Chaos versus Law (see here);
control versus freedom;
Freeholders versus the Terran Empire (see here);
Avalon versus the Terran Empire;
Alori versus the Stellar Union;
Wardens versus Rangers (see here);
AI versus humanity (see here).
Other examples?
Is it always the same conflict?
Is the dividing line always drawn in the same place?
Are the heroes always on the same side?
In Anderson's conflicts, basic philosophical issues are always at stake.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure the conflict between the Empire and Avalon in THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND can be truly called "cosmic." Several Avalonians are seen conceding Imperial rule would not have been harsh or cruel. I recall Tabitha Falkayn saying that if the Empire had won most Avalonians would have become reasonably contented Imperial subjects within a generation.
But if the Empire had won, then there would not have been a Ythrian agent from that planet who was crucial in thwarting a Merseian plot orchestrated by Aycharaych a triggering a jihad from Aeneas in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN.
Sean
Sean,
I agree that that one is not cosmic. I was casting the net as widely as possible before going to bed. But it is interesting to consider the Avalonians in their cosmic context. Their struggle had repercussions.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly, the conflict between the Empire and the Domain was a political dispute, fought over for limited gains or losses, not a desperate life and death struggle. Nothing like the Merseian willingness to exterminate entire species. And the war certainly did have unexpected repercussions, of the kind seen in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN.
Sean
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