well it seems logical the third series is called "The Second Apocalypse". As to whether the world is doomed I think it is complicated.
If we take Bakker at his word that this ending is the ending he envisioned, then think of it in terms as an anti-thesis to Lord of the Rings. Bakker wanted to see an ending where Frodo fails, where Sauron or even Gollum is ultimately triumphant and good ultimately fails. Hail Satan, he wins! The second apocalypse is not prevented and all the world shall perish. Teen Bakker, He wanted a typically teenage "dark" ending where "dark" = "deep" and dark/deep operates as its typical and inherently juvenile proxy for "true truth of the most true truth evah." aka, winning the magical belief lottery, as all teens necessarily believe themselves to have done when they listen to their first rebellious "dark" music.
But, Bakker is very different from the D&D teen that conceived this original story. Particularly as philosophy and his pedantic agendas have infused and reshaped the story in rather profound ways, I would imagine.
So is the world actually doomed? As originally intended, I would say absolutely, that is the entire point of the story, to fail getting the one ring into mount doom. Is the world actually doomed? as it is shaped now? no, I'd say it is a coin flip. I'd lean toward doomed because I doubt Bakker can ultimately let go of the seductive tentacles of himself being the uniquest magical belief lottery winner in that he conceived of a narrative of failure as the ultimate expression of true truth of the most true literary truth ever, so while there is a slight chance the world is not doomed, I seriously doubt Bakker can escape his own hubris and not ultimately doom everything.
And why is this so? because teenagers (and new zealand filmmakers) think that the Lord of the Rings is about getting the ring into mount doom. This action is a macguffin. Thematically, the Lord of the Rings is about souls in conflict with a fallen world. About struggling to manifest the "right thing to do" via the sacrifices necessitated in a world defined by war, war as a manifestation of the world's fallen state. That even paradise is not left untouched by war, to return changed is to return to a world that has itself changed, that even if warriors luckily return, they bring the war with them and can never really escape the sacrifices their souls made in the battlefields until the sweet release of death is finally claimed. This is the essence of the story's mythical ontology, a concretized reflection of abstract moral quandaries--Lord of the Rings transmogrifies the intangible in a way that makes intrinsic sense to the human brain, the same way innumerable religions have transmogrified the abstract into the tangible, by activating all our myth identifying pattern circuits in in our brains and satisfying their hunger for meaning.
But why do I have hope? Because Bakker is aware of all of the above. He knows that teenage Bakker thought it was all about getting the ring into Mt Doom, but philosopher Bakker knows this single plot mechanism is merely the Frame upon which the myth hangs. Teenage Bakker wanted to wreck the myth by turning it upside down, a narrative of failure. Philosopher Bakker wants to show how an upside down myth is still the same myth, hanging from the same frame, enjoining the same beliefs, activating the same neural circuits. Philosopher Bakker will want to remove the myth, remove the frame, until nothing is left but zero, the unceasing measure that is the cubit of creation. and that, for some odd reason, gives me hope that it is not a pure narrative of failure pretending to be literature. Anticipating the end that ends with a removal to zero, I think that will be sort of like finding Bastian and the Princess floating alone in the black after the Nothing has consumed everything in the NeverEnding Story.
Kellhus demise What did you guys think about this? I'm personally a bit confused since it seemed on the one hand that Kellhus was descending, greeting the great ordeal, but then at the same time perishing to a chorae. I'm assuming he actually did perish tho, and maybe the figure that greeted the great ordeal was some hologram or something. I'm a bit undecided on Kellhus ending, whether it was credible that he died the way he died. I mean, shouldn't he have noticed Kelmomas presence?
Kellhus "died" by chorae ( I lean toward died, with the decapitants as a red herring). Kind of brilliant, actually in retrospect how the Kelmomas and Sorweel storylines weave together in concert to inform the audience of the end game while keeping it concealed yet leaving enough info that it all seems logical. I have to say I'm biased though as I'm thrilled kellhus is dead and he was revealed as wanting to become a god and eat the world. since that plays into what I want to believe about him, I suspect it though.
