(urth) The Wizard - questions

[James Wynn]

>How many times, and in which worlds, does Able die?  It's already been said
that
>Able dies fighting Grengarm, and that the Valkyrie coming to get him is
proof.  In
>what sense does he die, though, and what affect does this have on him?
He's not
>disembodied, and he's not invincible.  Morcaine can't control him.  What's
going on
>with that ambulance?

Parka's roll as norn (which were associated with valkyries) suggests Able
probably died in Aelfrice prior his encounter in her cave. This also fits
with the references to him as Disiri's "playmate" since it evokes Athena and
her killed playmate Pallas.

He definitely dies in Mythgarthr during his battle with Grengarm, since a
valkyrie comes and takes him.

In each case he returns from "heaven" to battle for those in the world he
has left.

The ambulance? That's Arthur Ormsby being taken to the hospital of course!
They found him in a coma possibly near death from hypothermia in that valley
where the Moss Aelf took him. Presumably, when he reaches the Most High God,
he will awake.

>Speaking of Morcaine, why isn't there any explanation for why she was naked
in a
>cave in the mountains?

She was being offered as a sacrifice to Grengarm by the Aelf. How did she
fall into their hands? She no doubt moves about a lot in Aelfrice.

>Why does Able tell Org to eat any man he doesn't know?

Org has to eat. Those who he has met through Able are under Able's
protection.

I think it was neat the way Wolfe incorporated the Pendragon (son of the
dragon) motif from the Arthur legend and made Arnthor *truely* the "son of
the dragon". Arnthor is the King Arthur of Wolfe's imagined history...Arthur
was not universally heroic in the Welsh stories, and Mordred was not
universally villainous. He was surely not actually the beatific King of the
Romances. Able is the King Arthur of the Romances and assends to skies where
Mythgarthr's mythology lives. This is not the ending I expected, btw. I
figured Able would become Merlin. He didn't.

~ Crush