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SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Right Now I'm Reading.... > Worm Ouroboros, Chapters 13 and 14

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Nathan Jerpe
Acolyte

Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 219

Posted 3/3/2008 10:11 PM (GMT -4)

So we are a good ways in, and Goldry Bluzco remains unrescued (at least through XIII, I'm working on XIV now). Is anybody surprised by this? I had anticipated his rescue would just be the first of many quests, but now it appears it may in fact be *the* quest.

I really got a greater sense of depth in Chapter XIII, with the realization that perhaps Lord Juss's dream (which I had criticized in a previous post as heavyhanded on Eddison's part) may in fact have been a trap laid by the Witches! I'm not on sure ground anymore, which is a great way to keep things interesting.

http://roguelikefiction.com

Nik
Adept

Date Joined Feb 2007
Total Posts : 763

Posted 3/4/2008 12:24 AM (GMT -4)

I definitely saw what influenced Tolkien in these chapters. The mountain palace, for instance, seems a bit like Moria mixed with Lorien. And the Queen seems like Galadriel--beautiful and ethereal but without much characterization.

<SPOILER WARNING>

And how about the death of Mivarsh? Eddison makes him out to be a pathetic, insignificant twerp who tags long with Juss and Daha like a dog, then he kills him off in a completely senseless and unheroic way. What was the point of that character? Was he just there to carry stuff for the heroes? And are we really supposed to care that he died after we learned nothing about him? Even more so, are we supposed to believe that Juss and Daha even care? Doesn't seem likely.

Nicholas Ian Hawkins

Forthcoming
"What Heroes Leave Behind," in Return of the Sword, Flashing Swords Press, March 2008
"Knowledge and Dust," in Magic & Mechanica, from Ricasso Press, Spring 2008

Published
"The Weald Maiden's Will," in Every Day Fiction, March 5, 2008
"Relativity," in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007

Visit my website, Trampler of Beautiful Phrases, at nihawkins.wordpress.com

Bill Ward
Biblioholic

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636

Posted 3/4/2008 8:31 PM (GMT -4)

I was disappointed in the handling of Mivarsh. I can understand Juss and Daha treating him like crap, but Eddison should have know better.

billwardwriter.com

Nathan Jerpe
Acolyte

Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 219

Posted 3/5/2008 1:31 AM (GMT -4)

I wonder if he really does know better. James had made some mention (back in the 11 & 12 thread, I think) of how some of Eddison's later works were marred by shows of manly manliness. Maybe Eddison really did think the strong should serve the weak, that Mivarsh was an egg to be broken for the omelette's sake? British colonialism was still very real when Ouroboros was published, let alone composed...

Interesting though, how instead of merely sacrificing Mivarsh and moving on, Eddison uses his death as a way to change the entire course of the Demons' adventures.

http://roguelikefiction.com

Bill Ward
Biblioholic

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636

Posted 3/5/2008 4:24 PM (GMT -4)

Oh, I know he doesn't know better, and I think it is his philosophy getting in the way. Thing is, if an author can't make me care about the death of a character because I can tell he himself doesn't care, he's failed at his job. Prior to his death I sometimes forgot he was even with Juss and Daha, he just wasn't mentioned much.

How'd his death change the course of the adventure? It's been two weeks since I read this and I don't remember a whole lot beyond hippogriphs and crocodiles.

billwardwriter.com

Nik
Adept

Date Joined Feb 2007
Total Posts : 763

Posted 3/5/2008 4:38 PM (GMT -4)

He stole and then lost the hippogriff egg, so Juss and Daha had to seek another back in Demonland.

James Enge
Maker

Date Joined Jan 2006
Total Posts : 207

Posted 3/6/2008 1:57 PM (GMT -4)

I think we are supposed to see Brandoch Daha as fond of Mivarsh, anyway: he puts his arm around the little guy when Mivarsh is scared in Ch. 13. But what bugged me about Mivarsh's character is that he's never allowed to do anything generous. When he prays to the gods to save Juss and Brandoch Daha, it's only so that the "devils transmarine" will protect him. And he steals the hippogriff's egg because he assumes the others are going to abandon him and "every man raketh the embers to his own cake." Only the gentry are allowed to have virtues in Eddison's world.

James Enge
http://jamesenge.com/

"A Covenant with Death" in Flashing Swords
"The Lawless Hours" in Black Gate 11
"The Gordian Stone" in Every Day Fiction
"The Red Worm's Way" forthcoming in Return of the Sword
"Payment in Full" forthcoming in Black Gate

Nik
Adept

Date Joined Feb 2007
Total Posts : 763

Posted 3/6/2008 2:07 PM (GMT -4)

James Enge said...
Only the gentry are allowed to have virtues in Eddison's world.

Exactly!

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