(An inaccurate cover illustration, unless the dwarf gets a donkey later in the novel. (I post as I reread and can't remember everything.)) (Addendum: See here.)
A giant cannot just be a very big man with normal human bodily proportions:
"...the creature was humanoid, though grotesquely squat and short-legged in proportion to height. Well, [Holger's] thought flashed, even if the law of proportion doesn't work quite the same here as at home, he needs enough cross section to bear his weight." (pp. 73-74)
More scientific rationalization.
See:
Rules, Riddles And Radioactivity
If all the fantasy ideas are scientifically rationalized, then the narrative becomes sf. But there are some genuinely supernatural agencies in the Carolingian. Holger thinks so. He converts to Catholicism. Does the force that unites the multiverse have a personal aspect in some universes but an impersonal one in others?
Yeah, if you're heavy you need short thick legs.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeletePaul: Assuming the existence of alternate universes, I believe God created all of them.
Mr. Stirling: That was a nice engineering touch by Holger, trained in our world as an engineer.
Ad astra! Sean
If I'd gone through what Holger did, I'd convert to Catholicism too.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteThat would be good--if you came to believe.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, Holger has direct evidence of a deity.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI don't quite recall that, having only gotten to Chapter of rereading THREE HEARTS. I have already seen indications of Holger of starting to act in ways that a Catholic would. Even tho not yet consciously understanding why he was doing that.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: and he was by origin a Catholic, since he lived before the Reformation.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI meant to type "7" after the word "Chapter."
I agree, it makes sense to think of Holger Danske coming from an era in that alternate world before the "Reformation."
Or would there have been a "Reformation" at all? Holger lived in a world where the Carolingian Empire did not disintegrate after the death of Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious. A permanent and effective union of the lands now covered by France, the Low Countries, Germany, and northern Italy would have led to tremendous changes in world history.
To say nothing of how Holger lived in a world where magic was a kind of technology a la what we see in the OPERATION books. And a world where the Empire was threatened by Faerie. These would also change history unpredictably.
Ad astra! Sean