Site Update June 2019: So Long, Farewell

Hi readers,

I just wanted to say to those landing here that I expect this site to be inactive indefinitely, barring the posthumous publication of a new Gene Wolfe novel.

I am not being charged for this site so I will leave it up.  You are free to borrow anything I wrote about if you are doing your own studies, research, etc. about Gene Wolfe and his books.  No need to worry about citations, I won’t be coming after you.

I was new to blogs when I started this and I later realized it was not well organized. The following links may help you navigate to key entry points at this blog:

The introduction to my series of posts on The Wizard Knight

The beginning of the chapter summaries of Gene Wolfe’s  The Knight

The beginning of the chapter summaries of Gene Wolfe’s The Wizard

The introduction to my series of posts on Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House

The beginning of the chapter summaries of Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House

The single post on Gene Wolfe’s Home Fires

The post on Gene Wolfe’s passing.

I started this blog because I thought that The Wizard Knight was one of his more important works, and a bit underappreciated, in part due to how the book was split into two for publication purposes. I did another series of posts about The Sorcerer’s House given what I perceived as a possible connection between the two works.

I think  the rest of Gene Wolfe’s work prior to his last few books (“A Borrowed Man” and “The Land Across”) has been pretty well covered in other books, websites, the Urth list, etc.  I would not have anything useful to contribute.   The more recent books are fairly short and narrow in scope, and there was pretty good discussion about them on the Urth list.

Mr. Wolfe was at one point by his own admission working on a sequel to “A Borrowed Man”, but there has been no update on this for several years. My guess is that he did not get far enough in it that we will ever see a book. But I will be happy to be disappointed.

Wolfe scholar Marc Aramini’s anticipated second volume on Gene Wolfe’s bibliography will likely do a good job exploring the meaning, symbolism, and mysteries of the more recent books. Marc draws on/shares a variety of interpretations in his analysis and summaries, so he will have them covered from all angles.

Looking back on the posts, I still feel pretty good about the bulk of analysis. I would probably modify The Sorcerer’s House the most, and I think Marc and others have done good work unearthing things I missed. I stand by the core of my analysis of The Wizard Knight as being a profoundly Christian work (e.g. a retelling of the Gospel underneath a fairy tale) with heavy allusion and reliance on European mythology and folklore.

My blogging for the future will be limited to my other site, theprinceofserendip.com, which focuses on being (at least trying to be) a Catholic, and my review of books, movies, and other things that involve matters of Faith.

Thanks for reading!

 

UPDATE: 09/10/19.  I just learned that Mr. Wolfe did in fact turn in a final draft of “Interlibrary Loan”, the sequel to “A Borrowed Man.”  Tor Books will be publishing it, and according to Amazon, it will be available in June of 2020.

 

 

The Sorcerer’s House: WK Connections

In my “Knight Notes” blog series, I proposed that the SH was a “companion” novel or unofficial sequel to the WK.  The following are connections or similarities between the two works:

• The titles have a similar component, Wizard and Sorcerer.
• Both are epistolary novels
• Both protagonists are writing letters to their brothers: Art to Ben, and Bax, primarily, to George.
• Both sets of brothers’ parents are deceased. Well sort of, Bax and George’s adoptive parents are dead.
• Both protagonists travel to a magical, elven world: Aelfrice v. Faerie. Faerie, like Aelfrice, seems to be approached by a downward direction. Bax travels down steep slopes in the Skotos strip before encountering Lupine. I think he is in Faerie during these encounters with her.
• Dragonstone, fire opal, plays an important role in both. The Tower of Glas was made of it, as was the stone in Bax’s magic ring.
• Both characters acquire a magic sword, and have a supernatural paramour: Disiri v. Winker Inari.
• The name Griffin appears in both. Griffinsford the town vs. Ted and Doris Griffin.
• Both have mothers with M names, Mag v. Martha

And yet they are different, and SH is a shadowy reflection of the WK:

• Bax sleeps with every woman he can. Able only wants Disiri.
• Able is straightforward and honest, whereas Bax regularly employs deceit and is a fraud.
• Bax is educated in worldly matters, whereas Able is “wise.” Wizard means wise.
• Able acquires a supernatural white steed, whereas Bax scares his away
• The WK is a New Testament narrative, where the SH’s Biblical allusions are firmly Old Testament.

I think GW deliberately intended to write a story that was sort of the opposite of the WK, one in which evil prevails. Bax does not escape “the wrong his father did”, or “his mother’s curse”, as T.H. White is asking the reader in The Queen of Air and Darkness.  Bad blood or family can be too difficult to overcome.

For a while, I entertained the idea that the WK and the SH were actually set in the same fictional universe.

My theory related to Lord Beel’s father, who is not named:

• Beel’s uncle is King Uthor. Uthor is king before Arnthor.  In Arthurian legend, Uther’s brother was …. Ambrosius. Ambrosius was the older brother, was killed via poison, and Uther Pendragon took his place.
• Beel can do magic, which suggests his father or mother was a sorcerer. Again, a fit for Ambrosius. In the WK and SH universe, magical abilities are apparently inherited, or in the blood.
• It seemed strange that GW left Beel’s father unnamed. It made me think he was hiding something.
• So my theory was that Ambrosius left the world of the WK, perhaps through the sea cave that Able arrived in.  He came to our world, and built the Black House. He had various adventures, and was then slain by Goldwurm.
• I entertained the idea that Goldwurm was actually Uthor of the WK. Again, its never stated in the WK how Uthor or Beel’s father met their ends. Uther Pendragon used a gold dragon banner in some legends, hence “Goldwurm.”
• So Uthor and Ambrosius are actually brothers. They have a brotherly rivalry over magic or women, and Uthor eventually kills Ambrosius, and stays on Earth. This explains Goldwurm’s thing about brothers/twins, and wanting George and Bax to fight.
• This theory has a certain appeal, but the evidence is weak (basically just the Ambrosius, Goldwurm and Uthor names), and very likely wrong.

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The Sorcerer’s House: Letters 7-9

Letters 7-9: Bax Takes a Beating, The Good Boy, Sorcery

Letter Summaries

Letter 7, written to George, begins with him describing Winker and a recent dream.  The contents of this letter are written somewhat out of order. Bax is awoken one night by Ieaun Black. Bax confronts him, but is severely beaten.  The beating is interrupted by the ghost of Ambrosius/Ted Griffin. Separately, Bax  meets the jeweler, Dick Quist.  He offers to buy the ring, which Bax declines.

Letter 8 is written to George.  Bax meets with Martha again. He then encounters “Emlyn the Good”, and thinking him Ieaun, beats him up. Emlyn returns the favor, but the two make peace and share information.

Letter 9 is to George as well. Emlyn explains how the Triannulus and Long Light work. They encounter Ieaun, and explore the house. They use the Triannulus, and Bax gets money in the form of gold coins.

Bax’s Dream

Bax describes a dream early in letter 7. He looks outside, and sees a group of dancing figures. There is a ring of mushrooms there in the morning. The figures include a large, dignified man, a Junoesque woman, a “lean capering fellow”, a dwarf, and a girl.  There are other figures he cannot remember. These refer to:

• The girl is Lupine.
• The ape faced dwarf is Quorn
• The lean, capering figure is Nicholas the Butler
• The Junoesque woman appears to be an allusion to the Queen of Sheba. Sheba danced, and brought precious stones to Jerusalem. “Junoesque” means statuesque or shapely. This seems to fit Martha Murrey. Biddy and Bax separately describe Martha as having a good figure.
• The large dignified man, stiffly dancing, in part, seems to be a reference to King Solomon. He hosted the Queen of Sheba. I think his SH counterpart is Zwart.

The ring of mushrooms is known as a Fairy Ring.  They are apparently also known as sorcerer’s rings or witch’s rings in Europe.  They could be created as a result of fairies dancing.  Bax is careful to leap over it while exercising. Fairy rings were thought dangerous, and someone could be cursed by breaking them.

Given  that things seem to happen in 3 in the SH, is the Mushroom Ring Bax’s third ring?

Winkle/Winker Inari

Winker the face-fox was apparently named after a dog, Winkle, that Bax’s adoptive mother owned. Winker is a kitsune, a fox-like creature of Japanese folklore. Inari appears to be a reference to Inari Okami, a supernatural being associated with foxes, fertility, rice, etc.

