Valdaoth

"Virgin Planet."

"'Holy Valdaoth, I don't want to go through that again!' [Davis Bertram] said." (p. 89)

"Valdaoth" makes a change from "Cosmos." Googling "Valdaoth," I learned that "The Acolytes" is on-line here and that Uncle Gunnar swears by Valdaoth:

"'Tobur! Where in the name of Valdaoth are you - Oh, there!'"

-Poul Anderson, "The Acolytes" IN Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League (Riverdale, NY, July 2018), pp. 3-19 AT p. 11.

Of course I reread "The Acolytes" recently but did not reflect on "Valdaoth" and did not remember it when rereading "Virgin Planet." It seems that a future history series by Poul Anderson contains endless minute details that are noticed only by repeated rereadings. I do not know who Valdaoth is or whether s/he is referenced anywhere else in the series nor do I know what will come up next. "Valdaoth" came as a surprise while rereading and googling over Sunday morning breakfast before maybe walking to Morecambe although not to visit Andrea over the Old Pier Bookshop. That should be this coming Tuesday when he has promised to serve home-baked pizza.