[What Came Before]

As we are all waiting for the Unholy Consult, I thought to share some of my thoughts and observations. These will be somewhat random in nature and quite long, so bear with me.

Thinking about the No-God one of the things that never seemed right is the thought  that the Consult controls the No-God like a weapon. It is mentioned explicitly several times that they were in fact its slaves, in a passage it reads "they made themselves slaves to better destroy the world" so I doubt that they have any control when it is brought forth. In fact in the TTT when Kellhuss claims to have spoken to the No-God and says the it holds Aurang responsible for its defeat, he seems to quail in terror at the thought, hardly the reaction of a creator for his creation. I now think that the no-God has always existed besides the Gods and yet they are perpetually ignorant of its existence, because it is the opposite of themselves. The Inner Flame and the No-God are intimately connected if not one in the same, it may be in the history of the Inchoroi they discovered this portal to damnation and it caused a species wide panic.  Knowing their ultimate fate they further delved into spiritual matters and discovered he No-God, who in their fear of death they began to worship, much the same as the Numenoreans came to worship Morgoth when their fear of death grew to great. This galactic quest they embarked on may be their own diabolic invasion of the undying lands of Valinor. Now the Inchoroi collected their entire civilization into one vessel and flew from one world to world looking for the promised world. Who promised them such a world existed? The No-god would be my guess. But upon decimating a planetary population they would gaze once more into the Inverse Fire and again discovered they were still damned, and would move to the next world. 

It is likely during their journey they encountered other advanced species during their trek and suffered casualties, since they do not seem to reproduce this would eventually whittle down their population and make them moribund by the time they reached Earwa, causing their disastrous descent into Viri. The No-God seems to be void made manifest. In Mengeda when Achamian speaks of its demise he says "the soul which encounters him moves no further" seeming to suggest no After Life, and no souled beings were born during its existence. This seems to be the Inchoroi's greatest wish, to take away the possibility for damnation, and only oblivion waits after death. I am starting to believe that they have unleashed the No-God on other worlds, because Aurang calls it "destroyer of worlds" seeming to suggest that it has destroyed more worlds than Earwa. Maybe they spoke to it  and it told them of others who had similar needs, or they had unleashed it before. In the False Sun the Sohonc archideme Titirga makes mention of a lunatic god whose hunger can bend the very Ground, and the No-God is called the "angel of endless hunger" by the Nonmen. If this was known in 1119, than the entity known as the No-god has been known about for a long time, it would seem to precede the fall of the Ark. And it was the Nonmen who warned Seswatha  about dread Inchoroi secrets that if brought to fruition would lead to the destruction of the world. The Great Ordeal was in response to this cryptic warning. Again the nonmen seemed to have long known about the concept of the No-God, as if it was always part of the Inchoroi plan for Earwa.

One thing I thought I was pretty clear about was the general timeline of the story, the Ark fell roughly ten thousand years before, with the Cuno-Inchoroi wars lasting from a few hundred to a thousand years. Then for the next five millennia the Nonmen sat in their dark mansions after the Ark was sealed waiting for death, then four millennia ago the tribes invaded, and a millennia latter the Mangaecca entered the Ark and a millennia latter was the Apocalypse. Yet if this was accurate when did the Inchoroi give Men the chorae and the Tusk, it could not have been millennia between the poisonous gifts and the subsequent invasions. Maybe it was an Erratic who already worked for the Inchori, but it does not seem likely that the brothers could communicate with anybody outside the Ark.

Reading the Slimarillion again, as I like to do from time to time, the similarities between it and Earwa again struck me. Before the White Luck Warrior I made a post on westeros about this, and like all prognostication some was right and some was wildly wrong. It seems that instead of Cleric being like Aragorn, Nil-Giccaas was more modeled on Finrod Felagund the high elven ruler of Nagorthond. Like Finrod he was the first king to embrace Men as they came from the east, and taught them civilization, the Nonmen Tutelage was done under his auspices. He also voluntarily left his kingdom and helped Beren who I think Achamian represents, then died on that journey in a tower he himself had ordered built. As the very  first stones of the great library were laid down by the Siqu during the Tutelage. Now in the Sil when Finrod left he had only ten companions with him due to his cousins the sons of Feanor who wished for lordship of his kingdom and the quest of Beren to fail, before leaving he gave the lordship to his nephew Orodreth. Now Nin'-Sariccas seems to hold some sway in Injor-Niyas, while Nin -Cilijiras is said to be the last king, the Nin part of the name may denote kinship with Nin-Janjin. And Cousin is what Cleric called the rulers of Cil-Aujus, which may be a Cunuroi honorific for royalty. There may be a power struggle going on within the last high mansion between the followers of Nil-Giccas and the Nin line. If knowledge of the Inverse Fire was given out, this could have led to the forced expulsion of the last king and cemented an alliance with the Consult. The ultimate loyalty of the Nonmen is still in doubt, maybe the choice of Serwa was something Kellhuss desired.

In that vein  of speculation, Cujara-Cinmoi was Ar-Pharazon whose desire for eternal life eventually destroyed their people, but a few escaped and set up two kingdoms. One in the north and the other in the south, one of which eventually fell. Now Nin-Janjin has quietly became my favorite character in the entire series after Cinmoi, whose stubborn desire for his kingdom led to the destruction of his people, like the pride of Feanor let to the Noldor's woes. Their story is so fascinating that they deserve a series of his own, where their enmity leads to racial calamity. They were the greatest Nonmen but their pride led to ruin. Nin was the first to gain immortality and his deception allowed for the inchoroi to seduce his race, I doubt he did not know what they eventually planned for his people and yet did nothing. He seems to be a proto member of a nascent Consult, a full and knowing member of all that was to transpire.  He seemed to be a perfect candidate for the Witch King, but now that role seems to be firmly established as Mekeritrig, it was Mek who accosted Kellhuss atop ancient ruins like Frodo, and he seems to be a much more active member off the Consult. Now I fear that Nin is in fact dead, at first believing that so great a character in historical impact would not simply disappear from the pages of history.  The nonmen surely know his story and the capture or death of one so great should have been mentioned in the extracts of the Isuphiryas we have gotten. But Nil-Giccas seems to know  a lot about the Golden Room and the Invers Fire from him, and when other  than his capture would Nil have such opportunity to question him. It was Mek who stole the heron Spear and labored for centuries even going so far as to seduce the Mangaecca to free the Inchoroi.  After the defeat of Pir Pahal the histories are completely silent on his fate. Maybe he became an Erratic and wanders the desolate North, the memories of his betrayal forever haunting him.
A suddenly struck me that Cnaiur was a deranged version of Hurin, a northern who in his youth was captured  by Morgoth and for twenty eight years he is forced to see with the eyes of his captor. Once released his actions let to the end of the old world. Cnauir was seduced by Moenghuss and for thirty years afterward he obsessively rehearsed his seduction, eventually giving him great insight while driving him mad. It was Cnauir who revealed the general location of Ishual  like the betrayal of Gondolin, where the line of the world’s saviors hails from. Serwe like Morwen is described as the most beautiful person in the, although in a Bakker twist there only rape instead of love. And like Hurin , in the end Cnauir took his own life in despair. His son was raised Doriath like young Moenghuss was raised in the Kellian Empire, and eventually began a relationship with his sister.
I believe that Mimara is Luthien, who escaped her southern kingdom journeyed north with Beren to fight Morgoth.  So maybe their child together will become some kind of savior, there may be another time span between the third series like the first. Although Seswatha and Nau-Cayuti already pulled off the trick of stealing into the deepest pits of their enemies stronghold to retrieve an artifact. Maybe in the ruins of Ishual Mimara and Achamian will encounter  the third of Moenghus’s sons, since I think Kellhuss is Feanor and Maithanet is Fingolfin, there should be a third brother who never left home. It is unlikely that Kellhuss was the only child of Moenghuss to survive training. Even if the Consult discovered and destroyed it is likely that there are a few survivors in the area. That sudden falling snowdrift seems a very suspicious coincidence to save the couple, being saved by the brother of Kellhuss would be a great irony.
A final thought is that the Anasurimbor bloodline was the only recorded human to give birth to a live Nonmen child, and it may be that the Dunyain breeding program accidently selected for the Nonmen genes. So Serwa traveling to the last high mansion would seem to hold great possibilities. If she could somehow conceive a child by Nonmen there would be the incentive to side with Kellhuss and his designs.

[What Came Before]

Very impressive Ciogli,
And very persuasive.

[What Came Before]

Yeah, very interesting perspectives there, man. Good work. I fully admit to not being especially knowledgeable about the finer details of Tolkien's world (I've never truly read The Silmarillion from cover to cover -- rather I just found myself skipping around and reading whatever random sections I fell upon), but it would be interesting if that much of TSA is really connected to the lore of Middle-Earth. I've always kind of been under the impression that it was more just lightly "inspired by", with a lot of ironic and/or dark twists and inversions of things (Nonmen as Elves, Srancs as Orcs, and then certain passages like the Scalpoi's descent into the mansion being similar to the Fellowship and Moria). But the connections you point out are definitely persuasive, and certainly make re-think my own perspective on how closely the two worlds may be intertwined (at least in spirit).

It will be interesting to look back once the series and complete and try to figure out just how much was really inspired by Tolkien. Are there any relevant quotes from Bakker about this particular topic?