Winker Inari later presents Bax with a Japanese blade she calls the Fox Sword. This is an actual sword from Japanese mythology.  In Japan it is known as Kogitsune-Maru, which means “Little Fox” or “Foxblade.” It was apparently carried by a number of heroes.

At first I thought Winker was summoned by the Triannulus.  Emlyn had tried to use the Triannulus to summon one. He was surprised by Bax, and dropped the Longlight, causing it to go out.   Ieauan apparently captured another fox, and its dead body was seen in Ieaun’s room in Letter 9.  Bax later suggests that Emlyn accidently summoned a werewolf, Lupine, and not a face-fox. So how did Winkler wind up in the cage in the attic?

I think it was Zwart. In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lord Bertilak presents Sir Gawain with a captured fox as a present. In the post on Sir Gawain, I suggest that Zwart Black is an allusion to Lord Bertilak.  Emlyn states in regarding the finding of a face-fox, that “Father could have done it in a wink.” (emphasis added). I think Zwart caught her and intended for Bax to find her, as part of his plan to lure Bax into his web through sexual temptation.

Emlyn and Ieuan Black

These are the sons of Martha and Zwart. Bax thinks they are about 14.   Its a bit of a mystery where they have been living and who raised them. Martha later tells Bax that people don’t age in Faerie. She admits to raising them till they were “old enough to run and argue.” Have they lived in the Black House the whole time? Emlyn explains that Zwart leaves them alone a lot. So I’m not sure where they grew up.

Emlyn has a friendly disposition, and seems wiser. Ieuan apparently is insecure, and Emlyn explains that this is the source of his bad behavior.

Ambrosius/Ted Griffin

My theory is that these two men are the same.  The ghost of a large man appears three times in the SH.  Bax later asks Doris to see a picture of Ted, and confirms that the ghost is Ted. How do I know its Ambrosius? Ted’s middle initial was “A”. He left something with the letters TAG on it with Doris in his last appearance.  Zwart somehow arranged for Ted/Ambrosius’ death, Emlyn says by strangling. Doris seems to imply Ted died in a hospital, so this is a problem I have not been able to resolve with this theory. Maybe Zwart made it look like a suicide?

Why would Ambrosius or Ted’s ghost want to stop Bax’s beating? One theory I have is that Ambrosius is actually the true father of two or all four of Martha Murrey’s sons. This relates to the Sir Caradoc legend I will explore later.

Numen, the Longlight, and the Triannulus

Numen means “divine presence.” It is the power behind the sorcery in the SH. Numen is apparently generated by lighting the Longlight. The Triannulus is then aligned to the requested object. When the Longlight naturally burns out, the ritual is complete, and the requested object should arrive.

If the Longlight is snuffed prematurely, the lighter will acquire numen. This is what Emlyn fears has happened. That he and Bax have acquired numen, which they cannot use properly, and are thus dangerous to themselves and others due to misdirected sorcery.

This is in fact what happened. Bax tells Emlyn in Letter 9 that he wants stationary. But they never use the Longlight to get it.  Stationary magically appears later, as Bax wished. This appears to be a result of both acquiring numen (the Longlight was snuffed by the visiting fisherman) and his wearing Ambrosius’ ring.

Numen was briefly brought up in the WK. Mani says that the people of Mythgarthr were the numina of those in Aelfrice (The Wizard, Chapter 10).

Is the Longlight an allusion to anything from religion, mythology, etc.? I have stated that there is an Old Testament theme to the SH.  I think the Longlight may, in part, be a version of the Temple Menorah. Apparently up until 40 years before the Temple’s Destruction, the central candle of the Menorah would burn all day, despite the limited quantity of fuel. This was taken to be a sign of the presence of Shekhinah. Shekhinah, like numen, can be interpreted as divine presence.

Fire Opal

Dick Quist, the local jeweler, examines Bax’s magic ring again during his trip the post office.  He previously would not buy it. Quist now thinks the ring quite valuable, and calls it a fire opal.

Interestingly, the Tower of Glas in the WK was made of fire opal. Able refers to fire opal as “the dragon stone” (The Knight, Chapter 22). Garsceg is surprised by this, and Able explains Berthold told him so.  This is one of many little connections/similarities between the WK and the SH.

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The Sorcerer’s House, Letters 1-3

And so begins the chapter by chapter review. Technically, The Sorcerer’s House (“SH”) is divided up into a series of “letters” not chapters. Spoilers in every post!

Letters One through Three: Your Old Cellmate, Your Brother, From One Big House to Another

Letter Summaries

In the first letter, Baxter (“Bax”) Dunn is writing to his former cellmate, Sheldon “Shotgun” Hawse. He has arrived in Medicine Man, the setting for the SH.  We later learn that he arrived in January. It must be cold, which explains why Bax put so much emphasis on repairing the windows in the Black House. Bax initially stays in the Riverman Inn.  He says he is short for money, but will try to get some from his brother.

In the second letter, Bax writes to his identical twin brother, George P. Dunn.  Bax tells George that he is now living (actually squatting) in a house, which we later learn is the Black House. He has made the acquaintance of his neighbor, Mrs. Thelma Naber.  One night he is awakened by Emlyn Black, and startles Emlyn into dropping his Longlight. There are signs that a vagrant (Zwart) has been staying in the place for about a year.

Separately, Bax has made inquires of the owner of the Black House through Doris Rose Griffin, an agent at Country Hill Real Estate agency.  Doris refers him to Martha Murrey, who runs another real estate agency, Martha Murrey & Associates. Upon meeting Martha, Bax learns that the house has been deeded to him by its former owner, Mr. Black.

In Letter 3, Bax writes to Shell again. He explains that he now owns the Black House, and is busy fixing it up. He explains he is having trouble finding work, and that there have apparently been break-ins at the house.

An Epistolary Novel (?)

The SH, like about half of GW’s novels, is an epistolary work. Like The Wizard Knight (WK), it is composed, mostly, of a series of letters to the protagonist’s brother. Other letters are to or from Doris, Millicent, Shell, George or Madam Orizia.  The unnamed Compiler says that he has placed them in “a” logical order, but is not sure about the proper sequence.

The compiler suggests that much of what is described in Bax’s letters is untrue. And some readers have suggested the same in posts online, even suggesting that most of the book is a hoax. I disagree. While Bax is an unreliable narrator in the GW tradition, I do not subscribe to the hoax theory. The primary evidence for this are the letters of Doris, Madame Orizia, Shell, etc. collected by the Compiler.

For example, Shell relates to Bax Iron Mike’s lunch with “the Greek” and the “Skinny Torpedo” in Letter 24. These are references to Zwart and Nicholas the Butler. Doris writes about the encounter with the wolves, Quorn and Nicholas in letter 42.  Madame Pogach writes about the vampire and Quorn in letter 43.

These letters act as independent confirmation of the supernatural events of the SH. Otherwise, you have to argue that Bax drafted fake letters to himself that he never shared with anyone else. The compiler obtained the letters written to Bax from Millicent.  Bax apparently took them with him while playing the role of George J. Dunn during his time with her.  So while Bax perhaps embellished events, I think its GW’s intent that we believe they happened. Otherwise all the allusions and symbolism are pointless. And he is making a point, like he did in the WK.

Baxter Dunn & Family

Baxter Dunn has been raised as an orphan by two adoptive parents. They gave him their last name, Dunn, which Bax tells Martha is of Scottish origin (the Scottish theme from the WK continues).

Bax tells her it means “yellow-gray”. GW seems to be referencing the dun gene of equine coat coloring.  A dun gene causes the dominant coat color of a horse to be suppressed.  A black horse with the dun gene will have a black mane, tail and legs, but the body will appear gray gold or tan. Once again, color symbolism is at work here. Baxter has sandy hair and blue eyes. This seems to suggest a dual identity for Bax, or something in his nature that is being “suppressed.” Perhaps his magical abilities? An evil nature?

Additionally, according to Wikipedia, Dunn is variously given English, Scottish and Irish origins. Depending on the spelling, it can mean “dark colored”, “brown” or a “fort.” Dun is also a location in Scotland.

The surname Baxter is of Scottish and Anglo-Saxon origin, and means “baker.” Bax says he was named after a wealthy aunt, Carla Baxter.  She was the wife of his adoptive mother’s brother, George.  Bax’s brother, George P. Dunn, is apparently named after this brother. George means “farmer” by the way.   Carla Baxter provided George and him their inheritance, which was used to pay for college tuition.

