(urth) Neighbors as Faeries

Craig Brewer cnbrewer at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 19 20:10:12 PDT 2009


Another point that calls it into question for me is his attitude towards the Neighbors in IGJ. If I recall correctly, there are a few passages where he questions Incanto & Co. about local Neighbor ruins and/or local legends about them. But his attitude was definitely groping for information. I know that's vague, and I don't have the book with me to check for passages. But I just recall a general sense of Horn's still trying to learn about the Neighbors, which would seem odd if he was one.




________________________________
From: Jordon Flato <jordonflato at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 5:12:51 PM
Subject: Re: (urth) Neighbors as Faeries

And, why would a neighbor, finally admitting what he is, if only to himself, choose to return to the Whorl, at the very end?  Silk, yes, but a neighbor?


On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 3:09 PM, Jordon Flato <jordonflato at gmail.com> wrote:

Well, I'll be looking for evidence of the Neighbor's personality manifesting in the book in this read through.  There are plenty of instances of Silk manifesting momentarily through Horn without his intention (which I don't see how that has much resonance or meaning aside from a red herring if a neighbor is actually inhabiting Horn), but I can't think of many instances, save your ambiguous quote at the end about killing their father, where the personality doesn't seem to be Horn or Silk.  I would expect, if you are right, there are other clues throughout.  I don't see them.  *yet*  But it does give me something new to look for in this read through!

I would agree that chasing the stag, falling in the Pit (which was in the midst of a classic faerie circle of the ruins) represented a crossing over of sorts, but I don't think it necessitates Horns death.  That is a turning point in the narrative for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it brings Horn directly to the attention of the neighbors (without, I would posit, necessitating a transfer of 'souls' into Horn).

I grant it is possible, but I just don't see it yet.




On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 3:03 PM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:

In "An Evil Guest" one of the characters says that the term "banshee", which means "woman of the faerie mounds" means that they are one of the "gray neighbors".

In folklore/mythology, chasing a white stag inevitably leads one to Faerieland, meaning the other world, the world of spirits, where one's ancestors go. The most famous case was Pwyll in the Mabinogion, who become the Head of the Annwn (that is, Faerieland). Incidentally Pwyll's name meant "sense" and his son Pryderi's name meant "care" or "thought". This is a naming convention that I thought of when I was reading Long Sun.

There's another way to get to Faerieland too. You can enter a faerie circle. For Horn, the faerie circle was a pit. Seawrack and Babbie were not mistaken. Horn was dead dead dead. He had gone on the Summer lands.



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