[What Came Before]

I believe he has said that LOTR hepled him get through a difficult childhood, and that book coupled with Dune forever hedged his creative spirits. He has said that he always hated pre packaged adventure mudules for D&D, whatever those are, so when he tried to create his own so his friends would have a challenging world to play LOTR seems to have been a natural on which to base his own world. My respect for him has grown,he seems to have taken characters from the Sil and shredded them into many different aspects and stitched them onto other characters. I read the Sil because when I need to be reminded on how to make something truly epic when I am struggling with my own world, I actually think Earwa can turn out to be greater, especially if the deep history of the Nonmen is fleshed out in the promised books about Cujara-Cinmoi.

[What Came Before]

I don't see how the No-God being their creation and them being slaves to it are mutually exclusive. See: Every AI rebellion ever. Only in this case they're willing slaves. Submission and oblivion are preferable to damnation.

[What Came Before]

But there is no place where it is actually stated that the No-God is created by them, only they awakened or other such language. When he is brought forth, the metaphors talk of bringing something into this reality.

[What Came Before]

Good spotting on the slave angle - does this mean Aurang, along with the Sranc horde, also cries "WHAT DO YOU SEE?"?

I disagree on talking with the no god - I think the no god is the death of thought. Kind of like talking with someone who has bad alzheimer's. Studying it's behaviour for information, that I could agree with.

In terms of the tusk, it was just given during the Cuno-Inchoroi wars. It just takes awhile for the effect to take place - when your semi immortal, you can set up something to occur centuries latter.

A suddenly struck me that Cnaiur was a deranged version of Hurin, a northern who in his youth was captured by Morgoth and for twenty eight years he is forced to see with the eyes of his captor.

Wait, that's in the Slimarillion? The 28 years thing? That's dead on!?

[What Came Before]

But there is no place where it is actually stated that the No-God is created by them, only they awakened or other such language. When he is brought forth, the metaphors talk of bringing something into this reality.

I don't have the books on me at the moment but I think the terms used are alternatively created, birthed, awakened, and summoned. It's ambiguous. There may be some part of the truth in all of them or none of them. His origins are surely fairly obscured to history.

[What Came Before]

I am at times tempted to speculate that the "No-God" as an "Other-God" is very similar to what the ancient sages in our own world inferred was the "collective consciousness." Or rather, the unconscious ignorant egos of homo-sapien.

So what the "apocalypse" represents is a Great Revealing.

An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apocálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω meaning 'un-covering'), translated literally from Greek refers to a revelation of something hidden, although this sense did not enter English until the 14th century.[1] In religious contexts it is usually a revelation of hidden meaning - hidden from human knowledge in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse

So here I ask this: Why would many of the people in Earwa FEAR some major revealing? Damnation? You can only validly suffer or be damned if you have already experienced said doom! The real damnation is fearing something that may or may not come. And not everyone shares the same degree of interpretation.

So, perhaps the No-God's "destruction of the world" will metaphorically be the destruction of ignorant men whom Kellhus can mow over at will. That will change with the advent of the No-God. This is logically why Kellhus is thought to PREVENT the revelation. The Dunyain will be powerless with everyone being awakened.

It will take a Whirlwind. A literal AND psychological force to jumble things back into chaos for a new paradigm to arise. But the collective ignorance has to die- which is that Whirlwind.

[What Came Before]

In that parallelism, I imagine the No-God as the sum of Melkor + Ungoliant (or better pictured, some characteristics of each). Some very deep notes in the Music, so deep and low that the Valar couldn't hear them (IOW the Gods cannot see It). And that avidity... Ungoliant towards the light (Telperion and Laurelin included) and Mog towards... well everything.

[What Came Before]

So, perhaps the No-God's "destruction of the world" will metaphorically be the destruction of ignorant men whom Kellhus can mow over at will. That will change with the advent of the No-God. This is logically why Kellhus is thought to PREVENT the revelation. The Dunyain will be powerless with everyone being awakened.

It will take a Whirlwind. A literal AND psychological force to jumble things back into chaos for a new paradigm to arise. But the collective ignorance has to die- which is that Whirlwind.

This reminds me of something Cleric says to the Skin Eaters on the slog of slogs. 

He says something like "You believe that revelation comes in small things..."

"It does not."

[mrganondorf]

One thing I thought I was pretty clear about was the general timeline of the story, the Ark fell roughly ten thousand years before, with the Cuno-Inchoroi wars lasting from a few hundred to a thousand years. Then for the next five millennia the Nonmen sat in their dark mansions after the Ark was sealed waiting for death, then four millennia ago the tribes invaded, and a millennia latter the Mangaecca entered the Ark and a millennia latter was the Apocalypse. Yet if this was accurate when did the Inchoroi give Men the chorae and the Tusk, it could not have been millennia between the poisonous gifts and the subsequent invasions. Maybe it was an Erratic who already worked for the Inchori, but it does not seem likely that the brothers could communicate with anybody outside the Ark.

This bugs me too.

Angel of endless hunger = angelic ciphrang?