Baxter’s adoptive mother, or “Mama”, may or may not be alive, even though Bax says she sends him “allowance” checks during the events of the SH. It could be that the checks are coming from a trust she set up on his behalf.  His adoptive father is never discussed or named.

The wealthy Carla Baxter may be a link to GW’s first Arthurian novel, Castleview.   In that story, many of events occur at a summer camp called Meadow Grass. Meadow Grass was founded by Sylvia Baxter, a successful businesswoman. The book appears to be set in northern Illinois (Chicago is nearby), and the SH also seems to be set in northern Illinois. Is this a clue that the two books are set in the same fictional universe? I don’t know.

Bible Verses

If you read my last series, “Knight Notes”, you know that I believe that GW coded much of the New Testament into the WK.  I think there are also coded references to the Bible in the SH. I think GW does this through the use of numerals, which are references to specific Bible verses.

The first number we can apply this to is Bax’s address at the Riverman Inn. The Inn is at 15 Riverpath Road – Room 12.

This may be a reference John 15:12.  This is one of the most famous verses from the Bible, and in the King James version is:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

I am going to stick with King James version, as Martha Murrey later recommends the electrical contractors KJ&A.

Bax also says “God knows I do not miss the screws or Building 19” in Letter One. Building 19 may be reference to Psalm 19. Psalm 19 is mainly about the “law” of God, and its perfection.  Building 19 is apparently where Bax lived in prison for breaking the law.  It may just be a coincidence, but I think the number 19 was used deliberately, according to Clute’s Law of Reading Wolfe (nothing is inadvertent).

Mutazz

Mutazz is the proprietor of the Riverman Inn. We never meet him, but Bax uses a Kipling quote to describe him: “A thief by instinct, a murderer by heredity and training, and frankly and bestially amoral by all three.” Bax later accuses him of trying to steal his first allowance check.

This is a quote from Rudyard Kipling’s short story, “The Amir’s Homily.”  The story describes the rule of the Amir of Afghanistan. His people are unruly, and governed only by their fear of death.  A thief is brought before him, and the Amir sentences him to death. The Amir contrasts the thief with himself, claiming that he rose to his position by hard work.

The name Mutazz is Arabic in origin. It may be a reference to Abdallah bn Al-Mu’tazz, a Caliph and poet. He was strangled to death, the same way Ambrosius apparently died.

The admiring onlookers cry “this is a Man” at the end. And it is a man’s justice, as opposed to the mercy and justice of God.  The SH is a shadowy reflection of the WK, given that it is a dark companion to it. True justice and mercy are largely absent from this story, reflecting the largely pagan and Old Testament setting.

GW may be intending to have Bax describe himself as well by this quote. Bax is a thief (jailed for fraud), and a murderer by heredity (Zwart Black is his father) and training (Sheldon Hawes advises him on guns). He is also amoral. Whether Bax can escape “the wrong his father did”, Zwart, or his “Mother’s curse” (Martha) is the dramatic tension in the SH.

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Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House

“When shall I be dead and rid
Of the wrong my father did?
How long, how long, till spade and hearse
Put to sleep my mother’s curse?”

Excerpt from A.E. Housman’s poem “The Welsh Marches.”  Published in A Shropshire Lad.

In this blog series, I will review The Sorcerer’s House, a novel written by Gene Wolfe and published in 2010. As I suggested at the conclusion of “Knight Notes”, The Sorcerer’s House may be viewed as a companion novel or unofficial sequel to The Wizard Knight. It may or may not be set in the same fictional universe, but it is set in the same thematic one.  The above quote is from a poem by A.E Houseman. This particular quatrain was used as an epigraph by T.H. White to his The Queen of Air and Darkness, the second volume in his series known as The Once and Future King (TOAFK).

The Wizard Knight and The Sorcerer’s House are, together, Gene Wolfe’s “The Once and Future King.”   GW alluded to TOAFK extensively in the WK.  Able is sort of a fusion of the Arthur, Lancelot and Galahad characters of that book.  Bax is loosely based on the Gawain and Gareth characters of White’s series and other Arthurian stories.

The early parts of The Knight are very much like The Sword and the Stone, the first of the four volume TOAFK:

• The Ravd, Svon and Able grouping is based on the Sir Ector, Kay and Wart (Arthur) grouping of The Sword in the Stone.
• The relationship between Able and Berthold is akin to the relationship between Arthur and Merlin.
• The Robin Hood legend is used in both works.

The middle-sections of the WK parallel The Ill-Made Knight, the third volume of the TOAFK:

• King Arthur sends the Knights of the Round Table on the Grail Quest. The key Grail knights in The Ill-Made Knight are Bors, Percival, and Galahad. Lord Beel’s embassy to Utgard, undertaken at Arnthor’s order, is the Grail Quest of the WK.  The key Utgard knights of the WK are Svon (Bors), Toug (Percival) and Able (in his Galahad role).
• Galahad successfully obtains the Grail in The Ill-Made Knight, like Able (Galahad) does in the WK (by entering the Room of Lost Loves).

The later half of The Wizard echoes The-Ill Made Knight and A Candle in the Wind (the last volume in TOAFK):

• Lancelot and Guinevere’s affair, discovery and subsequent war destroy Arthur’s realm.
• In the WK, Gaynor is attracted to Able (as Lancelot), and Arnthor’s jealousy and refusal to listen to Able nearly destroys Celidon.

One of the four books that makes up the TOAFK is largely missing from the WK.  It is the second book, The Queen of Air and Darkness.  That volume primarily focuses on the four sons of Queen Morgause of Orkney, and their upbringing. The four are not really loved by their mother, a circumstance that haunted T.H. White’s own life.

One of the narratives GW tells in the SH is that of the four Orkney brothers.  Martha Murrey is, in part, based on Queen Morgause.  Morgause’s four sons appear in the SH in Baxter and George Dunn (Gawaine and Agravaine), and Ieuan and Emlyn Black (Gaheris and Gareth). Parental neglect, and absence of true love, are one of the themes of the SH.

The Housman poem used by T.H. White was a meditation on war and personal violence, and the visitation of the sins of the fathers on their sons and daughters. While the WK is very much a New Testament narrative, the SH is a very deliberate retelling of the Old Testament by GW.  The Gaelic Orkney clan of The Queen of Air and Darkness were described as the “Old Ones” of England, in comparison to the more recent Norman arrivals.  They are obsessed with righting ancient wrongs, and taking revenge on the Normans of Arthur’s realm.   Similarly, the protagonists of the SH are focused on land, inter-family violence and squabbles common to the Old Testament stories are found there.

While the WK had a happy ending, the SH is a tragic tale.  Both Bax and Able have a series of adventures that intersect with a magical world of another dimension (Aelfrice and Faerie). Both develop supernatural powers, acquire a magic sword, and meet non-human creatures. Able survives and triumphs. Bax does not.

In next post, I will review the various levels of the SH’s Layer Cake.

Knight Notes: Conclusion (and Bibliography)

This is the last post of this very long blog series. If you made it all the way through, thanks for your time. I hope it was well spent.

Applying the WK to Other GW books

So what did we learn:

1. Know Your Allusion: GW is very well read, and will reference or allude to mythology, legends, literature, the Bible, etc. in his novels. If you can identify the author(s), novel or body of myth he is alluding to, that can be a key to unlock the rest of the story. It helps to know who his favorite writers are, or who he has been reading lately. He talks about them in interviews.

2. Remember the Layer Cake. There is usually more than one narrative or story being told in a GW book, all stacked atop each other.  A single character or event may have multiple meanings or embody multiple allusions. If you find yourself disagreeing with someone else’s interpretation, consider the possibility that you are both right.

3.  Word play:  GW will use partial anagrams, partial rhymes, translations, shared initials, alternative spellings, etc. to conceal his allusions or the identities of characters and place names. Sir Sabel (Ravd’s mentor) was a word play for Elisabeth, John the Baptist’s Mother (Ravd was a version of John the Baptist). All the letters in Sabel can be found in Elisabeth. An example of using initials: Arthur Ormsby’s initials were A and O.

4. Clues: GW will leave clues to his sources by including things that don’t seem to fit in the setting or story.  In the WK, GW includes a minor character, Duke Thoas. Thoas is a name from Greek myth, and had no business being in Norse/British Celidon. That was a clue that there were Greek myths hiding in the WK.  He used the “crust of bread” phrase to signal to the legend of Cupid and Psyche.

