Three Hearts And Three Lions, CHAPTER TWO.
A guy on British TV years ago, denying the paranormal:
"These things cannot happen and can be explained!"
You don't need both! Holger tries both in succession:
the old woman apparently conversing with a demon is practicing ventriloquism;
his own tired mind is conjuring the vision;
his knife is hot because magic induces eddy currents!
Gerd thinks that Holger's head wound must have been won in battle against a troll or a giant. It was caused by a German bullet so she is right - if we translate between universes:
"'Those two worlds - and many more, for all I know - are in some way the same. The same fight was being waged, here the Nazis and there the Middle World; but, in both places, Chaos against Law, something old and wild and blind at war with man and the works of man.'"
-NOTE, pp. 154-156 AT p. 155.
Having quoted that equation, I am now less sure of it. In Norse mythology, giants symbolize hostile forces of ice and cold whereas the Nazis, unfortunately, were one end-product of our modern civilization.
10 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But if magic works, as Holger reluctantly felt forced to admit it did in the Carolingian universe, then it made sense to think magical effects could cause eddy currents.
And I think the text you quoted on how the struggle between Law and Chaos DOES apply to the Nazis (and to Communism as well). The "hostile forces" can just as well be bad IDEAS or beliefs as beings like the giants.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
As long as we recognize that these bad ideas came from within human society, not from anywhere outside it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Of course, because only human beings can create bad ideas. And that leads me in turn to reflect on how flawed we are. And I can imagine hostile beings like fallen angels trying to play on these flaws, to our ruin. As we see being mentioned in both of the OPERATION books.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But remember that Holger described Nazism as something old, wild blind, at war with man and the works of man. That seems to absolve 20th century civilization of responsibility of anti-Semitism and genocide.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I disagree! The flaws within any of us which can lead to non sane things like National Socialism and Communism are precisely those old, wild, blind things at war with man and the positive works of man.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Also, modern economic crises generated dissatisfactions which led to scapegoating.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
What ever the skepticism I have about "economics crises," a favorite scapegoat has always been the Jews. Some conspiracy theorists still obsess over the Rothschilds and
Jewish bankers!
Ad astra! Sean
Paul: there are always crises and they usually get blamed on the Jews or other convenient targets -- for the Black Death, for instance.
So scapegoating was not just in the 20th century. OK. What the 20th century contributed was industrialized genocide.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Both: Yes, there will always be "crises." Some of which, in time, might become irrelevant due to things like changes in technology.
Paul: Correct, industrialized or merely elimination of millions of "inconvenient" people began with Turkish genocide of the Armenians and the gulags of Lenin and Stalin.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment