Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 09:30:46 -0500
Subject: (urth) Blue is Hell!
From: Adam Stephanides 

When I read alga's statement that the inhumi were demons, my first thought
was Green = Hell, Blue = Purgatory, Whorl = Heaven.  (I'm sure this must
have been mentioned before.)  But on second thought, I saw a few problems
with this schema.  For one thing, I'm pretty sure there aren't supposed to
be any demons in Purgatory, even just visiting.  For another, Purgatory is a
temporary abode for souls, but the Bluvians aren't going anywhere: even if
they repair more landers, once the Whorl has left they have no prospect of
interstellar flight.  Finally, the Whorl, with its decaying infrastructure
and civic unrest is hardly heavenly.

So it occurred to me: if the inhumi are demons, perhaps Blue and Green are
both Hell, with Blue being the upper circles and Green the lower circles, so
to speak.  On this reading, Silk's coming to and departure from Blue would
correspond to the Harrowing of Hell, when Christ after his resurrection
descended to Hell and brought some Old Testament figures, who had all been
in Hell up to that point, up to Heaven.  So Silk's companions on the boat
would be those worthy of being saved.  (Seawrack's presence seems
incongruous from this perspective, but Dante, at least, put Eve in Heaven.)
And poor Hide, Hoof, Daisy and Vadsig would be damned, along with the rest
of the Bluvians.

How's that for a depressing reading?

--Adam


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