Good catch with the quote, MSJ. I think the correlation between the tree behind him and Onkis's head/tree/pole aspect is too strong for it to be anyone or anything else. Bakker was also as explicit as he could realistically be that the figure is Kellhus (he has his face).

^^ Yes.

I will take the praise, both for this and any time anyone else suggested it before me.

This was what I gathered from the whole Kelly - Proyas tutoring. However I'm hesitant to believe it. Mostly because I want Kellhus to be good, but also because it sort of betrays Kellhus' later actions; running home to salvage what he can as soon as the ordeal is safe from the horde. Unless the outside can somehow be shut without the specified number of souls.
Despite my desires to the contrary, I think Kellhus has a devious plan concerning the no god that Proyas will somehow enact with his newfound knowledge or... Something. There are so many variables that couldn't be accounted for, like the nuke.

Cuts and cuts and cuts

Slight addendum sorry am drunk

I think he has figured out how to do it without the reduction in souls... But he still needs Mog to achieve it somehow. So he needs rid of the Consult to get his hands on it.

Just started a re-read of TGO and trying to fathom Kellhus' motives with his re-working of Proyas throughout the book (the head on a pole still makes no more sense to me than before).

Kellhus needs to retrain Proyas' faith in order for him to do something that he would otherwise never do. First, he de-humanises the God (It rather than He) and then "villainises" the God (our damnation is the God's harvest). He also completely breaks Proyas down by admitting that he (Kellhus) is a fraud and everything Akka said he was.

Why? Why does he do this?

He does not need to re-program Proyas if his only goal is the destruction of Golgotterath and the Consult. Proyas would already be more than happy to do this. What does he need from  him that a) Proyas would otherwise never have done, and b) serves Kellhus' ultimate aim (whatever that is), perhaps in his absence?

So, I think Proyas will be the one to "release" or at least allow the release of the NG. What else could it be?

Kellhus needs the NG to close off the outside (I also believe either he or Kayutas, probably the latter due to the symmetries with Nau-Cayuti, will become the NG). Proyas will act to bring it about. I can't think of any other task that would be so anathema to Proyas and require him to be broken down so severely.

There are some continuity snag around this.  In the TTT glossary it says that Mek revealed the location of Min-Uroikas to the Mangaecca in 777, but some of the things in The False Sun seem to run contrary to that. The Mangaecca only entered the Ark super recently because of Shae, so only 1115 or whenever, a few years before The False Sun.

But to the point, Cet'ingira is hated because he stole the Heron Spear from Ishterebinth ~750 Year of the Tusk. He's sorta been a rogue agent that the Mangeccas were harboring. I'm also sure that Nil'giccas wanted him brought to justice.

The one thing I absolutely hate about The False Sun is that they call Aurang, Aurang. Aurang is the epithet the Kuniuri gave him!—which is not a kingdom/language that will exist for many centuries. Surely they would call him Sin-Pharion, or the Umeri would have some other name for him.

Actually, one point. The snag you mention at the top is perhaps not as bad as it first seems. It is mentioned that the Mangaecca have been trying to get into the Ark for over 200 years, so the gap between 777 to 1115 is actually not so strange. Though perhaps it should be closer to 330.

You are the fist that beats us.

But he also teleported back from the Ordeal at the end of this book (which was much further away) , and had enough energy to do everything he did.

Also, why would Serwa's limitations be any indication at all of Kellhus'?

You are the fist that beats us.

Yeah, the TV rights (post above should have said "selling" not "along", autocorrect fail). Could have sworn he's been down this path before and it fell through. Might be confusing it with some other series, though. Rights get sold all the time and usually nothing happens.

You are the fist that beats us.