[TUC Spoilers] Psalm of Imimorûl

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Cüréthañ

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« on: July 25, 2017, 03:01:47 am »
The World to him, who sings my song,

for I am the Font, the Spirit of the Deepest Deep,

and mine is the first heart to beat your blood.

The World to him, who sings my song.


I, Imimorul, fled the Heavens,

so much did I love the brooks that chirrup,

the high mountains that hiss,

the myriads that bolt through this blessed hair,


The World to him, who raises up rooves in the Deep.

I, Imimorul, did flee the Starving [sky], so much did I fear the Heavens,

the wrath of those who were wroth, who would forbid my love,

of the myriads of the World.


The World to her, who kindles her fire in the Deep.

I, Imimorul, did cut from my hand my fingers,

and from my arm, my hand, and from my body, my arm,

and these pieces of me I did place in the wombs of Lions,

so that I might dwell content in my own company.

And I became One-Armed, Imimorul, the Unshielded.

And you were as children to me,

the form of Gods as the issue of Lions, sons who would father nations,

and daughters who would mother the myriads of the World.

And I sang to you such songs as are only heard in the highest of Heavens, and nowhere in the Hells.

We did weep together, as we sang, for woe cares not for names or glory only that skin blackens for bruising, breaks for blood.


The World to him, who sings my song.

The World to him, who finds me in the Deep.

The World to him, and woe.



Bakker, R. Scott. The Unholy Consult: Book Four of the Aspect-Emperor series (Aspect Emperor 4) (Kindle Locations 10786-10792). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Thoughts?
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Woden

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« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2017, 09:21:03 am »
Beautiful.

And weird. The creation of the Nonmen is worrying me. I always thought that they were simply a natural evolution of some kind of hominid, but now I have my doubts (and the same goes for the earwan humans).

Who/What was Imimorûl exactly? Fallen god? Demon? Protoinchoroi?
Why his obsession to not to be seen by the starving sky?
How did he make the Nonmen? Tekne?

Or maybe it's all just a nice and plain piece of mythology and nothing more.
The creation of a race from the pieces of a god/titan reminds me the norse creation, how the gods used the parts of Ymir to make the cosmos.
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H

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« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2017, 12:35:55 pm »
Who/What was Imimorûl exactly? Fallen god? Demon? Protoinchoroi?
Why his obsession to not to be seen by the starving sky?

Well, as I read it, there the Heavens and then there is the (Starving) Sky.  While they are related, they are not the same.  I think the Heavens are the actual Outside, the literal place where the gods dwell.  The Starving Sky is a euphemism, I think, to denote the (sort of) interface by which the gods see through into the world.  So, the Sky isn't the gods, but since it's the place through which (it seems) the gods can view the world, the Sky is Starving, because the gods hunger.

So, when Imimorûl claims to flee Heaven, he is fleeing the judgement of the Outside.  When he flees the Starving Sky, he is fleeing the god's view.  Presumably, by the glossary entry bearing his name, he might have been among the first to speak sorcery and so garner the Mark.  As such, it makes a good deal of sense why he would want to avoid the gods and the Outside.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

Woden

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« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2017, 12:52:19 pm »
Good point.

And what do you think about the grisly creation of the Nonmen?
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Yellow

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« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2017, 01:06:19 pm »
The description of him cutting off his appendages reminds me of the God creating the Hundred (as per Bakker on Westeros). Wonder if they're linked. The Lions may be Ciphrang who took on the "principles" (eg fertility) and became the Hundred.
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« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2017, 01:12:48 pm »
Good point.

And what do you think about the grisly creation of the Nonmen?

Confusing, haha.

I don't know, I am apt to not take that literally, although, he probably somehow did sacrifice his arm at some point.

Him giving up his "shield arm" seems like the significant part.  Giving up the arm that would protect himself.  So, the arm of his protection becomes the "seed" of his progeny.  So, perhaps, in a way, he gives up the protection, or the ability to protect himself, which he had in being alone, to sow the seeds of his race?  Open then to the "Lions" that are women?
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

Woden

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« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2017, 01:28:31 pm »
The description of him cutting off his appendages reminds me of the God creating the Hundred (as per Bakker on Westeros). Wonder if they're linked. The Lions may be Ciphrang who took on the "principles" (eg fertility) and became the Hundred.

Another good point.

Are the Nonmen are other weapon race? And if it is so, a weapon against who?
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Madness

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« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2017, 01:46:02 pm »
Thanks, Cüréthañ.

I really enjoy the notation that makes at least one distinction between Heavens and Hells:

Quote
And I sang to you such songs as are only heard in the highest of Heavens, and nowhere in the Hells.

Also, I don't think I ever read this as one piece, just the fractured Boatmen version while Oinaral and Sorweel ride the Haul. It's a pretty obvious analogy, at least to mine Roman Catholic upbringing, that Imimorûl is Satan?
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Woden

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« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2017, 02:03:54 pm »
I thought the same. Some kind of promethean fallen angel like Milton's Satan.

By the way I don't know if Bakker has catholic roots but there are other great analogies with catholicism all along the series, some of them pretty obvious.
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« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2017, 02:14:32 pm »
I thought the same. Some kind of promethean fallen angel like Milton's Satan.

By the way I don't know if Bakker has catholic roots but there are other great analogies with catholicism all along the series, some of them pretty obvious.

Pretty strong roots even. Though, I'd go for the Milton analogy as taking precedent with Bakker, in this case.
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Cüréthañ

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« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2017, 02:22:06 pm »
It's rendered complete in the Glossary, along with a lot of other great tidbits about Nonman history and beliefs. For instance, Quya translates as 'miner'.
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« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2017, 02:23:37 pm »
It's rendered complete in the Glossary, along with a lot of other great tidbits about Nonman history and beliefs. For instance, Quya translates as 'miner'.

So apparently the Quya do not share the same human disdain for using sorcery for mundane purposes ;)?
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Cüréthañ

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« Reply #12 on: July 25, 2017, 02:27:50 pm »
Haha, yeah. :D Or they just really like nimil.

But this is great, as I've been keen for some Earwan creation myths. There's another one where Yatwer makes the first woman out of dust.
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Woden

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« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2017, 02:28:26 pm »
So it seems that catholicism education makes good fantasy writers: Tolkien, Martin, Sapkowski, Bakker... lol.
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« Reply #14 on: July 25, 2017, 02:29:55 pm »
There's another one where Yatwer makes the first woman out of dust.

I'm probably going to read the canon artifact nearer the end of the week and over the weekend. Really excited to get into the Glossary. I probably read TTT Glossary every which way, jumping from entry to entry, reading it straight through, for about two weeks after I finished PON the first time.

So it seems that catholicism education makes good fantasy writers: Tolkien, Martin, Sapkowski, Bakker... lol.

Or at least the cognitive dissonance caused by that upbringing makes good writers ;)?
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