Bowls of Cherryh #2: The Morgaine Saga, Part 1/_Gate of Ivrel_(1976)
Htn963
/***************************************
On 17 Jan 2002 20:07:57 GMT, P.D. TILLMAN wrote:
>In a previous article, ra...@owlcroft.com ("Eric Walker") says:
>[snip]
>>
>>I suspect that if I had not come to Cherryh by way of the
>>Morgaine books
>
>Refresh my memory -- what are the titles of the Morgaine
>books? Fantasies, are they?
They are among the best representatives of what is meant by the
curious term "science fantasy," which I take to mean fantasy
with a slipcover of "science" thrown over it for reasons best
known to the author.
There are four Morgaine novels; the first three were collected
in an anthology, the fourth coming sometime well after.
Gate of Ivrel
Well of Shiuan
Fires of Azeroth
Exile's Gate
Morgaine is on a virtually eternal quest to close down the Gates
left by an ancient race on a vast number of worlds, for it has
been discovered by the humans who came after that those Gates,
allowing passage through not only space but time, have the
potential to destroy all of space-time. She is apparently the
last survivor of a dedicated group who set out from somewhere,
sometime, and have been going through the Gates, destroying each
as they pass through. She arrives on each new world (often
barbaric) needing to locate and reach the next Gate on, and
encountering all the troubles you can imagine. She is armed
with a couple of high-tech toys that are, in essence, of the
"magic-sword" sort, but is still one vulnerable--but *very*
tough--person. Her life is an ongoing tragedy, for she will
probably fail, and until she does has nothing but endless (more
or less literally) years and lifetimes of burdensome and lonely
toil toward a probably unreachable goal, but she perseveres
because it's what she has to do. (Kind of Joan Wayne.)
****************************************************/
And with that prologue (my acknowledgement to Captain Button also -- "Oh,
Captain! My Captain!" -- but sans the text because his post didn't show up on
my newsreader and the Google pages don't allow snipping), we segue to:
_The Gate of Ivrel_ (1976)
/Wise men say, only fools rush in.../[1]
TGOI is Cherryh's first published book, if not necessarily the first book
she ever wrote, and here she already exhibits, especially in characterization,
setting, and world-building, the inventiveness and assuredness of a veteran.
And she didn't need several thousand-page tomes do do so. Indeed, Andre
Norton, in her foreword to this work, asks "Why can't I write like this?" The
book is short -- but pithy and concice, the hallmark of Cherryh's style --
and stands complete on its own, being one of four episodes in the Morgaine
Saga, each set in a distinctive world. But once you finish it, you'll likely
reach for the next (_The Well of Shiuan_ (1978) immediately, like I did.
Frankly, I was skeptical after receiving several recommendations for
Cherryh's Morgaine series as an exemplary specimen of "Notable Love Stories in
Science Fiction [vs. traditional high fantasy]" Cherryh, I thought, hmm? --
S&M maybe... because after duly reading _Cyteen_ and _Downbelow Station_,
which were weighty and impressive but contained an assortment of characters I
didn't particular care for or find appealing -- some were downright repellent
-- I wasn't expecting much. But this vividly drawn, grim, yet passionate
series really "bowled" me over, as in bowls of cherries, get it? yes, let's
move on...
Beautiful babes wielding swords of destruction are a dime a dozen in
sword and sorcery fare, so what makes Morgaine different? Well, she really is
just a field operative with advanced technology, and using her image as
immortal witch and sorceress whereever she can to inspire fear, gain enough
influence and manpower, and whatever need be, to get her job done: that of
destroying the gate of each world she comes through by gaining access to that
gate's main control station, usually billed as THE DARK LORD'S CITADEL!!
Morgaine is obsessive, tormented, lonely (before she met Vanye) and can as
often behaved impulsively and irrationally as much as being cool, calculated,
and completely in control.
Morgaine's sword, _Changeling_ -- probably the most destructive and
scariest sword I've yet seen in sf or fantasy, though I don't claim to be
widely read about books about killer swords -- is really a portable rift
device, made from the same source of power as the gates and capable of opening
a vortex once drawn to suck in whatever lay in its path, even whole armies --
dreadful and eeevvilll, indeed, but still an sfnal concept.
Thus, I generally disagree with the evaluation that the Morgaine series is
fantasy...it's actually one of the best examples of science fiction
masquerading as fantasy, albeit the science is never explained and deliberately
kept muted. Probably the only arguably fantastic concept is that of the
villains using the power of the gate to renew their lives by taking over the
body of others, but I'll pass elaboration on that for another
what's-fantasy-what's-sf thread.
