Wardens And Rangers

In Poul Anderson's The Corridors Of Time (London, 1968), Storm, a Warden, tells Malcolm Lockridge of the twentieth century that Wardens are pro-life whereas their antagonists, the Rangers, are pro-machine (p. 37). We immediately recognize an antithesis requiring a synthesis.

Machines can either impede or enhance life. Warden aristocrats use military, communications and time travel technologies to compete against the Rangers and against each other while denying the benefits of mechanization and industrialization to their serfs - who, of course, live (all too) naturally and close to their Mother Earth.

On first reading this novel, I initially thought that Lockridge had chosen the wrong side by helping the Wardens but, of course, it is soon apparent that neither side is right. There is a third group of time travelers from a later age who avoid the extremes of both Wardens and Rangers. Their interstellar contacts make them similar to the Star Masters that Havig's group works towards after defeating the Eyrie in There Will Be Time.

I think that the Warden-Ranger conflict requires further attention but, for the rest of today, I must return to translating the Aeneid.