Tuesday, 24 November 2020

The Ages That Follow

Several characters introduced during Orion Shall Rise die before the end. In the second last paragraph, Iern toasts:

Terai
Wairoa
Vanna Uangovna
Mikli
Jovain
 
- a mixed bunch. There are others that Iern was unaware of. 

Iern's wife, Faylis, would have died in Skyholm if she had not left it before it flew off to attack Orion. Iern and Ronica might have died, but didn't, when they rammed Skyholm. Thus, the novel could have ended with nearly all of its major characters dead. Instead, it ends with hope. Plik survives to prophesy that Iern's and Ronica's "'...spirits will walk crowned through the whole cycle to come - and, it may well be, the ages that follow.'" (CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN, p. 468)

If we link Orion Shall Rise to There Will Be Time, then those ages will also involve time travelers and Star Masters.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would question the rightness of toasting Jovain, whom I consider the most objectionable person in this list. But Iern was being more generous than I would have been!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

Mikli was also pretty ghastly.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

That is true!

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Though Mikli is the neglected hero of the book. The Orion project would never have come to fruition without him.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

But a very questionable hero, helping to push the Northwest Union into risky plans I don't think all of its leaders would have willingly agreed to.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Sean: No risk, no gain.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

I do understand that principle. But I would have felt better about taking that risk if the Wolf Lodge had the RIGHT to commit the NU to something so dangerous. And it did not have that authority.

Maybe I'm being too legalistic minded!

Ad astra! Sean