The Morgaine books are also as much about her warrior bondsman, Vanye,
whom Morgaine first met in _Ivrel_, as about her, if not more so, and are all
narrated from his point of view. Vanye is not your typical brawny sword and
sorcery warrior but more a thinking man's warrior; though proficient in sword
use and horsemanship, he doesn't think of himself as particularly brave, and
spends a lot of time agonizing, worrying, and is unfailingly (and appealingly)
honorable to a fault.
In the Morgaine books, as in many other Cherryh's books, characters are
often put in to situations where they have to undergo extensive and grueling
physical or psychological stress, or have to make tough
damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't choices as dictated by their honor and
conscience. Vanye and Morgaine often pushed themselves beyond endurance, with
Vanye always trying to reflect back and think ahead to protect Morgaine, as is
the duty of an "ilin" to his "liyo." In the _Ivrel_ book, Vanye's loyalty to
Morgaine is tested again and again by foes, friends, and family, even
unwittingly by Morgaine herself, and he passes, often through sheer, perverse
stubbornness.
Under the complex but rigorous code of honor and oathtaking existing in
Ivrel, an ilin is an outcast -- a wandering warrior -- who was exiled from his
clan for a grievous offense: Vanye's offense was that of accidentally killing
one half-brother and maiming another in a fit of anger while practicing
swordplay after years of being taunted and tormented by them for being
illegitimate. To expiate himself, the ilin need to swore an oath of service to
a master with lordship right, his "liyo," usually for a year or until he
performs a specific act that the liyo charged him with. Vanye unknowingly
sheltered and share food with Morgaine when they first met, i.e.
"hearthrights", and subjected himself to being "Claimed", or charged with
service. Morgaine charged him to accompany her to destroy Ivrel's gate and
with finishing her task if she should die, which would also most likely result
in his own death.
Vanye's first reaction to Morgaine was one of revulsion and fear and he
cursed himself for being bound to her -- she is, in the flesh, the witch of
the old ballads who (deliberately some say) lead an army of ten thousand to
their death in a failed assault on the gate lord a hundred years ago to the
ruins of Ivrel's glorious Middle Kingdoms. To Morgaine, who escaped then
through the gate and returned, those events were just a matter of months ago,
and Vanye was probably, at first, just another servitor and local guide to be
cast aside if he proved to be more of burden than help. But gradually, they
come to accept and respect another and develop a strong bond. The development
of their relationship, told often in spare, elliptical style, punctuated with
occasional frankness amidst the formality of ilin-liyo service -- which can,
under a hard taskmaster, be almost the equivalent of slavery -- is the heart,
body, and soul of the books.
If there is a substantial flaw in _Ivrel_, it is that the ending and
resolution of Morgaine's particular mission here seems rushed and not as fully
developed as I would like. Most of the key latter events were, in fact,
missed by Vanye when he was separated from Morgaine. The book could have been
a third _longer_.
Nevertheless, it ends movingly, if somewhat in a cliched fashion.
Morgaine had released Vanye from service and his clan had offered to take him
back with high honors -- he is indeed, a potential heir to the leadership of
both his father's and mother's own clan -- but still, riding back home with
his maimed half-brother, who has reconciled with him, he wistfully looks for
her. His brother, probably understanding his heart better than he did,
releases him from his own Oath to him: "If she will have you -- go." And one
of the last lines reminded me of Donne's famed compass metaphor of two people
who belonged to each other:
"And there was pain in every direction but one: as the sword had known
the way to its own source, his senses did."
Sniff.
This is just my take, but I think Morgaine's mission, grim, tiresome,
and endless though it may be, gives Vanye's bountiful honor purpose and
direction, while he, in turn, keeps her grounded to humanity.
[1]With thanks to Elvis
--
Ht
|Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
--John Donne, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"|
jtingle
news:20020120081817...@mb-cc.news.cs.com...
> Eric Walker, et al. wrote:
>
> /***************************************
> On 17 Jan 2002 20:07:57 GMT, P.D. TILLMAN wrote:
>
> >In a previous article, ra...@owlcroft.com ("Eric Walker") says:
> >[snip]
> >>
> >>I suspect that if I had not come to Cherryh by way of the
> >>Morgaine books
> >
> >Refresh my memory -- what are the titles of the Morgaine
> >books? Fantasies, are they?
