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<blockquote cite="mid:A5059297D2A84745B534CC028F5237CF@jill"
type="cite">
<div>Gerry Quinn-<br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">But something happens at the end,
after the inhumi attack the church. Up to now there has been
this person who appears to be Horn in Silk's body, although at
some point we go from first to third person (no point that
appears special, though). Then suddenly something happens and
the text decribes him as Silk, as if Remora's mention of
hyacinths had brought him back.If a Neighbour spirit is
somehow animating Silk's body, what's happening here?<br>
</font></div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:A5059297D2A84745B534CC028F5237CF@jill"
type="cite">
<div> <font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Roy C. Lackey
wrote-<br>
That isn't the only problem this theory creates.<br>
It calls into question everything that happened after the pit,<br>
which extends to the whole manuscript written by Silkhorn.<br>
For one, it puts a different spin on everthing Silkhorn had to
say about<br>
the Neighbors. If Silkhorn was actually a Neighbor, then he
knew perfectly<br>
well their natural state of being, where they went when they
left Blue,<br>
what god(s) they worshipped, etc. He had no need to wonder
about any of<br>
the questions about Neighbors he wondered about; he would or
should have<br>
known the answers.</font> </div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Again, the Rajan is not merely a Neighbor in human disguise. I
understand why this is so hard to keep this in mind because it was a
concept that was controversially debated in the development of the
doctrine of the Trinity. The Rajan is 100% Silk -- as surely as
Typhon is present in the Whorl in the person of Pas (and Wolfe has
adamantly asserted that Typhon genuinely is), Silk is present in the
Rajan. But he is 100% the Neighbor as well. And to some extent, --or
perhaps to the full extent if the Neighbor has 100% recall, as is
maybe implied-- he is 100% Horn (because Horn is present to the
extent that the Neighbor remembers Horn's memories). <br>
<br>
Anyway, the Neighbor was apparently not fully conscious--only
subconsciously aware-- of his Neighbor-nature until the end of the
story, at the end of his conversation with Remora (there are various
other reasons for this that I get into below).<br>
<br>
Other examples of this in Wolfe's are writings are 1) the chapter
The Alzabo in Sword of the Lictor in which Wolfe demonstrates how
the animal instincts and the souls inhabiting it support each
other's instincts. 2) Another very important example is Mani the cat
in The Wizard Knight, an talking cat created by a witch by binding
an immortal elemental spirit to a cat. Mani and Able have a
conversation about what will happen when Mani dies:<br>
<br>
"Will I really be free when the cat dies? You said something about
that [snip] That I'll be an elemental once more. '<br>
'No, you won't.'<br>
'The elemental will be free, no longer having any share in life.
You're not the elemental or the cat. You're both, and the cat will
die like other cats.'<br>
'I'd like to think I'm just...the other thing. The thing that
talks.'<br>
'Then I'll cut off your ear and we'll see if it hurts.'<br>
'You would, wouldn't you?' "<br>
[The Wizard HB 307]<br>
<br>
Earlier Mani says, "Once I was a free spirit. Once I was a normal
cat not troubled by lies. [snip] The first is the finest of
existences, the second the finest of lives. I have lost both."<br>
<br>
Mani the cat was neither the cat nor the elemental spirit, but
something new from their joining. Mani didn't drone on and on as an
all-wise immortal spirit. Or regale others about his non-life as an
elemental. Because he didn't...couldn't remember it. At least not
consciously, most of the time. There was that time at the meeting
with the Neighbors however:<br>
<br>
" 'My name is Horn.' I offered my hand.<br>
He took it, and this time I felt his hand _and remembered it_ . It
was hard, and seemed to be covered with short, stiff hairs. Beyond
that I will not say."[oBW HB 272]<br>
<br>
So while the Rajan knows a lot about the Neighbors because he is
likely in communication with them, and talks to the inhumi on his
staff, and might have subconscious memories about them, and for all
those reasons can make educated guesses about them -- it is not
expected that he would KNOW--at least not until the end of RttW.<br>
<br>
In summation, it is a mistake to think of the Rajan as a Neighbor
who happens to have access to databases of Silk's and Horn's
memories. He is something new. Wolfe deliberately keeps _what he is_
rather ambivalent, probably because it is impossible to define
precisely. He is a being driven to complete Horn's mission, as Horn
was. He is driven by guilt for having caused Horn's death. He is
driven by resentment toward Sinew for having killed him and regret
for that resentment. Horn, the Neighbor, and Silk, all bear a sense
of self-loathing for different reasons. Each is driven by a sense of
longing for a woman and for two the loss cannot be healed because
Hyacinth is dead and Horn is dead. I think the sense of
dissatisfaction at the end of the story is that we don't really know
what drives the Rajan anymore. I think I know, but that's another
theory.<br>
<br>
u+16b9<br>
<br>
<br>
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