Earwa > The Unholy Consult
"Kellhus is dead, but not done."
H:
--- Quote from: mrganondorf on March 04, 2021, 01:36:57 am ---What do you think H?
--- End quote ---
Honestly, so much much seems "up in the air" I really don't know what to make of it. On the one hand, indeed, Kellhus was an authentic prophet of Ajokli, but on the other, was that really a net positive or a negative? I guess it really depends on just what happens if it is the case that Ajokli is sort of "stuck" in-the-world, or something like that. Thaumaturgy is so much more powerful than sorcery could even dream of being, but to what end would Ajokli really use it?
Then again, I could see Bakker learning into something like a "success through failure" for Kellhus though. He does like to compare Kellhus' journey to that of Frodo and the One Ring. But he intentionally subverts the ending there. To what end? We don't know and we have precious few clues to say just where he takes it. To me, it makes little sense if the Second Apocalypse is just a carbon copy of the first. It also makes little sense, to me, if the Second Apocalypse simply just crushes everyone and succeeds. So, the answer is how does it fail and why?
I think part of that will likely be Kellhus' status, "dead but not done" meaning he is still at something from the Outside. Perhaps he takes a sort of Seswatha-like role? Perhaps that leads to Akka's role going forward? Then the biggest question to me is what of Mimara? I mean, besides my usual "she will answer the No-God's questions" prediction. I guess I'd say that maybe she manages to reframe the moral fundament, since in a way she holds the Cubit within herself.
All of that to say, well, that I am really not sure just where Bakker wants to take it. It's hard to discount his general pessimism (or, maybe rather cynicism) but on the other hand, I don't know that he will go all-in on that.
SmilerLoki:
--- Quote from: H on March 04, 2021, 03:45:36 pm ---All of that to say, well, that I am really not sure just where Bakker wants to take it.
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Pretty much this. From the point the story stopped there is a huge number of equally possible ways to go forward. Some of them complement each other, some are mutually exclusive, but there is no way to logically establish any sort of concrete direction without being the author. We can only go with our own emotional preferences.
H:
--- Quote from: SmilerLoki on March 05, 2021, 12:47:50 am ---We can only go with our own emotional preferences.
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Yeah, in a sense I'd say it maybe as: we'd like to think we have a hold of some internal logic to the series. In actuality, contradiction and negation is just as likely, if not more so, than any logic of necessity.
So, where I want to say it makes sense for Mimara and the Eye to have some major role/impact, that point is trivially easy to be negated where it simply makes no difference at all and that is the real point. In a sense, we'd like to think we have some sort of "predictive power" that the future is not "wide open" where nearly anything could happen. Sure, maybe in the actual world, this is somewhat true, because there seems to be something like necessity at hand.
But in Eärwa, where narrative necessity is likely the only sort we ever could have, contradiction and negation are just as likely at all times, if not even more so, than what we think might be logically necessary. Or, maybe I am just off on a tangent...
SmilerLoki:
--- Quote from: H on March 05, 2021, 04:10:08 pm ---Or, maybe I am just off on a tangent...
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No, it makes perfect sense and is exactly what I was talking about!
mrganondorf:
@TaoHorror - Can’t remember where, but there are passage(s) that talk about the ttt being a living thing. I’m not sure that Kellhus was deluded, just caught unawares … that skin spy reaches out to him from an unseen corner just like wlw got Maithanet (the unseen corner in every room). Kellhus failing to pull off the ttt as he intended it but succeeding from the pov that his death causes more belief than his life would be a very Bakker thing to do.
@ H - I think you put you’re finger right on it—Bakker’s pessimism. All 7 books take us to the Golden Room where we find Science vs Religion. Humanity is fucked either way. Science exterminates the possibility of eternity. Religion means humans are the playthings of greater beings (this is the ugly possibility hiding behind every religion—any promises of paradise are only good of the Speaker is hones and keeps their word and no higher court can compel them to, Jesus could have come to Earth just to deceive, which makes me want to call and check on my family). Science beats Religion in the Golden Room, I think, because Earwa is a commentary on this world. Religion held sway for most of the time but now Science is supplanting a lot of it.
Wouldn’t it be something if Kellhus orchestrated (successfully but we don’t know his plan yet) the whole thing as a way to get Serwe back? It’s too sweet for Bakker but it’s a neat possibility that isn’t yet extinguished. Sometimes Kellhus really did seem inclined to her beyond his Dunyainity.
I get the feeling that the next 3 books tell the story of the unlikely victory over New Mog only to end when a second golden ark lands.
Back to what I said earlier, “humanity is fucked either way,” I think Bakker identifies with Akka, the guy in the middle. Opposed to the Consult but no friend of the gods who would damn him, a man caught in the middle. Perhaps things end with Akka musing about how Seswatha’s line, “though you lose your soul you will gain the world” is ultimately just a piece of fabricated bullshit, a necessary bit of propaganda for the catechism to perpetuate an impossible middle way.
@H again - Jesus H…”So, where I want to say it makes sense for Mimara and the Eye to have some major role/impact, that point is trivially easy to be negated where it simply makes no difference at all and that is the real point.” Damn I love reading your commentary.
Also, it’s neat to think about how the Consult-Dunyain where just playing Kellhus (albeit they were executing a plan they had come up with mere minutes before because Kel could not have been there long). They must have suspected that Kellhus had an ace up his sleeve even if they didn’t know it was Ajokli because there’s no way he just waltzes into a room full of skin spies armed with chorae without some kind of leverage. There’s no indication that he could have put up his detritus globe like he did at the end of TTT. The aspect emperor got straight up played (supposing of course he wasn’t intending on his own salting).
Also, I assume that all of the Consult-Dunyain that were not sorcerers DID have chorae, but it just didn’t matter when Kellhus came for that one because he was channeling hell—like the way Akka says a single chorae would not have mattered against the shade of Cil-Aujus.
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