5. Color, Plant, Animal and Saint Symbolism: He uses these, relying on traditional associations.

6. Unreliable Narrator:  Able is one, but less so than some other GW protagonists.  “The High Heart” was really “The High Hart” (in my view).

7. Try Ebooks: It’s easier to do a close reading when you can search for words and phrases with a reading app.

8. Multiple readings required: The books are so dense that you can’t absorb everything in one reading. At least for me. I missed 95% of the things I have written about in the first few readings.

9. Wikipedia is your friend. Could not have done this without it, and I will be making my first donation.

What Didn’t I Talk About

I agree with Nick Gevers’ statement in the 2004 interview with GW that the WK is sort of a more “open expression” of ideas addressed in other books (particularly the Sun books), and can be used as a key or Rosetta Stone to better interpret earlier works.  I view the WK as a culmination of the story told beginning in La Befana and continued through the Sun books. A heresy for some, but the recurring themes, names, plot structures, figures of speech, etc. have satisfied me on this point.

I didn’t spend much time linking the WK to earlier books, particularly the Sun books, as most of these I have only read a few times. In particular, I have said very little about the three volume Book of the Short Sun, which was completed right before the WK. ( Some reviewers compared the WK to A Voyage to Arcturus, but I think there is more Arcturus in the Short Sun than in the WK. The message from Arcturus is rejected in both). Thematic and structural similarities between the Short Sun and the WK include, but are not limited to:

• Blue = Mythgarthr/Celidon. Celidon has a blue flag. Green = Aelfrice.  Both are heavily wooded environments.
• The Whorl is the Castle of Skai where the gods live, and which Able/Horn are trying to get to.
• Krait is described as having eyes like “yellow flame” in On Blue’s Waters, like the Aelf. The Aelf and Dragons are like the inhumi, preying on, but needing the humans/neighbors to become something greater.
• Disiri and the Inhumi both become more human after drinking our blood.
• Horn’s promise to help Krait (perhaps an allusion to Krag of Arcturus) echoes Able’s promise to Garsceg. Horn is very concerned with personal honor and promise keeping, like Able.
• In Return to Whorl, Silk/Horn describes hearing a voice that “might have almost been that of the wind in a chimney.” (Chapter 12). Chapter 38 of The Knight is titled, “The Wind in the Chimney.”

What we saw reflected, dimly, in the earlier books, is made plain in the WK.

How good is this book?

The WK is a very dense, ambitious book.  I’ve read a lot of bad science fiction and fantasy that are just a series of battles, MacGuffins, or boy meets girls pursuits.  GW does use traditional fantasy plot elements in the WK, but he ties them to larger themes he explores here and in other works. I think the WK is also GW’s commentary on the shared elements of much of our mythology and folklore.  There is cross-pollination between Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Matter of France, the Norse, the stories of Arthur, etc.  There is a whole field of study, comparative mythology, that explores this very idea.  I found it a bit uncanny how GW was able to make so many names fit multiple allusions to different myths and folklore. I am much more sympathetic to comparative mythology theories after reading this book.

I think the WK is the best of the post-Sun books, so far. And better than some of the books that preceded it. One advantage it has is that there was enough pages to fully flesh out the characters and themes. His subsequent books were much shorter, but still feature a large cast of characters.

Reviews were certainly mixed. As far as Amazon.com reviews go, it has a lower star rating than most of the Sun books, the Latro books, and a few others. Some of this may be due to the split in publication. The Utgard segment seemed too long on the first reading, and I believe many readers were expecting Able to meet Arnthor earlier. But I hope this review has shown that Utgard is central to the main themes of the book.

Some of the negative reviews are related to Able’s aggressive behavior in The Knight. I think this can be understood, in part, by imagining a boy placed in a man’s body in a “kill or be killed” environment. There is also the Sword Breaker theory. But, to each his own.

It appears not to be as “literary” as earlier works, by which I mean that it does not have a style of writing that we associate with the National Book Award.  Others better qualified than I have said that GW has tried to make his style more accessible to readers over the last 15-20 years. That doesn’t bother me, but I respect those who value the style with which an author writes as much or more as their skill as a storyteller. I lean towards storytelling over style.

While Peace and The Fifth Head of Cerberus probably have more “literary” merit, I certainly enjoyed the story of the WK more. Its one of the few, and maybe only, novels he has written that has an umambiguosuly happy ending (Unless he ever writes Soldier of Canaan and cures Latro).  I am a sucker for happy endings, and that’s my bias showing.

Despite any justified criticism,the WK is somewhat underappreciated. In my amateur opinion, its a masterpiece of intertextuality. I have a hard time imagining how difficult it was to subtly use so many myths and other works of literature in one novel.  There are probably other allusions and themes in there I never explored in any depth, particularly involving Dickens and Elizabethan England. Remember, GW was in his early 70s when he wrote this. I hope my mind is still that sharp when I am that age.

I hope the WK and GW are still read and thought of 50 or 100 years from now. That’s the main reason I put together this series. The Knight was nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2005, but did not win. Paladin of Souls swept the Nebula, Hugo and Locus awards that year.  I have not read Paladin, and it may very well be the better book.

Awards don’t always go to the best works, and GW would likely say that awards aren’t the final verdict on measuring worth. However, I wonder if award winners are more likely to be read by future generations.  They may be more likely to be reissued by publishers, kept in libraries, appear in lists of best novels of the period, etc.  So, I hope this series helps keep the WK in circulation among future readers in some form.

Finally, the book does have a strong religious theme, and many people are not a member of any faith. There may be a natural ceiling to their enjoyment or appreciation of the WK. By way of comparison, I enjoyed Iain Banks’ science fiction novels.  The recently deceased Mr. Banks was an atheist, and this point of view was reflected in many of his novels. But I accepted it as part of the admission price to reading his books.

Up next, The Sorcerer’s House, which I view as an unofficial sequel or “companion novel” to The Wizard Knight.  It may be a while before I start that review. That will probably be the only other GW book I review in any depth on this blog.

Select Bibliography

Other than GW’s bibliography, the Bible, and the stories of Greek and Norse mythology, the texts cited to or that influenced my thinking on these posts include:

One Thousand and One Nights

Beowulf

various Child Ballads about the Robin Hood legend

Alighieri, Dante: Divine Comedy

Anderson, Poul:  Three Hearts and Three Lions, The Broken Sword

Andre-Driussi, Michael: The Wizard Knight Companion

Calasso, Robert: The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations

Dunsany, Lord (Edward Plunkett): The King of Elfland’s Daughter

Gaiman, Neil: American Gods

Kipling, Rudyard: Puck of Pook’s Hill

Lewis, C.S.: Till We Have Faces

Lindsay, David: A Voyage to Arcturus

Macpherson, James: Ossian

Malory, Sir Thomas: Le Morte D’Arthur

MacDonald, George: Phantastes

Monaghan, Patricia: Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines

Moorcock, Michael: The Eternal Champion, Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe

Scott, Sir Walter: Ivanhoe, The Talisman

Spenser, Edmund: The Faerie Queene

Tennyson, Alfred: Idylls of the King, The Lady of Shallot

White, T.H.: The Once and Future King (being composed of The Sword in the Stone, The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, and The Candle In the Wind)

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Knight Notes: WK Characters’ Biblical/Historical counterparts

GW uses all the major characters in the WK to allude to a counterpart in the Bible, Christian apocrypha, or the history of the early Church in the 1st century A.D.  I think it was quite a feat for GW  to create double and sometimes triple allusions for each WK character. Remember the Layer Cake.

I wonder if this choice was inspired by Meynard’s The Book of Knights. Meynard’s novel featured a mythical book about the lives of various knights and their adventures.  In a way, the WK is “The Book of Saints.” GW has encoded the lives of the saints into an adventure story.

I’ve identified many of these connections in other posts, so this post restates a lot of these identifications in one place.  I’ve also tried to link secondary and tertiary characters to people in the Bible.   Some of these connections are very tenuous, since the Biblical allusions were the most subtle ones in the WK.  Wikipedia’s entry on saint symbolism is helpful. Looking for help on this post especially.

The Divine

The Most High God  = God/Jesus/Holy Spirit

Parka = A version of the The Holy Spirit. The Paraclete.

