Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 08:43:59 -0700
From: maa32 
Subject: (urth) latro and ares

I had the looming thought in the back of my mind that Latro was a god, 
probably Ares, and then the clincher was when Thamyris starts addressing Latro 
as Pleistorus in Chapter 24 of Soldier of Arete.  Unless Ares is the guy with 
the lance that rides by Thamyris' castle while Latro is sneaking up there or 
he appears in the next 70 or so pages, I don't think (H)e makes an appearance 
in the books.  I am especially interested in the almost random manner in which 
Wolfe associates Ares with Ahura Mazda, the singular God that embodies good as 
opposed to the plurality of lesser deities that proliferate on Olympos.  Does 
that make Ares an incarnation of the "true" God instead of just an angelic 
being - thereby possibly making Latro much more than a man, but something like 
a trial run for Christ?

Also, I believe that Oior cannot look directly at Latro at one point in 
Soldier of the Mist because of the weird glow that suffuses Latro's body.  The 
question is, how does latro's identity as Lucius tie in with the possibility 
of being Ares?

And yes, Aphrodite does seem particularly anxious to couple with Ares - whose 
"seed" must be preserved, according to Elata.

Marc Aramini



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