Wednesday 29 June 2016

More On The Elves

Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword (London, 1977).

The elf-earl Imric reflects:

"...over unforced love, the gods themselves had no might." (p. 86)

This echoes Odin's earlier statement that the three Powers greater than the gods are the White Christ, Time and Love. I still think that that is a very mixed list.

The elves enslave "...dwarfs and goblins and even more eldritch folk..." (ibid.) We have seen that these include one Chinese Shen but what else? They hawk with wyverns, keep lions and panthers as pets and have elven varieties of horses and dogs. Elven horses are preternaturally fast. The elven touch is cool, not warm.

"...the castle...was also a barren tor..." (ibid.)

Not "looked like" but somehow "...was also..."?

It is full of "...eternal warm twilight..." (ibid.)

In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, the realm of Auberon and Titania is the Land of Summer's Twilight.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

This is silly, but the bit about the elves being COOL to the touch makes me wonder if, as a species, they retained more reptilian characteristics than mankind had. If their bodies are naturally at a lower body temperature they might have greater need for warmth than warm blooded species. Just off the top of my head!

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
But are they products of an independent evolution as in "Interloper" and "Operation Luna"?
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Yes, as we see them described in THE BROKEN SWORD, independent evolution seems the simplest explanation.

Sean