Michael = Archangel Michael

Gylf = Able’s guardian angel, perhaps an echo of the Archangel Gabriel (“God is my strength”). In Kabbalah, Gabriel is identified with the Sephirot Yesod, which was alluded to with the Spiny Orange tree.

The Valfather = Skai’s version of God the Father

Tyr/Zio = Skai’s version of Jesus

The Lady of Skai = Skai’s version of the Virgin Mary

Cloud = Not sure. Skai’s representation of the Holy Spirit?

Kulili = Shekhinah, the Divine Presence in Aelfrice, also Sophia. She knits herself.

The Holy Family

Able =  Mythgarthr’s echo of Jesus

Black Berthold = Joseph

Mag = Mary

The Four Evangelists

Sir Marc = Mark.

Sir Oriel = Matthew. (One of the 12 Apostles too). An angel was his symbol, and the name Oriel is based on Uriel the archangel.

Sir Lamwell = Luke.  Luke was a doctor, one who makes the “lame well”.

Sir Wistan = John. (One of the 12 Apostles too). Many consider St. John the author of the Gospel of John. John was thought to be one of the youngest followers of Jesus, and Wistan is young. Able says Wistan requires “seasoning.” He talks at length about the value of books, and a book is one of John’s symbols.  Wistan is at the fight with Sir Loth, which is the Transfiguration event of the WK. John was one of the three Apostles at the Transfiguration. Able hugs Wistan, an allusion to him being the disciple “Jesus loved”

The Other Apostles

Pouk =  Peter. He denied Able three times before the Mountain of Fire/Golgotha.

Uns = James, Son of Zebedee.  Uns is described several times as walking with a staff, and a staff was a symbol of James. Uns was at the fight with Loth, which is the Transfiguration event of the WK. (James was there). James was an early disciple, and Uns an early follower.

Vil = Thomas. Vil touches Able’s body in Utgard, like Thomas exploring Christ’s wounds. Thomas saw and believed, and Jesus blessed those who could not see and believed. Vil cannot see, being blind. One of Thomas’s symbols is the builder’s square, and Vil was a builder of sorts, working as a smith. He also says the following sentence “Its square on my tongue.” Thomas also means “twin” and Vil’s “twin” is the Norse god Vili.

Old Man Toug= Bartholomew. The bandits were throwing knives at Old Man Toug while hanging him upside down. Bartholomew was flayed alive with knives while being hung upside down.

Sir Toug   = Matthias. Matthias’ saint symbol was an axe, and Toug inherited the axe like Sword Breaker from Able. He was a late addition to the Apostles, and Toug was made knight late in the story. The clincher is that Matthias is often confused with Nathanael.  Bartholomew (who is Old Man Toug) was thought to be Nathanael by some scholars also. Toug and Old Man Toug share the same name.

Sir Woddet = Jude Thaddeus. Woddet battled with a mace after his sword broke at the Battle of Khazneh. One of Jude Thaddeus’s symbols was a club. Like the “dd” in both names.

Sir Gerrune = James of Alphaeus. Gerrune fought Able with halberds in the tournament at Kingsdoom, and lost and was seriously injured. In some stories of James’ death, he was killed with a halberd.

Sir Smiler = Philip. His symbol is a bundle of loaves, and Smiler provided food to Able’s army. Not confident about this one.

Kerl, Captain of the Western Trader= Andrew. Andrew was the brother of Peter. Both were fisherman, and were called at the same time.  Kerl entered the story right after Pouk. Both were sailors. Andrew’s symbol was a “saltire” and Kerl sailed the salt oceans. Kerl hung a rope over the side of the ship, and a rope is also a symbol of Andrew.

Sir Leort = Simon the Zealot.  Relying on the similarity in the letters in “Zealot” and “Leort”. One of Simon’s symbols is a lance. Leort jousts with Able, and also uses his lance at the Battle of Utgard. Again, not confident about this one.

Garsceg/Garvaon = Both represent Judas Iscariot. Garsceg was the evil and Garvaon the good in him. Their fight may represent the inner conflict in every man.

Other Disciples

Sir Ravd = John the Baptist. See the post on Chapters 4-6 of The Knight.

Sir Svon = Paul. He converted on the road to Utgard. I think the young Svon might also be Saint Stephen the Martyr.  Squire Svon had “red pants” and red is the color of martyrdom. Svon was beaten unconscious by the bandits, perhaps an allusion to Saint Stephen’s stoning.

Sir Garvaon = Lazarus. Both died twice. Garvaon “died” first in the trial by combat, the the second time against Garsceg/Setr.

Bold Berthold = James the Just. James was Jesus’ brother apparently, and Berthold was Able’s brother. Both were hit in the head with a stone. I think the alliteration in both names also supports this.

Lord Escan = Nicodemus. Both were older, learned men. Escan tried to help Able with Arnthor, like Nicodemus with the Sanhedrin. Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be “born again”, and Escan is born again on the shores of Aelfrice’s ocean, with his double coming into existence.

Duke Marder = Joseph of Arimathea. Both are wealthy, older men, and followers of Able/Jesus. Joseph provided Jesus with his own tomb, Marder provided Able with Redhall.

Payne = Silas/Sylvanus.  Silas, who was thought to be the same person as Silvanus, accompanies Paul on his journeys, and they were jointly imprisoned at one point. They were then freed by an earthquake that broke their prison door.  Able’s breaking the Osterland siege of Redhall is an allusion to this escape. Payne was with Svon at Redhall, and became a Baron of Jotunhome. Svon and Payne becoming subjects of Jotunhome is an allusion to Paul and Silas’s mission to the Roman Empire. Jotunhome = Rome.  Payne was also born in the woods, and Sylvanus means “of the woods.”

Women of the Bible and the Early Church

Idnn = Mary of Bethany. Wept for Garvaon/Lazarus at least twice. Mary’s anointing of Jesus with perfume and using her hair to wipe his feet reminds me of Idnn’s ride on Cloud, when the scent of Idnn’s hair was in Able’s face.

Ulfa = Martha of Bethany. Ulfa, like Martha, was “heavily burdened”, and had to do a lot of menial work in Glennidam and Utgard.

Lynnet (Mag) = Mary Magdalene. Lynnet had a mental illness, and Mary Magdalene was apparently cured of mental illness by Jesus.  Marigold and Mary Magdalene sound a bit alike too.

Gerda =  The bleeding woman Christ healed? The infirm woman Jesus healed? Don’t have a good fit for her.

Ulfa’s Mother = The mother of Peter’s wife that Jesus healed? Peter/Pouk married Ulfa.  Both are unnamed.

Morcaine = Morcaine about to be sacrificed to Grengarm is an allusion to the stoning of the “woman taken in sin”, she is also like Herodias in her less helpful role

Gaynor = Salome, Herodias’ daughter. Both are young, beautiful and not particularly wise women.

Etela = Daughter of Jairus. The only female children with parts in the Gospels and the WK.  Etela “sleeps” in the same bed as Toug a few times.

Hela = Thecla. Both women fought off attackers. Thecla was a disciple of Paul, and Hela eventually becomes a subject of Idnn and Svon(Paul).

Nukara = Susanna, a woman who provided for the Apostles. Nukara provided Able and Pouk with food.

Mogduda= Mary of Clopas. Mary of Clopas took care of Jesus’ body after he was crucified. Mogduda attends to Able after he was beaten at Sheerwall, putting on and taking off bandages. She might also be Mary, Mother of James, or Joanna, two other women who also went to the tomb to tend to Jesus’s body.

Borda = Deborah.  A warrior of Israel. You can make Borda using the letters in Deborah.

Political Figures

These ones are pretty speculative. I think Celidon, Utgard and Osterland may be a representation of the Roman Empire and Holy Lands of the first century A.D, and the various rulers allusions to Roman Emperors and the Herodian kings.

King Arnthor = Roman Emperor Tiberius and/or Herod the Great.  Or Herod Antipas? Arnthor might be a reference to multiple leaders of the period. Tiberius was emperor at the time of the crucifixion.  And Herod Antipas also had a role in John the Baptist and Jesus’s deaths.

Herod the Great’s massacre of the innocents of Bethlehem is matched by King Arthur’s drowning of the innocents in T.H. White’s The Once and Future King and Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. I have previously suggested that the drowning of the men of Griffinsford is an allusion to this incident from The Once and Future King and Malory.

King Uthor = Augustus Caesar? Uthor preceded Arnthor like Augustus preceded Tiberius.

