"'...what comes after us in evolution, a million or more years uptime. The way we come after apes. At least that's what most of us suppose. Nobody knows for certain.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), p. 29.
There is obviously scope here for a story that would reveal the true nature of the Danellians, showing that they were not what had been supposed.
The meaning of the Time Patrol is revealed on p. 435 (of 436) of The Shield... A further volume could have ended with the meaning of the Danellians.
Anderson's Time Patrol series, like his Technic History, could have been extended a lot further.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteThe Danellians are so ambiguous, almost certainly meant to be like that by Anderson. We get a terrifying glimpse of a Danellian in "Time Patrol." And Manse comes to have some doubts about them in "The Only Game in Town, plus we should recall how frightened Guion was when he was pressed about them in conversation with Everard. Last, we get a much more reassuring meeting with a Danellian in THE SHIELD OF TIME. But the question of how benevolent they really are remains open.
Ad astra! Sean
Yes, they're meant to be ambiguous. They're supposed to be beyond our comprehension, as humans are to chimps.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of chimps & humans ;)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/363/club-gombe
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Also, simply from a writer's POV, these ambiguities kept
Anderson's options open, as regards the Danellians. They could be ambiguous, benevolent, or questionable, depending on what a particular story needed them to be.
How much can we hope to interact with any race as alien to us as the Danellians? Not much, I suspect. I was also reminded just now of another story by Anderson touching on such ideas, "Night Piece" (discussed in my article "The Toughest Story Written by Poul Anderson."
Ad astra! Sean