(urth) On dream travelers

[Marc Aramini]

--- On Sun, 2/13/11, Adam Thornton <adam at io.com> wrote:

> On Feb 13, 2011, at 1:26 PM, Marc Aramini wrote:
> 
> > Latro is Ares/Pleistorus,
> 
> So....if Latro is Ares, does that make the Soldier Cycle
> _Nethack_ ?
> 
> That little "pop" you just heard was just my brain
> aneurism.  Don't worry.
> 

Let me just flesh that out in two quick paragraphs, but I really am not prepared to argue it now, its been a long time since I read the soldier books and I'm not sure if Ares was possessing the roman soldier Lucius when the brain injury happened or if indeed Latro is an actual Avatar like being.

Ares is associated with Pleistorus, who has been missing for some time, and some say that Pleistorus is Ahura Mazda incognito (a direct quote more or less from Soldier of Arete).  Ahura Mazda is kind of pretty much a cognate for THE God.  

So since Pleistorus has been missing and Latro embodies all these Arete qualities and has Victory riding behind him, (see his success at the Olympics and his ability to push Sisyphus' boulder all the way to the top, something the demigod Sisyphus can't do), and since at one point Sphinx in his memory palace says something about being his mother, it seems that Latro MIGHT be at least an Avatar of the God of War, if not the missing god pleistorus himself trapped in flesh because of his damaged memory.

His entrapment in the flesh and the wanton murder of the freed slaves of the Spartans depresses him, and I think this is symbollic of the paradigm shift between paganism, Judaism, and Christianity: the old testament God is tired of war.  At one point there is a poem that says the god of war is weary of the spear, and I think that is what has happened to Latro: he learned that killing was very far from the answer through the manumission murder ceremony of the spartans and the death of his amazon, so that when he returns to Rome somehow it will precipitate the Pax Romana, which will allow the birth of Christ and truly kill Pan.  So I think Latro's experiences are teaching Ahura Mazda that war is bad, and mercy and peace can be a worthwhile pursuit, thus Latro being ostensibly Roman, and in a way a trial run for Christ, when the True God is ensconced in fully human flesh.

I could be wrong, though.




 
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