King Gilling = Emperor Caligula. Both were insecure in their thrones and were stabbed to death.

Thiazi =  Emperor Claudius, Caligula’s uncle, became Emperor after him. A scholar, like Thiazi. Or Elymas the sorcerer.

The Old Caan = King Herod the Great?

The Old Caan’s sons = Herod the Great’s many sons. His Kingdom was divided among his many offspring, most of whom came to a bad end. Rome eventually absorbed their territories

The Black Caan = One of King Herod’s sons? Herod Antipas? Don’t have a good fit. Maybe no one is alluded to.

Baron Thunrolf = Pontius Pilate. See the post on the visit to the Mountain of Fire for further discussion

Baron Olof = Lucius Vitellus, Pilate’s replacement. Olof replaced Thunrolf. Olof was described favorably by Able, and Lucius apparently had a good reputation, for a Roman of the times.

Everyone Else

most low god, Lothur, Setr, Seaxneat = Versions of Satan/Lucifer on the different levels of the WK cosmology.  The most low god was a being of Kleos that was cast down to Niflheim. Lothur was his reflection in Skai. My theory is that Seaxneat was the “devil” of Mythgarthr. Seaxneat is red-bearded and “pigeon-toed”, and in folk lore the devil has been described as red colored. “Pigeon-toed devil” is an expression I have also read. Finally, you can make “Satan” using the letters in Seaxneat. Garsceg/Setr was the devil of Aelfrice and Muspel.

Masters Crol, Papounce, Egr: The Three Magi (Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh). They gave Able gifts.

Duns = The man with a withered hand healed by Jesus? Duns’ arm was almost taken off by Org

Master Agr = Annas.

Master Caspar = Caiaphas

Org = The Gerasene Demoniac. The demon said they were “Legion”, or many, and Org is described in one scene as a “swarm” of vermin. Believed to be from the village of Gergasa.

Lord Beel = Zacchaeus. Both were short tax collectors who dined with Jesus/Able.

Scaur and Sha = Zebedee (a fisherman) and his wife, Salome the Disciple

Baki = The penitent thief. She renounced Setr/Satan.

Uri = The impenitent thief. She mocked Able before his fight with Kulili.

Mani = Mani the prophet. The portrayal of Mani in the WK may be a parody of Manichaeism.  Mani was from Persia, so making him a cat might be a little joke by GW:  the Persian Cat.

Heimir = I don’t have a good fit. Could it be the deaf mute Jesus healed? Heimir didn’t say much.

Huld = Anna the Prophetess? Anna was an older woman known for fasting, and Huld was fed by Able. The Witch of Endor? Also La Befana.

Seaxneat and Disira = Seaxneat may also be part of the Ananias and Sapphira pair. Seaxneat and Disira traded with bandits, and Ananias withheld money owed to the early Church. Both killed by the Holy Spirit for lying.

Ossar = Ossar is the boy possessed by a demon that Jesus healed.  The boy could not speak and would foam at the mouth. Ossar was too young to speak, and “spit up” the blackberries that Able fed him.

Master Thope = Saint Longinus, the Roman who pierced Jesus’ side with a lance.  Master Thope jousted with Able, and knocked him off his horse with a lance a few times. According to legend, Longinus later converted. He is believed to have been martyred, and Thope was stabbed for protecting Able.

Sir Manasen = Manahen

Jer the Bandit = Barabbas?

Sir Sabel, who was Ravd’s deceased mentor= A gender switched reference to Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, and Zechariah, his father. Ravd said he was once beaten by Sabel for something he said or didn’t say. This is an allusion to John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, being struck dumb by the Archangel Gabriel for questioning whether his wife could bear a child.

Other

“Truthful Vil” = Veronica’s Veil. The name Veronica is believed to derive from Latin and Greek, and may have originally meant something like “true image.” And Vil = Veil.   The Veil allegedly had miraculous powers, and could cure blindness, perform healings, etc. Vil was a “conjurer”, and in his Truthful Vil role had almost magical powers, like Veronica’s Veil.

Knight Notes: Disiri

This post explores the identity of Disiri and her role in the WK’s themes.

Disiri, like most characters in the WK, is based on multiple sources. And Able’s pursuit of her has multiple meanings. GW uses mythology, legend, Kabbalah and Christianity in developing this theme.

Disiri in Arthurian Legend and Mythological Terms

Disiri’s Arthurian counterpart is the Lady of the Lake.  In some stories, the Lady took Lancelot to live in her fairy world for some time to protect him.  In the WK, Disiri takes both the Real Able and Able/Art to Aelfrice.

As MAD identified in his WKC, Disiri may be associated with the Dis of Norse mythology.

Disiri’s Celtic/British counterpart is Brigid.  Brigid was the patroness of poets, smiths and sacred wells. This fits very well with the events of the WK:

• Disiri tells Able the story of Weland the Smith and the forging of Eterne.
• Eterne is found in a deep well.
• The “names on the wind” that Able hears near the end of The Knight include many poets and writers of the medieval period.

I think Disiri’s counterpart from Greek mythology may be Eurydice. This might be another example of GW moving syllables around and tweaking spelling to hide an identity. If you move the syllables Eurydice becomes “Diceeury”, which sounds somewhat like Disiri.  Eurydice was a dryad or nymph, and linked to the legend of Orpheus. Disiri refers to herself early in The Knight as a dryad. Able is also a representation of Orpheus, and his bowstring is an allusion to the Lyre of Orpheus.  Orpheus and Eurydice end up together in the underworld, which is consistent with the ending of the WK.

Disiri as Beatrice

The WK is strongly influenced by Dante’s Divine Comedy. Art Ormsby’s wandering in the woods at the beginning of the WK is like Dante’s wandering in the wilds at the beginning of the Comedy. Able sees a the castle in the sky he wants to pursue, and gets lost. Similarly, Dante loses his way in a dark wood while trying to get to salvation at the beginning of the Inferno. The six sided castle of Skai reminds me of the seven sided Castle in Limbo where the virtuous pagans live in relative peace and comfort.

One of Dante’s guides in the Comedy is Beatrice, who was based on a woman he knew in real life. She is an idealized feminine, and helps him to achieve the Beatific vision, or union with God. Beatrice sends Dante his first guide, the poet Virgil. Disiri has a somewhat similar role in the WK as Beatrice in the Divine Comedy.  Able loves Disiri, as Dante loved Beatrice. They are the ideal feminine for both, and something that draws the characters onwards towards a resolution.

Disiri and Color, Plant and Animal Symbolism

Green, Yellow and the Language of Flowers

Disiri has green skin and hair, and yellow eyes. I think this has multiple meanings in traditional color symbolism and the Kabbalah color scheme. Green alone, and sometimes green and yellow together (depending on what Kabbalah website I read) are the colors of the Sefirot Binah. Binah is associated with the feminine and wisdom.

While green is considered a positive color, yellow often has negative associations in Western culture. Yellow can be the color of cowardice. It can be the color of deceit (“yellow journalism”).  Yellow has a negative meaning in plant symbolism and the “Language of Flowers.” Yellow roses are sometimes associated with betrayal and treachery. Yellow carnations can mean rejection. The yellow Marigold can mean pain or grief (think Lynnet). Disiri’s actions, at times, seem to represent infidelity or betrayal of Able. Morcaine questions whether Disiri is faithful to Able (at Redhall in “Morcaine and More Magic”) and Able seems to acknowledge that she is not.

The Eyes of a Leopard

Able describes Disiri as having eyes like a leopard in Chapter 7 of The Knight. A leopard was one of three beasts that threatened Dante in the opening chapters of the Inferno, and is portrayed negatively there. There are other sources that suggest that the leopard was viewed negatively in the Christian tradition, and associated with sin.

Disiri is relatively unconcerned with the lives of Able’s friends, acknowledging she cannot love them the way Able loves them. She does not come to his aid when he is imprisoned, and her affection seems fickle at times. Able describes her as “hard and dangerous” near the end of The Knight.

Disiri’s Color Transformation

At the end of the WK, Disiri drinks Able’s blood (red), and loses her yellow coloring. Her eyes change to green, and her skin takes on normal human skin tones.  The vanishing of the yellow is consistent with this being a positive transformation. The color green is associated with life and hope in the Christian tradition, and maybe that’s what her new eyes are to signify.

