suggested as well, that it is indeed Akka's slave, Geraus. As we later learn that he has prepared Akka's meeting the Skin Eaters. Geraus could very well be an agent from the Empire, keeping a close eye to Akka.

[MSJ]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

I have seen convincing argument from HP here somewhere that it was Sarl. By use of phrases he uses throughout.

Really? I would like to see that argument. I looked back at that scene, and the text is quite clear that the traveler is new to the Skin Eaters. He speaks as 'we', and knows about the nickname, - Ironsoul -, Kellhus gave Kosoter during the Unification Wars. He says he's looking for the one who is called 'Ironsoul'. Sarl was there, or at least he says so to Akka, when Kellhus named Kosoter Ironsoul. That does not seem to be the same person.

The 'we' implies that the traveller is an agent from one institution or another. I guess the Empire. And I furthermore think now, as others have suggested as well, that it is indeed Akka's slave, Geraus. As we later learn that he has prepared Akka's meeting the Skin Eaters. Geraus could very well be an agent from the Empire, keeping a close eye to Akka.

Ill see if I find it it is very convincing and based off of euphimisms Sarl uses.

[Francis Buck]

I love Geraus as a spy. That being said, I feel the identity of the Traveler is very wide open. What if it was Cleric? Or even an agent of the Consult...

[Hiro]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

I have seen convincing argument from HP here somewhere that it was Sarl. By use of phrases he uses throughout.

Really? I would like to see that argument. I looked back at that scene, and the text is quite clear that the traveler is new to the Skin Eaters. He speaks as 'we', and knows about the nickname, - Ironsoul -, Kellhus gave Kosoter during the Unification Wars. He says he's looking for the one who is called 'Ironsoul'. Sarl was there, or at least he says so to Akka, when Kellhus named Kosoter Ironsoul. That does not seem to be the same person.

The 'we' implies that the traveller is an agent from one institution or another. I guess the Empire. And I furthermore think now, as others have suggested as well, that it is indeed Akka's slave, Geraus. As we later learn that he has prepared Akka's meeting the Skin Eaters. Geraus could very well be an agent from the Empire, keeping a close eye to Akka.

Ill see if I find it it is very convincing and based off of euphimisms Sarl uses.

In WLW Mimara ponders that Sarl has know Kosoter since the Unification Wars, according to Akka.

Regarding possible others, other than Geraus, it could indeed be Soma the Skin-spy. Cleric not, I think, I suspect he and Kosoter go back a while as well, and he seems less lucid than the traveler.

[MSJ]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

I have seen convincing argument from HP here somewhere that it was Sarl. By use of phrases he uses throughout.

Really? I would like to see that argument. I looked back at that scene, and the text is quite clear that the traveler is new to the Skin Eaters. He speaks as 'we', and knows about the nickname, - Ironsoul -, Kellhus gave Kosoter during the Unification Wars. He says he's looking for the one who is called 'Ironsoul'. Sarl was there, or at least he says so to Akka, when Kellhus named Kosoter Ironsoul. That does not seem to be the same person.

The 'we' implies that the traveller is an agent from one institution or another. I guess the Empire. And I furthermore think now, as others have suggested as well, that it is indeed Akka's slave, Geraus. As we later learn that he has prepared Akka's meeting the Skin Eaters. Geraus could very well be an agent from the Empire, keeping a close eye to Akka.

Ill see if I find it it is very convincing and based off of euphimisms Sarl uses.

In WLW Mimara ponders that Sarl has know Kosoter since the Unification Wars, according to Akka.

Regarding possible others, other than Geraus, it could indeed be Soma the Skin-spy. Cleric not, I think, I suspect he and Kosoter go back a while as well, and he seems less lucid than the traveler.

I know there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, though if "summons Madness the link provider" you seen the evidence compiled for it being Sarl, its does make you think. What's to say Sarl is just lying to Akka about knowing the Captain all those years? Or even if he did, doesn't mean he isn't the traveller.

[Hiro]

Who was that person who visited Kosoter in the TJE prologue...?

I have seen convincing argument from HP here somewhere that it was Sarl. By use of phrases he uses throughout.

Really? I would like to see that argument. I looked back at that scene, and the text is quite clear that the traveler is new to the Skin Eaters. He speaks as 'we', and knows about the nickname, - Ironsoul -, Kellhus gave Kosoter during the Unification Wars. He says he's looking for the one who is called 'Ironsoul'. Sarl was there, or at least he says so to Akka, when Kellhus named Kosoter Ironsoul. That does not seem to be the same person.

The 'we' implies that the traveller is an agent from one institution or another. I guess the Empire. And I furthermore think now, as others have suggested as well, that it is indeed Akka's slave, Geraus. As we later learn that he has prepared Akka's meeting the Skin Eaters. Geraus could very well be an agent from the Empire, keeping a close eye to Akka.

Ill see if I find it it is very convincing and based off of euphimisms Sarl uses.

In WLW Mimara ponders that Sarl has know Kosoter since the Unification Wars, according to Akka.

Regarding possible others, other than Geraus, it could indeed be Soma the Skin-spy. Cleric not, I think, I suspect he and Kosoter go back a while as well, and he seems less lucid than the traveler.

I know there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, though if "summons Madness the link provider" you seen the evidence compiled for it being Sarl, its does make you think. What's to say Sarl is just lying to Akka about knowing the Captain all those years? Or even if he did, doesn't mean he isn't the traveller.

Let me put it in another way, *why*, that is for what narrative purpose would Sarl be the traveller? Does he warrant a mysterious introduction in the opening of the TAE series?

[themerchant]

It just sounds like another "Imperial" the same as the folk that told them to hunt skinnies but keep near Marrow.