Particularly when you think of Kelmomas, I like this ending. Kelmomas has spent three books informing us of how all the fairy tales of earwa constantly repeat the refrain that Ajokli raises one up only to harvest his servants at the absolute zenith of their triumph. What greater prize is there than Kellhus, the most powerful soul the world has ever known being harvested at peak monologing when he has defeated the consult (garroting mek!) and is detailing in maximum glee how he will rule the world as a god incarnate in truth. What better moment for Ajokli to harvest the fruits of his labors? Then when Kelmomas has achieved the greatest glee of his entire life at killing his father, he is taken as well. When Cnaiur walks out to confront the whirlwind he presumes is kellhus, with the most ultimate speech of the series, he is taken as well.
On the other hand, If Kelmomas is the eschaton (since he is in the carapace) then he was always invisible to Ajokli, however this does not seem to square whatsoever with text that seems to repeatedly indicate that Ajokli was aware of Kelmomas, and as the narindar or librarian dictated, took Kelmomas young and groomed him into his own white luck warrior, which was a successful counterpoint to Yatwer's white luck warrior.
This brings up the point that the gods moved against kellhus not because he was kellhus. Yatwer moved against Kellhus because she was moving against Ajokli. She probably did not give a fuck if his name was kellhus, she always knew he was ajokli and named kellhus repeatedly as "The Deceiver". All the bits about (one) god moving against kellhus was actually always about them pursuing their own conflicts through human proxies. Yatwer is the mother of Birth, Ajokli is the father of death. it seems that they are in natural conflict. and while the mother of birth may not be able to perceive the eschaton in the way that Ajokli allegedly perceives the eschaton, given what we know of god-perception, she should be well aware of the coming years-of-the-crib. She, this whole series, is warring against the inevitable outcome ajokli's actions are bringing about.
On the other hand, perhaps the consult dunyain successfully choraed Ajokli? or this was Kellhus' elaborate action to have Ajokli choraed and thus "kill death" in the inversion of the years of the crib
Kellhus: good or bad? I have to say that it was finally concluded that Kellhus was in fact a bad guy. While admittedly he was fighting the consult in earnest; it seems that he was in fact (willingly or in enslavement/possession) basically going to make Earwa a living hell.
Kellhus bad! I love it so much the reveal that he wanted to wreak hell on earth! I don't even want to really debate how much was kellhus and how much was Ajokli. It sounds an awful lot like the Kellhus who looked out on the Nansurium for the first time and lusted about how he would dominate and possess and conquer it all.
Dunyain claiming the consult I personally loved this twist, so good, so smart, and so obvious even though I hadn't conceived anything like this could happen. Masterly, Bakker!
What is incredible is that pre-Judging Eye, dunyain + consult was a dominant strain of discussion, and then it faded away within the text of the series. It was such a great pull off moment of dread via playing a long game of concealment. really well done, obvious but fits perfectly.
Momen story arc pointless? I fail to see how anything in Momemn made any sense to the overall story of of the book. Sure, there are some connections to the ending with Kelmomas becoming the No-God and everything, but WHY did Kellhus care about what happened to Esmenet at all? I thought Bakker was perhaps unto something when Kellhus states that Esmenet is the only darkness he experience but that ultimately wasnt given any follow-up
Momemn story arc is totally the most crucial keystone of the entire Aspect emperor series as it sets up everything in the end game as well as tells us who is the no god and does maybe the hardest meereenese knot problem of getting Esmenet into the next series as the wife of Prophet Achamian. And although it is not apparent now, Kellhus rescuing Esmenet is either a manifestation of Ajokli needing esemenet to throw Kelmomas the file, or Onkis (Kellhus only darkness) manifesting via esmenet a way to subvert Ajokli's ultimate plan.
Kayutas Why didnt this guy DO anything in the books, really? it really did feel like he played no part whatsoever, whereas all other of the anasurimbor children had some important part to play
Kellhus children were given very poor roles, as Bakker mentioned after TGO, it simply never occured to him that Theli was a great character to play off of Kelmomas, and I think it genuinely never occured to him what a fucking great character Serwa was either. the same with Kayutas except for one thing, Kayutas and Moenghus are clearly being saved for the next series and is basically only kept around to maneuver him into position.
Malowebi Not really sure why he was present in the book: his depicting of Kellhus' actions could just have been through Kellhus' point of view rather than having this guy dangling by Kellhus' side cursing Likaro.