The Mystical Union of Kabbalah

Able and Disiri are a representation of the mystical union in the Kabbalah between YHWH and the Shekhinah. The achievement of this union is signalled by the reconciliation of the Men and Women of Celidon in the union of many of the protagonists.  This reconciliation was accomplished in a mystical way by Able’s achievement of the Holy Grail and the Golden Fleece when he entered the Room of Lost Loves. I previously associated the Spiny Orange tree with the Sefirot Yesod. Yesod’s colors in Kabbalah are understood to be orange (again, in at least some websites. There is some inconsistency).  Yesod is also associated with the sexual organs.

Disiri as the Bride of Christ

Finally, and consistent with the Christian Allegory, Able is a representation of Christ in the WK. Disiri, in turn, represents the Church, or humanity. He is the Bridegroom and she is the Bride. Like Disiri, humanity in the Christian tradition is fickle, unfaithful, and inconstant. Man must partake of Jesus’ flesh and blood to have eternal life, as Disiri must drink from Able for the Aelf to develop further in accord with the Most High God and Kulili’s plan.  And like Psyche drank ambrosia to have immortality and a true relationship with Cupid.  Able and Disiri will share this water of life with those in Aelfrice.

I will close this post with the image used to illustrate a passage from Revelation associated with the Bride. Dawn in Aelfrice?

Joseph Martin Kronheim, illustration of Revelation 22:17 (public domain).

Knight Notes: The Wizard, Chapters 38-40

This post concludes the story of the WK.

Chapter 38-40:  Dragon Soldiers, It Thirsts, The River Battle

Chapter summaries

Queen Gaynor pays Able a visit in Chapter 38, and makes him a proposition. Able and his friends then meet Prince Smiler and the Dragon soldiers.  They fight, but Able recruits the Prince to his cause. Cloud returns. The war drags on, and Able has a strange dream.

In Chapter 39, Arnthor and the Black Caan’s army approach each other near the Greenflood river. Arnthor convenes his war council, and they decide a plan for battle. Arnthor and Able then confer, and exchange swords.

In the last chapter, the battle begins. Able calls upon the Aelf, and they join the fight. The Army of Osterland is defeated, and the Black Caan slain. Arnthor is killed, and Able heals and cures many of his friends of their wounds and disabilities. The Valfather arrives, and Able makes his decision about the next phase of his life.

The Dragon Soldiers

The Lothurlings are further evidence of the dragons of Muspel’s efforts to conquer Aelfrice. Smiler and his brothers are hybrid offspring of a dragon and human women.  Michael Andre-Driussi thinks the dragon was Grengarm, and I think he is probably right. If it was Grengarm, then the talking table will stop working and their conquests may cease. Smiler later refers to Able as “Scatterer of the Dragon’s Blood”, and words similar to this were used to describe the fight with Grengarm.

The Lothurlings also give homage to Lothur, who they call the Fox. The reason for this and the connection to Lothur doesn’t seem to be explained. It may provide some evidence for the linkage between Lothur, the dragons of Muspel and the most low god.

The defeat of the Dragon Soldiers is also an allusion to the theft of Geryon’s cattle, which I discuss in more detail in the post on Heracles.  And I think Smiler is a reference to Saint Philip the Apostle. Smiler provides Able’s army with food, and Phillip’s symbol is a bundle of loaves.

I have previously suggested that Leort plays the Bishop of Hereford role in the WK, but it may actually be Prince Smiler. Smiler is far more wealthy, and provides much more food for Able/Robin and his troops.

“Honor Not Unstained”

Arnthor tells Able that his (Arnthor’s) “honor is not unstained.” Able isn’t sure what this means. I think this is an allusion to The Once and Future King. In the last volume of that work, A Candle in The Wind, we learn that Arthur had been warned that Mordred would grow up to be a threat to Camelot.  Arthur isn’t sure who Mordred is, so he orders all babies born in the same month to be drowned.

I think Arnthor’s statement is a clue to the destruction of Griffinsford. We learn in these chapters that Arnthor has the gift of prophecy. I suspect that he saw that the “Real Able” would emerge from Griffinsford, and be a threat to his  rule. Like Arthur, he arranged for this future foe to be destroyed, perhaps with the help of Setr and Grengarm. He may have even allowed/encouraged the giants to destroy the village.

The herding of the men of Griffinsford to drown in the pond is similar to Arthur’s drowning of the babies in The Once and Future King, and also in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. In my prior post on the “Real Able”, and his death, I suggested that he died in the same pond that Berthold was put in.

Color Symbolism

The battle is at the Greenflood River. Presumably the water is blue, and red blood will stain it. Again, the three primary colors of the RBG model make an appearance.

Disiri changes when she drinks Able’s blood. Her green skin and hair apparently go away, and her yellow eyes turn green.  I am going to discuss this further in a separate post on Disiri.

The Bifrost

As Able walks towards the river, he says that sunlight “had dyed the clouds a thousand colors.” This may be an allusion to the Bifrost.

Christian Allegory

Able heals his friends before he leaves. His healing of Pouk and Uns is similar to the miraculous healings performed by Jesus in the Bible.

Disiri drinks Able’s blood, and apparently becomes human-like, an echo of Jesus’ claim that only those that drink his blood and eat his flesh will have eternal life. Disiri drinking Able’s blood is also a reference to Psyche being given ambrosia, and gaining eternal life as a result.

Able falls twice as he walks towards the Greenflood, like Christ fell on his walk to Golgotha.

The Valfather’s Shadow

When Able looks at the Valfather while wearing his magic helmet, he only sees a glowing shadow. The helmet shows things as they are. Seeing only a shadow is an act of mercy. The Valfather tells Idnn earlier in The Wizard that to look upon the face of The Most High God would mean death. Able is not ready for the full force of the Beatific Vision, and nor is the reader, as GW is implying by refusing to provide a description. Instead, a shadow is shown, as the Valfather is but a shadow of the Most High God.

The Valfather’s Offer

In early readings, the Valfather’s actions seemed puzzling to me. He allowed Able to return to Mythgarthr to regain Disiri. He even asks Idnn to help Able win Disiri. Yet he becomes “remote and severe” when the subject of her joining Able in Skai is raised.

The Valfather’s offer is the “Last Temptation” of Able.  Its the temptation of rejoining his friends in Skai, including Cloud, Gylf, the Valfather, the Lady, Garvaon, etc. Able would have the power of an Overcyn, and his body would probably be restored to its youth. Able earlier calls life in Mythgarthr a “bad dream.”  The Valfather has Wistan put the magic helmet on Able, so Able can see Disiri’s “true” form.

My view is that this is really Able’s last test. Able has accomplished his mission on Mythgarthr, but his next job is to bring reconciliation to Aelfrice as part of the Most High God and Kulili’s plan (see the post on Kulili). Disiri is the first of many who will be changed, and Able is an agent in this endeavor. Able passes the test by offering himself to Disiri, and descending with her to Aelfrice. In a way, he knows she will never love him to quite to the same degree that he loves her. He stoops to conquer.

I think the Valfather turned away so Able could not see the expression on his face (this was before Able put on the helmet). Perhaps it was sadness, because he knew he would be losing Able for quite some time.

The Death of Robin Hood

Some of the oldest stories and Child Ballads about Robin’s death involve his being bled by someone, often a female religious figure. The procedure goes wrong, and Robin dies.  Able’s departure from Mythgarthr echoes the Child Ballads, as he gives his blood to Disiri, and is greatly weakened.

Mythgarthr Post-WK: Who is the new King?

The new king is never expressly identified, and I think GW leaves it a mystery. We can narrow the possibilities.  In the last conference before the River Battle, it is said that Beel and the “the three Dukes” are present. Dukes are the level of nobility right below the king. The two named Dukes are Marder and Bahart (or Bahat, its spelled both ways in my copy of the WK).  Marder is the oldest Duke, but he is not of royal blood, and likely would not succeed Arnthor.  Marder does knight Wistan, but that’s not surprising since Wistan was Able’s squire, and therefore under Marder’s jurisdiction.

Duke Bahart (or Bahat) survives the River Battle, and helps with Arnthor’s pyre. Nothing further is said about him, except that he is the youngest Duke.

The “third Duke” is not given a name, and its not expressly stated that he survives the River Battle.  We learned earlier in the WK that Beel had an older brother and nephew, and that his brother was a Duke. Lord Beel was not a Duke before the River Battle, so either Bahart was his nephew (too young to be his older brother), or the unnamed, third Duke is Beel’s older brother or nephew (they are not given names either).

