"[Flandry] had grown thin and hollow-eyed. Likewise had Gunli, though on her it heightened the loveliness. More than ever, she made him think of the elves, in myths that she had never heard." (p. 270)
At this point, Poul Anderson wants his space opera to be visually indistinguishable from works of fantasy featuring mythological elves. This parallelism with fantasy continues in the following story, "Honorable Enemies," which has a sword fight inside a castle under a red sun, but not in the later installment, "The Game of Glory," when Flandry lands at the spaceport on the human colony planet, Nyanza. Very different kinds of settings have been incorporated into a single series.
Would a Scothan Queen be lovely as perceived by Flandry? Let us provisionally accept the argument that, on more than one terrestroid planet, parallel evolution should produce intelligent bipeds with forelimbs freed for manipulation and a brain protected by a skull near sense organs at the top. At least two eyes for binocular vision and a nose above a mouth also make sense.
Many such aliens are not humanoid enough to look attractive to Flandry but might some be? I think that it is far more likely that Gunli's features and facial expressions would alternate between a perceived "loveliness" and a suddenly disquieting alienness. She is a product of a completely separate evolution and culture. That has to show, at least some of the time.
Bear with me while I continue to reread Stieg Larsson and also start to read Murder On The Orient Express. See a recent post.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I believe it is more likely true than not that other intelligent races exist. I also think it is at least possible that parallel evolution may lead to some species closely resembling our own race. So I don't find the Scothanians that implausible.
I am a bit puzzled by how you seem to find it odd that swords might still be used in the future even in high tech societies. I recall Flandry telling Cerdic that SCIENTIFIC fencing was quite popular. And I would not be surprised if you found out Lancaster has fencing clubs.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, as regards the mutual alienness inevitably existing, when all was said and done, between Flandry and Queen Gunli, the former was aware of how nothing permanent could last between him and the Scothan. E.g., at the end of "Tiger By The Tail": "But what she meant could never endure. They were too foreign to each other. Best he depart soon, that the memories remain untarnished in them both. She would find someone else at last..."
Ad astra! Sean
Also, Flandry has been exposed to non humans all his life. His definition of ‘very human like’ is probably different from ours.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That would almost certainly be the case. I wonder how WE would react to seeing and meeting a Scothanian?
Ad astra! Sean
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