>
> They are among the best representatives of what is meant by the
> curious term "science fantasy," which I take to mean fantasy
> with a slipcover of "science" thrown over it for reasons best
> known to the author.
>
> There are four Morgaine novels; the first three were collected
> in an anthology, the fourth coming sometime well after.
>
> Gate of Ivrel
> Well of Shiuan
> Fires of Azeroth
> Exile's Gate
>
>
> And with that prologue (my acknowledgement to Captain Button also --
"Oh,
> Captain! My Captain!" -- but sans the text because his post didn't show
up on
> my newsreader and the Google pages don't allow snipping), we segue to:
>
>
> _The Gate of Ivrel_ (1976)
>
> /Wise men say, only fools rush in.../[1]
>
> TGOI is Cherryh's first published book, if not necessarily the first
book
> she ever wrote, and here she already exhibits, especially in
characterization,
> setting, and world-building, the inventiveness and assuredness of a
veteran.
> And she didn't need several thousand-page tomes do do so. Indeed, Andre
> Norton, in her foreword to this work, asks "Why can't I write like this?"
The
> book is short -- but pithy and concice, the hallmark of Cherryh's
style --
> and stands complete on its own, being one of four episodes in the Morgaine
> Saga, each set in a distinctive world. But once you finish it, you'll
likely
> reach for the next (_The Well of Shiuan_ (1978) immediately, like I did.
I always loved these books, but I gape in awe at the above exposition as to
_why_ I loved these books.
Well Done,
Jack Tingle
Htn963
> I always loved these books, but I gape in awe at the above exposition as to
> _why_ I loved these books.
>
> Well Done,
Thank you. I'm new at this and that means quite a lot.
(My thanks also to the emailer whose kind message I inadvertently
deleted along with the usual spam or else I would have responded. You
know who you are.:)
> Jack Tingle
--
Ht
Eric Walker
[... what the subject line says]
And a fine job of exposition it was.
The only sorrow I have had is that it seems to me that Cherryh
started at the top, and we all know what that means. She was
and is good, but I can't help feeling she shot her best creative
bolt on this series.
--
Cordially,
Eric Walker, webmaster
Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works
http://owlcroft.com/sfandf
Lucy Kemnitzer
<ra...@owlcroft.com> wrote:
>On 20 Jan 2002 13:18:17 GMT, Htn963 wrote:
>
>[... what the subject line says]
>
>And a fine job of exposition it was.
>
>The only sorrow I have had is that it seems to me that Cherryh
>started at the top, and we all know what that means. She was
>and is good, but I can't help feeling she shot her best creative
>bolt on this series.
One's view of Cherryh varies. I think that the _Foreigner_ books are
the best she's written, except possibly for _Cyteen_. And the
Morgaine stuff bores me to tears. She's one of the authors that
surprises me: the stuff of hers I like is among my favorite in all the
world, and the stuff of hers I don't like I really really don't like.
Lucy Kemnitzer
David Eppstein
rit...@cruzio.com (Lucy Kemnitzer) wrote:
> I think that the _Foreigner_ books are the best she's written, except
> possibly for _Cyteen_. And the Morgaine stuff bores me to tears.
I liked the previous Foreigner books, but _Defender_ bored me to tears.
Whole chapters of as-you-know-Bobs about current planetary politics (which
with Cherryh are always subject to change anyway) do not make for tight
exciting plotting.
--
David Eppstein UC Irvine Dept. of Information & Computer Science
epps...@ics.uci.edu http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/
Karl Elvis MacRae
David Eppstein <epps...@ics.uci.edu> wrote:
>In article <3c5584f9...@cnews.newsguy.com>,
> rit...@cruzio.com (Lucy Kemnitzer) wrote:
>
>> I think that the _Foreigner_ books are the best she's written, except
>> possibly for _Cyteen_. And the Morgaine stuff bores me to tears.
>
>I liked the previous Foreigner books, but _Defender_ bored me to tears.
>Whole chapters of as-you-know-Bobs about current planetary politics (which
>with Cherryh are always subject to change anyway) do not make for tight
>exciting plotting.
I heard a lot of this about Defender, but I disagree to some extent. Yes,
it's clearly a transition point in the story and as such lacks major
action, but I found it to be just a good as the rest of the series.
It is *certainly* a better book that "Hammerfall".
-Karl
--
Karl Elvis MacRae VLSI CAD Apple Computer km...@apple.com