One possibility is that the “third Duke” died in the River Battle. He did not help Marder and Bahart with Arnthor’s remains, and his absence may be a sign of his death.  If the third Duke was Beel’s brother or nephew, and both are now dead, then Beel is probably the new King of Celidon. If Bahart was Beel’s nephew, then he would be the new king due to his royal blood. He would take precedence over Beel since he was the son of the older brother.  Whew! I have no idea if Bahart is an allusion to anything. MAD linked the name to to an Arabic word for pepper.

Separately, we know from earlier comments in the WK that Pouk worked for the new king, and was very important, as was Ulfa. Berthold slays King Schildstarr, which suggests a possible invasion and destruction of Utgard by Celidon. Able sort of foreshadowed this when he talked about how Utgard was good country for mounted knights and archers to operate in.

Return to Aelfrice & Farvan

Able and Disiri seem to have a very pleasant life in Aelfrice. In Chapter 30 of The Knight, Able seems to suggest he has a house of some kind. He takes a break from his letter writing, and “goes outside” to look at the “beautiful place” where he and Disiri live.

Michael eventually finds him there, as he said he would in their prior meeting. Michael has a new mission for him, for a “great lord.” Able agrees to help, and will bring Disiri with him. I have no idea if this new mission is an allusion to anything. Given the nature of time in the WK, Able and Disiri could be playing the role of some famous pair in history or mythology.

Disiri and Able living together in Aelfrice may be an allusion to the pairing of Titania and Oberon. Oberon is the fairy king in a number of stories.  White dogs with red ears, which is a match for Farvan, are mentioned in connection with various fairy dogs of legend. MAD also identifies the name Farvan as being based on a fairy dog from some Scottish stories.

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Knight Notes: The Wizard, Chapters 35-37

This post covers Able’s temporary reprieve from the dungeon through his subsequent release and meeting with Lothur.

Chapters 35-37: Down, The Fight Before the Gate, Five Fates and Three Wishes

Chapters summaries

In Chapter 35,  Able is temporarily released by Queen Gaynor at Idnn and Escan’s urging. His parole is rescinded, and Gaynor sends him to the lowest level of the dungeon. After some weeks of rough conditions he is freed by Arnthor. While recuperating, he leads Escan to Aelfrice, and they meet the most low god.

They return to Kingsdoom finding much time has passed. With Baki’s help, they flee Kingsdoom in Chapter 36 with Uns and Galene. Able sees Disiri for the first time since Redhall. They make their way to Redhall, where they rescue many friends from an Osterland siege.

In Chapter 37, Able and friends link up with Arnthor’s forces, and the learn more about the history of the war. Morcaine summons Lothur, and he grants Able three wishes.

The War with Osterland as the Korean War

Gene Wolfe was drafted and served several years in the Army during the Korean war period. I believe he was a combat engineer, and saw combat.

I have read some posts that state that the war between the Commonwealth and the Ascians in the Book of the New Sun was based on the Korean War and the Cold War.

I think the War with Osterland is also based on the Korean War:

• Celidon’s flag is blue, like the blue of the UN forces. Osterland’s flag is red, like North Korea and China.
• Arnthor is the leader of Celidon, like MacArthur was the initial leader of the UN/American forces. MacArthur was fired before the war ended, Arnthor was killed.
• Celidon sacked the Osterland capital and won a great victory at Five Fates that was supposed to win the war. The UN forces won a surprise victory at Inchon, and captured the North Korean capital. Many thought the war over.
• China intervened, and captured the South Korean capital Seoul. Osterland rallied, and captured Kingsdoom.
• The UN forces eventually retook Seoul, and pushed China and North Korea out of South Korea territory. Celidon retook its territory and drove Osterland out after the River Battle.
• Utgard might even be a reference to the USSR. They have an umber flag. Does “umber” = the “bear”?
• If Utgard is the USSR, the slaying of Schildstarr could even be a reference to the dissolution of the USSR.  The destruction of Utgard may be foreshadowed by Able’s statement to Gylf in Chapter 62 of The Knight, about how the lands of Utgard would be a great country for mounted knights to operate in, and that giants might one day go the way of the ogres of Celidon.
• The starved faces of the Osterlings may be GW’s recollection of poorly fed North Korean troops

Christian Allegory

Able’s second imprisonment is an allusion to the Crucifixion. Particularly the gyves on his wrists and feet. They are a reference to the nailing of Christ’s hands and feet. His despair in the dungeon calls to mind Christ’s statement on being forsaken.

Able’s descent to Aelfrice and Escan’s doppelgänger is an allusion to Jesus and Nicodemus’s conversation about being born again. Escan is born again on the shores of Aelfrice.

Niflheim

Niflheim and the most low god seem to be an allusion to Dante’s Inferno, which had Satan trapped in ice at the lowest circle of hell.  The most low god’s statements and the decision to use the name “Niflheim” may even be a subtle reference to nihilism.  The most low god’s propaganda is that there is no difference between him and the Most High God, or between good and evil. This sounds somewhat like a description of nihilism. The falling ice may be the Most High God’s response to these lies.

Morcaine and Lothur

Able sees Morcaine’s true form when he wears his helmet in her presence. It is a lamia.  Morcaine is the best of the three children of Uthor. As Able says, she has chosen good, though evil has chosen her.

Morcaine is also an allusion/personification of the magic spear Gungnir  of Norse myth. Able says her snake body was marked with runes, and Gungnir’s tip was marked with runes. Gungnir means “swaying one”, and Able describes Morcaine as “swaying” during several encounters in the WK. Gungnir was fashioned by the dwarves with Loki’s involvement. I think what GW is hinting at is that Morcaine’s runes were added in her youth by the Aelf, to increase her powers.  Perhaps Setr and/or Lothur had a role in persuading her to do this, in order to make her their tool. As Able said, evil has “chosen” her.

Lothur is an “empty inferno.” Able refers to him as “Prince of Light,” which suggests the Lucifer of Christian theology.  My theory is that the most low god was a being (Lucifer) cast down from Kleos to Niflheim, and that Lothur was a reflection of the most low god in Skai.

Morcaine and Lothur may be an allusion to the enchanted lady and Lucifer from Jack the Giant Killer legend.  The lady has a series of amorous encounters with Jack, similar to Morcaine and Able.  In the Jack story, Lucifer is killed, and the enchanted lady is freed and marries a “prince.” Perhaps Morcaine and Prince Smiler get together after the WK? They both have dragon blood, and both are royal.

Farewell to Some

We say goodbye to Idnn, Svon and a few other friends in these chapters. Svon is a magnificent golden knight when viewed through Able’s magic helm. Idnn’s transformation from a scared 16 year old girl to a formidable queen is complete.

Beel’s Ancestors

Speaking of  Idnn, I do wonder if Beel and Idnn have some dragon or other nonhuman blood in their veins.  The fact that Beel’s coat of arms includes lamias (it is described on Master Crol’s garb in the “By Combat” chapter: quartered lamiae and lilacs) makes me wonder about his ancestors.  Beel’s unnamed father was a prince, and Uthor’s brother. His uncle Uthor procreated with a dragon. The brother of Uther in some Arthurian legends was named Ambrosius, and sometimes linked with Merlin.

Beel can perform magic, and we learn in The Sorcerer’s House that this is hereditary. Did Beel’s father marry a creature from Aelfrice or Muspel, a lamia even? Did his grandfather, King Pholsung, marry such a creature? King Pholsung appears to be based on Volsung, who in the legend married a giantess, or Jotun.  The Jotun often had magical abilities in Norse mythology.

Idnn is described as having “dark eyes”, not blue. Its not clear whether her eyes are brown, or dragon black like Setr, Morcaine and Arnthor. Garsceg’s eyes are described as a “high wind on a dark night.”  She is also described as pale, like Morcaine. Idnn’s sudden transformation from scared teen to resolute Queen might have been aided by some dragon or Aelf heritage, perhaps very diluted.

Beel also surprisingly slays Thrym, the Captain of the Guards of Utgard. Was Beel lucky, or did he have some dragon heritage that helped him? It wouldn’t be the first time that a seemingly mild manned official concealed something sinister. Think about Patera Quetzel on the Whorl in the Book of the Long Sun. I think it’s interesting that we never see what Idnn looks like through Able’s magic helmet. We do see the other royal women: Morcaine, Gaynor, and Disiri.

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