(urth) Baldanders

[James Machin]

Apologies if this sounds like a facile question, but after searching the 
list, doing other web searches and reading Solar Labyrinth, I'm still at a 
loss as to what or who Baldanders is. The general assumption is that he is 
somehow related to the undines, but this is just as assumption (I think?) 
and there are other obvious possibilities (genetic modification, mutation, 
extrasolarian blood etc), but none are clearly indicated by Wolfe (and if 
I'm wrong about this please put me right). To my reading of BotNS, more so 
than any other character, Baldanders' origins and motivations remain 
profoundly mysterious. The only thing that really seems clear by the end of 
Sword is that he is at best morally ambiguous and at worse a monster. In a 
book full of characters whose purposes and even identities are obscure at 
best, he seems the most unreadable and, perhaps because of this, one of the 
most compelling. If anyone can shed any light on the matter for me, I'd be 
most appreciative!