From: "Greene, Carlton" <CGreene2@hunton.com>
Subject: RE: (urth) Typhon and Pas
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 18:55:01 

I always understood that the chiliarch was protecting against news of
Typhon's weakened, post-operative condition, and not the fact that he would
be sporting two heads for a while.  Although we might see Typhon's status as
horridly embarrasing, it might also be seen as an impressive, god-like
display of magical technology.    Such a display is consistent with Typhon's
deity status on the Whorl generation ship.  It is also a peculiarly
symbol-laden technological achievement, and gives Typhon more of the
mythological touches that a good deity needs.  A two-headed man has a rich
grounding in myth (Janus and fairy tale giants spring to mind), much more so
than a man who achieves immortality by taking a high-tech multivitamin.

As a practical matter, it might have taken too long for Typhon to wait for
his spare head to atrophy before returning to his empire, leading him to
make the best of it and exploit his two-heads' symbolism as best he could.
Are we told how long it would take for Piaton to atrophy?

Having said all this, it does seem odd that he would choose his two-headed
self as the self-image he bequeathed to posterity aboard the whorl, given
that he planned a return to one-headedness.  Maybe the mythological power of
that symbol was more important than the man he would become.

C/

> ----------
> From: 	Mitchell A. Bailey[SMTP:MAB@lindau.net]
> Reply To: 	urth@lists.best.com
> Sent: 	Monday, December 13, 1999 9:19 PM
> To: 	urth@lists.best.com
> Subject: 	(urth) Typhon and Pas
> 
> One curious contrast I noticed between the postoperative recuperating
> Typhon of Urth and the bicephalic simulation Pas of the Whorl.
> 
> Typhon of Urth was rather reticent about his, er, condition when the
> Conciliator showed up. The monarch had retired to his work camp in the
> mountains where his monument was being carved while he recovered (that
> is, until Piaton should outlive his usefulness and be amputated like a
> tumour). The chiliarch threatened Sev with death if he should speak of
> anything he might see or hear, and ensured the troopers could not see
> the monarch when the curtain was drawn. I think we can guess what it is
> Typhon did not want spoken of, and it seems clear that he does not wish
> his subjects generally to see or know about his surgery or the means by
> which his intended rejuvenation was supposed to occur.
> 
> He appeared readily enough to Sev in both _Sword_ and UNS, but those
> were special cases out of sight of his ordinary subjects.
> 
> On the other hand, the Typhon who was simulated as Pas seemed to have no
> problem whatsoever with the people on the Whorl seeing his
> disfigurement, and in fact flaunted it as a sort of trademark.
> 
> Other than to say that the Cargo of _Whorl_ were permanently removed
> from Urth and what is an acceptable appearance for a god might be
> unsuitable for a monarch, it seems to be a bit of a contradiction in
> attitudes. This could call into question the theory that Urth and Whorl
> occupy the same milieu after all.
> 
> 
> works
> *More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/
> ranjit@best.com
> whorl@lists.best.com
> 

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/