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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Been far too busy to really follow the interesting
discussion on Wolfean soul dynamics here recently, but think it's worth pointing
out that he is perhaps more explicit about some of these things in Wizard Knight
than he is anywhere else. In Wizard, Mani at one point asks Able if his (Mani's)
soul will survive death. No, says Able: the cat part of Mani will die utterly,
and the spirit part will return to what it was before, something which "thinks
it's alive", but isn't. The Mani personality is a fusion of spirit and flesh
which will not survive the death of the former.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think Wolfe believes (or at least he believes in
his fiction) that the world is pervaded by Spirit which can infuse just
about anything to form a Soul - blood-drinking reptiles, twigs & moss,
machines, animals. But these Souls are not necessarily immortal. Humans are
special, because human Souls are immortal. This presumably is by an
act of grace from God. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't pretend to any real knowledge of Chrisitian
orthodoxy, but I don't see anything so far which calls for the
Inquisition. Where Wolfe maybe does start to run the risk of auto da fe is in
the way this act of grace seems to be available to lesser beings as well. When
Able gives his blood to Disiri at the end of Wizard, surely it upgrades her soul
to fully human-rated, presumably with the immortal feature included. She's
no longer a construction of twig & moss, when viewed in her true form; she's
a beautiful young woman. At the end, she's going to be allowed to go along with
Able on his new assignment, presumably in Skai (or beyond?). Without Able's
blood, she's the same as Mani: a "freakish" combination of an elemental,
soul-less spirit, and some physical stuff which will eventually
unravel.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I find it impossible to believe the same kind of
thing is not intended, in time, for the inhumi in Short Sun. (And what about
Marble?)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>BTW, I know that Wizard Knight hasn't gotten a lot
of cheers on this list, but I have to say that I think Wizard is excellent.
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