[gtownwr]

Much of the theory is based on the fact that we don't get much of a physical description of the Diurnal.  Thank you, Wilshire.  I have long been a lurker in the forum but finally the lack of people around me to discuss this amazing series with got the best of me and I joined.   

[MSJ]

Crackpot incoming...

What if it wasn't a nuke at all that Kellhus found, but the nominal False Sun, buried when the Nogaral was destroyed, and what if KELLHUS made it overload and explode, destroying the horde and killing Saubon, while simultaneously telling his Ordeal to flee to save as much as possible.  Surely Kellhus had heard of the betrayal of Titurga and the False Sun he carried. 

Probably not the case, but an interesting thought.  It wasn't Tekne at all.

First off, @gtownwr, welcome! Love New perspectives and the more the merrrier! I like this. And, I'm digging it a lot. When I first read it, I had no idea it was a Nuke. It wasn't til joining The Afflicted Few, that it even entered my mind. While all signs point to a nuclear devixe, we know that the Consult created other weapons that resulted in similar sicknesses and the like. I'm open to this idea. Like to seer you explore it further.

[The Sharmat]

Also why would Kellhus know of the events that transpired there?

[Monkhound]

Also why would Kellhus know of the events that transpired there?

He could have had glimpses of Time while he was in the Outside?
But while reading, I didn't get the impression Kellhus knew the bomb was there. But I'll have to reread the passage to confirm that.

[The Sharmat]

Do we have any indication he can look Inside while Outside?

[gtownwr]

Also why would Kellhus know of the events that transpired there?

I was assuming that a sorcerer as famous and powerful as Titirga (SP?) would have much of his life, including his betrayal at the hands of another most famous sorcerer, written down or mythologized and that Kellhus would have access to those accounts.

[H]

Much of the theory is based on the fact that we don't get much of a physical description of the Diurnal.  Thank you, Wilshire.  I have long been a lurker in the forum but finally the lack of people around me to discuss this amazing series with got the best of me and I joined.   

One issue with this, or course, is that the Diurnal is "a fan of mirrors that reflected the Sun" and might well be a Gnostic artifact, made by Emilidis.  The way the bomb is desribed is nothing like that though, "It was no larger than a dollhouse, but seemed larger for the piping that enclosed it—a scaffold that somehow held the interior cube without touching it." In other words, it would seem to be a tesseract.  I like the theory, but I don't think the text bears it out.

However, to take this another direction, I do believe that Kellhus knew that the bomb was there, what it was, and what it would do through the Visions and the Voice he hears.  The question of why the bomb was down the well seemed obvious to me at the time of reading it, that they wanted to blow the top off The Well and have everyone fall down it, just as they did to Titirga.  Kellhus anticipated this and that is why he was, from the moment they got to Dagliash, excavating the Well.  Aurang realizes this and so pops in to set it off early, which again, is antcipated by Kellhus.  This could explain why he says it is "a good thing" since it validates his visions as true, proves that TTT is intact and is proceeding, that all the sacrifices are not in vain.

[geoffrobro]

*Gasp* you must burn the fields.

[MSJ]

I think the Diurnal was not an artifact at all, only a sorcerous Cant devised by Titirga.

[H]

I think the Diurnal was not an artifact at all, only a sorcerous Cant devised by Titirga.

I guess that it's possible, but it certainly seems like a thing.  Could just be a fan of mirrors that Titirga casts a cant on, but it did seem like Shae knew of it before TFS.

[gtownwr]

Good thoughts, H.  I like the idea that finding the device confirmed to Kell that the TTT was on track.  +1