Re-read of 'Many Coloured Land'
Jun. 30th, 2019 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imhilien posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
torcs_and_timegatesWell, I'll be doing a re-read of the Saga of the Exiles books, starting with 'The Many Coloured Land', but this time I'll be making a note here of things I see that are 99% probably a metaphor / reference to Marc and / or Elizabeth, the enemies-to-lovers couple.
I didn't see the references the first time I read the books, but on re-reading I started noticing them, and then you can't un-notice them ever after.
For example, one thing the books talk about is the World Mind and the Universal Mind, which, if you are a Star Wars fan, is a bit similar to the Force in that its conscious and can communicate with people in a certain way.
For example, in the Galactic Milieu books we have as the narrator Uncle Rogi Remillard, who is listed in TV Tropes as 'Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass' (poor chap). Well, there's at least three instances in which the World / Galactic Mind is trying to say nice things about Marc / Elizabeth to him, but he's complete clueless every time!
Uncle Rogi is important because he kept a friendly but anxious eye on Marc as he grew up, and even when Marc was falling into the Dark Side, he still thought of Rogi as a father figure. Compare this to the tragedy of Victor Remillard, whose nasty father Don deliberately him kept away from Rogi, and without that friendly influence he never came back from the dark, unlike Marc. It could be argued though that when Victor tried to kidnap Rogi at a science-fiction convention so he would be forced to be Victor's step-dad, it was a twisted way of wanting help.
Anyway, back to 'The Many Coloured Land' - in chapter one we have the depressed Mercedes Lamballe working at a company on a world where they recreate medieval France for tourists. At one point a singer starts singing the song
"Now time has put off its dark cloak
Of gales and frost and of rain,
And garbs itself in woven light,
Bright sunshine of spring once again."
I'm pretty sure its talking about post-Adversary Marc who is allowing light back into his life, like spring after a long, frozen winter. As I've said in previous posts, there is a connection between winter deities from myth in these books and Marc & Elizabeth.
So how did Marc pass into song, story and myth? I immediately think of Brother Anatoly, who for years after 'Adversary' would probably talk about the fireside how he had to knock some sense into Marc's head and look at all these white hairs he ended up with afterwards, shocking. Also Creyn, the Tanu who loved Elizabeth but realised she was meant for another, and could also see glimpses of a brighter future for Marc (did he have a glimpse of him as Atoning Unifex, because in space / times terms, AU! Marc was still alive in the Milieu at the time of the Saga of Exiles but just on the other side of the time portal). Hmm.
I didn't see the references the first time I read the books, but on re-reading I started noticing them, and then you can't un-notice them ever after.
For example, one thing the books talk about is the World Mind and the Universal Mind, which, if you are a Star Wars fan, is a bit similar to the Force in that its conscious and can communicate with people in a certain way.
For example, in the Galactic Milieu books we have as the narrator Uncle Rogi Remillard, who is listed in TV Tropes as 'Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass' (poor chap). Well, there's at least three instances in which the World / Galactic Mind is trying to say nice things about Marc / Elizabeth to him, but he's complete clueless every time!
Uncle Rogi is important because he kept a friendly but anxious eye on Marc as he grew up, and even when Marc was falling into the Dark Side, he still thought of Rogi as a father figure. Compare this to the tragedy of Victor Remillard, whose nasty father Don deliberately him kept away from Rogi, and without that friendly influence he never came back from the dark, unlike Marc. It could be argued though that when Victor tried to kidnap Rogi at a science-fiction convention so he would be forced to be Victor's step-dad, it was a twisted way of wanting help.
Anyway, back to 'The Many Coloured Land' - in chapter one we have the depressed Mercedes Lamballe working at a company on a world where they recreate medieval France for tourists. At one point a singer starts singing the song
"Now time has put off its dark cloak
Of gales and frost and of rain,
And garbs itself in woven light,
Bright sunshine of spring once again."
I'm pretty sure its talking about post-Adversary Marc who is allowing light back into his life, like spring after a long, frozen winter. As I've said in previous posts, there is a connection between winter deities from myth in these books and Marc & Elizabeth.
So how did Marc pass into song, story and myth? I immediately think of Brother Anatoly, who for years after 'Adversary' would probably talk about the fireside how he had to knock some sense into Marc's head and look at all these white hairs he ended up with afterwards, shocking. Also Creyn, the Tanu who loved Elizabeth but realised she was meant for another, and could also see glimpses of a brighter future for Marc (did he have a glimpse of him as Atoning Unifex, because in space / times terms, AU! Marc was still alive in the Milieu at the time of the Saga of Exiles but just on the other side of the time portal). Hmm.
