I could present this as a Christmas Quiz question but it is highly obscure. What do Poul Anderson's characters, Joel Weatherfield, Jack Havig, Hugh Valland and Aycharaych, have in common? This blog has, in different ways, compared each of these characters to Superman.
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Aycharaych's universal telepathy is a major super-power and he could empower himself further technologically, e.g, flight with a gravbelt and invulnerability with a force field. Several superheroes are empowered only by superior tech.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I've been trying to figure out what these four characters have in common. Being male is one thing they all have in common. But I think you meant something else, and that is giving me trouble.
Joel Weatherfield, Jack Havig, and Aycharaych all have "super powers" or super abilities of one kind or another, but not Hugh Valland. And I don't think Havig is "flashy" enough to become the kind of legendary figure Valland could become.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But I gave the answer: that this blog has compared all four to different aspects of Superman -
Aycharaych is the sole survivor of a powerful but now extinct race;
Valland survives into an indefinite future of interstellar travel;
Havig needs somewhere to disappear and discusses Superman's telephone booth;
Weatherfield is a multi-powered humanoid alien who was found in a field and adopted by an elderly couple.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But is it canonical to think of Superman as being unusually long lived? I was never a fan of the Superman mythos, so I'm not sure about that point. And we don't know how old Aycharaych was when died or disappeared. And Havig expected only a normal human life span.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Superman is long-lived in the story by Elliot Maggin to which I referred. This connects Superman to Valland, not to the others.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Well, that settles the matter, then! To me, an unusually long human life span would have to mean living in good health for 120 years. And I don't really think that is going to be likely!
Ad astra! Sean
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