Curse Likaro! It's quite a clever technique to not reveal Ajokli. Kellhus partnership with Ajokli since the circumfix (the figure under the tree bent like a beast bent like a man) is clearly why there are almost no Kellhus perspectives post-circumfix. so this gets us more of crucial scenes without Bakker playing coy and spending years parsing the text just so to keep us in the dark.
More importantly for the next series, it also leaves us with eyes and ears in the upright horn.
Kellhus grandson (Mr. Crabfingers) what the hell happened to this guy? I'm really disappointed this wasn't followed up at all in the book, ESPECIALLY considering TUC is essentially the same book as TGO and just disappeared randomly.
Character moved off the board for the next series, he has the stone to kill the 100th god. he is carrying the one ring? maybe. the nine fingers of crab hand and the stone of doom.
Cnauir What really did happen here in the end? it seemed that he was possessed by the four horned brother, same as kellhus perhaps, but what happened when he walked into the whirlvwind? I think his parts were really well-written however, and even if he seemingly had no purpose to the overall story I really liked his parts. There is just something titanic in the phrase "the most violent of all men" (especially from Proyas' PoV during the first meeting between the believer-kings and Kellhus in the beginning of TTT) I'm wondering whether Cnaiur could be Bakker's best written character. Such violence combined with such intellect.
Cnaiur has to exist to plausibly let Moenghus take over the scylvendi for the next series. so that sucks. it's a great ending scene for him, and illustrates for me that I think it is human-self-deception that distinguishes Gilgaol and Ajokli. Ajokli the trickster is Death, Satan, the great deceiver. Gilgaol is "war" which is all "heroric" blah blah blah, but if you read Gilgaol's gloosary entry, he shares a lot of titles that are very similar to Ajokli titles. The four horned brother is Ajokli is Gilgaol. War is Death. Glory is a Lie, War is a Lie. Humans want to believe the lie, even more delicious: literally.
Akka Same question as with Cnauir. I'm a bit bummed about this personally. I thought Akka was really the hero of the book and it would have been nice to see some sort of redemption for him. It was just a bit anti-climatic the ending (if it can even be called such) for Akka.
It might be my favorite thing that Akka's whole story was basically a red-herring plot for the main resolution of the series.
Akka and Mimara are clearly being set up for the final series, and that was the primary thing, keep him involved but set him up for the next book.
Additionally, consider how the dunyain consult effectively ripples the rest of the series--going straight back to the Traveler in the prologue of TJE who as we all thought when we had only TJE, was written as sounding extremely like a dunyain. The Traveler is one of the mutilated. the Traveler is a consult dunyain.
Akka's whole journey to the coffers is therefore likely conditioned by the consult dunyain, inclusive of the map leading him to ishual. a map conveniently planted by consult dunyain. What game the consult Dunyain are playing is yet to be fully revealed, but the consult dunyain have clearly made the same cognitive deduction discovery the Kellhus+Ajokli pact that Inrilitis discerned (leading to Inrilitis behavior and Kellhus' treatment of him). Akka's journey could be part of an elaborate maneuver to try to outwit the gods (which they managed with Kelmomas). On the other hand, if Kellhus is aware of Mimara and her status then perhaps her journey is part of an elaborate plan to outwit the gods and the dunyain. Akka's dream "who is mimara" seems to speak of possible consult dunyain ignorance of her.
Serwa I really liked Serwas development in this book, but im a bit curious what the whole point was of fighting the dragon when there was seemingly no follow up to it? It kinda felt like they could all have waited for Kellhus to finish his encounter with the unholy consult.
I'm confused as to why she fought the dragon when she talked with Kayutas about how it was a clear time staller distraction to prevent them from going to the upright horn to aid their father. On the other hand, what a great scene. and how nice to see that the dunyain, after collecting kelmomas, believed him when he told them about the pouch that sorweel dropped when kelmomas killed him, unlike his mother and father.
General thoughts on the book I might have come across as a bit negative here. I usually have a negative first impression of books, especially when speed through them which admittedly is the case here. I think a lot of my negativity turns on whether we get another book in this series or if this is really the end. There are just too many unanswered questions I think. Overall I did like the book however, Bakker's writing is excellent as usual and the story is high paced and filled with awesomeness basically.
I've liked the book more and more the more I think about it, just making this post makes me like it more. and I was initially a little disappointed probably from the high of inhaling it as fast as possible and the natural shock of a "the one ring is not destroyed" narrative structure of failure.
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