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Her Master's strangle the children of concubines. Serwe actually conceives by one of the Gaunam (sp?) men.

She conceives by several of the men. Although they killed all her kids upon birth. I remember that her Nansur owners would laugh at her whenever she was pregnant, and say "nine months left to the funeral, lol".

Lol... Bakker Simarillian!

That'd be an awesome book, if it was ever written. Bakker could write the ancient history and wars of the Nonmen, like Tolkien did with the Elves, and it'd make a really good story.

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I remember Bakker suggesting once on Three-Seas that the ambiguity, which we all wrestle with, concerning Serwe's Heart reflects a cut scene from TWP - one where Cnaiur and Kellhus apparently have a conversation that sheds some light on exactly what happened/is going to happen at Caraskand.

He has said that he thinks the ambiguity the readers feel reflects the loss of this other scene.

Lol... Bakker Simarillian!

"I am begining to think", he said, a vague violence in his eyes, "that these cut texts have wrecked abomination upon the work!"

Perhaps one day it'll be popular enough to warrant a 'let it all out' version, where this stuff STAYS THE F*** IN!!!

I'm not actually familiar with the Simarillian? I thought that was another work? I'd just like the books to contain what they were going to contain before the cut, regardless of page bloat.

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I don't know.  I think the ambiguity of that scene is critical to keep the reader flip flopping over whether K is divinely inspired or demonically insane.
I hate it but I love it.

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Nitpick, Wilshire . Strangle, drown. Pish.

+1 Curethan.

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Maybe the innocence of a believer is more "valuable" in shaping Earwa's consensus reality? I'm not really basing this on anything, other than the hijinks that happened when Kellhus was tied to the circumfix. It seems like those souls that are saved or are the least damned hold the most sway in unconsciously affecting Earwa's consensus reality. Would explain why the inchies are so damned, since they all they do is visit horror on innocents.

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That quote about innocence and redemption. 
With damnation so abundant it kinda fits that redemptive qualities would be more potent.  For me anyway.

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If Mimara and Serwe, both innocent women with a long history of abuse at the hands of men, are able to somehow affect Earwa's reality at a higher level than the vast majority of people, why can't Esmi? Or for that matter, anyone innocent who has suffered greatly? What separates Serwe and Mim from the thousands of young women like them?

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why can't Esmi?

I think burning down half a city probably cut into her 'innocent victim' cred just a tad.

Most 'victims' probably commit enough sins of their own to tip the scales away from any supernatural ability to benefit from God's outrage at the sins against them. The trick, perhaps, is to be a victim while remaining good yourself. A sort of inverse of "God helps those who help themselves": maybe God will only bend the World to protect those who don't take vengeance into their own hands?

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+1, Duskweaver. But I wonder at the role intention plays - for the Gods to be outraged on one's behalf... Yatwer's M.O. seems to be interceeding on behalf of those who cannot do so themselves.

Also, what does ignorance of ignorance have to do with this?

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Since Earwa is the center of objective reality, it is influenced by the desire of the God of Gods, so while Yatwer and her homies might try and interfere with its course, ultimately the capacity of reality to be influenced by sentient beings is determined by who the God of Gods feels "sympathy" for - ie the Serwes and Mims of the world.

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If Mimara and Serwe, both innocent women with a long history of abuse at the hands of men, are able to somehow affect Earwa's reality at a higher level than the vast majority of people, why can't Esmi? Or for that matter, anyone innocent who has suffered greatly? What separates Serwe and Mim from the thousands of young women like them?

But Serwe (and to a lesser extent, Mim) is not the driving force.  Think of it like the WLW. 
Serwe is the mechanism by which innocence annoints Kellhus as the mechanism for modernization that can allow innocence to flourish. 
And to oppose the Consult, which is the incarnation of the dominance of damnation over the objective world.
Kellhus himself is the end product of the dunyain project which started in the ashes of the first apocalypse. 

Serwe's role is, perhaps, to ward him against the otherwise inevitable corruption that would, for example, have claimed Moenghus.

Are the hundred gods involved?
Gods like Yatwer, who offer 'eternal' as a gift for the otherwise damned, seem unlikely to support such a movement. 
Especially seeing as the are in direct opposition in the current series.
Maybe the bellicose gods, like Ajokli?

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Every moment is a Gift from Yatwer and yet above all her followers are those who suffer most, that bottom rung of society, which also constitutes its mass.

Serwe certainly seems like an easy fulcrum for such a Goddess.

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But the compensatory god's intercede for those who would otherwise be damned.
It's not about suffering, as Inrau points out to Aurang.

Serwe was innocent and therefore did not need intercesion - without reaching for Yatwer she grants no power, instead she was making space in the outside, similar to the idea of ancestors perhaps.

On that tack, can redeemed ancestors really also intervene (i.e. souls which did not need the intercession of other agencies to avoid damnation)?
Cuz in that case Kellhus has Celmomas and other Anasurimbors (and maybe generations of dunyain too) helping from the outside?

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But Serwe (and to a lesser extent, Mim) is not the driving force.  Think of it like the WLW. 
Serwe is the mechanism by which innocence annoints Kellhus as the mechanism for modernization that can allow innocence to flourish. 
And to oppose the Consult, which is the incarnation of the dominance of damnation over the objective world.
Kellhus himself is the end product of the dunyain project which started in the ashes of the first apocalypse. 

Serwe's role is, perhaps, to ward him against the otherwise inevitable corruption that would, for example, have claimed Moenghus.

If you read the circumfix scene again, it's very obvious that what triggers Kellhus' breakdown is his inability to process the fact of Serwe's death. It fills him with a profound horror that he can barely understand, let alone try to reign in with his Dunyain training. This is because the senseless murder of such an innocent soul pierces all of Kellhus' defense mechanisms and actually elicits a genuine human reaction: regret for being responsible for her death, a reluctant compassion, a burgeoning realization that perhaps he did in fact feel something tender for Serwe.

And so when the walking embodiment of the Logos is confronted with the cold-blooded murder and abuse of Innocence, it can't process it. Rationality throws in the towel, and this somehow opens the door for the No-God/God of Gods/SOMETHING to come in and muck shit up in Kellhus' head. And so we are left to wonder what it is that truly guides the events of the Bakkerverse: is it the cold, mechanical Logos, or the movements of Innocence?

edit: as for Serwe being a mechanism through which Yatwer can influence world events, I don't think such a vindictive deity would endorse Kellhus and then turn on him after accomplishing what presumably Serwe was supposed to set the groundwork for.

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Maybe the innocence of a believer is more "valuable" in shaping Earwa's consensus reality? I'm not really basing this on anything, other than the hijinks that happened when Kellhus was tied to the circumfix. It seems like those souls that are saved or are the least damned hold the most sway in unconsciously affecting Earwa's consensus reality. Would explain why the inchies are so damned, since they all they do is visit horror on innocents.

Sound plausible in how it'd cause a kind of echo chamber effect!