A thread for the Circumfix and how it relates to the rest of the series.
Especial praise for Scott on this symbol. The Circumfix snags and adds to the reader's incoming assumptions about the
Crucifix and just a goddamn awesome symbol. As a ring with Kellhus bound to one side and Serwe to the other, it resembles a
coin with the sides differentiated by dualities. On one side is life, on the other death. There is man and woman. There is human and Dunyain. Intellect, heart, submission, and authority. The God and the believer.
With the Circumfix literally hanging, Scott calls to mind a coin flipping through the air with no way to predict how it will land. Will Kellhus live or die? Will he be an Inrithi prophet and obtain the gnosis? Or will he unite the Three Seas under Faminry and take up the Water? Will Cnaiur rescue him or Achamian or no one? To mean it heightens the narrative tension even knowing how events turned out. The coin flips and we don't know if the story will proceed down the green shoot of the
twig or the dead one. Alternatives murdered when it finally comes down.
The Dunyain, who of all people set out to master circumstance, is now bound to the an ancient symbol of absolute unpredictability. It conjures up the same old questions--did Kellhus do enough to be prepared for any outcome? Part of me wonders if Kellhus, at some point before being physically bound to the tree, comes to believe that the Shortest Path involves surrendering to consequences he cannot predict or control. That Kellhus comes to believe that he should act out this role that his father has assigned for him withing the Thousandfold Thought. That Kellhus' comes to believe that the best option is to give in and trust that submitting to hanging on the
wheel (for specific aim X).
This definitely calls to mind the
Cross and Jesus giving into the Father's will. Perhaps Moenghus thinks he can harness a special kind of magic if he can convince a Dunyain to do the most unDuneyain (undone
) thing of all?
Wouldn't it be an intriguing reinterpretation of Christianity to think that Jesus goes along with the Father's plan only to come to realize that the Father's plan is flawed and must be replaced. So Jesus sets out to kill the Father and rewrite destiny.
Of course, as a ring it also signifies recurrence. First there was Sejenus, now there is Kellhus. The first apocalypse and now the second. Esmi and Esmi again. Seswatha and Akka. Ansurimbor appears, predicts his future coming, leaves and returns.
It is perhaps worth noting too that the
Coin has no 'heads.' Kellhus and Serwe both face in, though what it means I know not.
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Unrelated. Perhaps being one of the Few entails having a portal in one's person that acts as a conduit from the Outside to Earwa. Becoming a sorcerer is the act of expanding this portal and controlling the flow in specific ways. The size of the portal is different per person. Seswatha is born with larger nascent access to the Outside than an ordinary Mysunsai. Perhaps the point of the Dunyain is to create an individual that is the Fewest of the Few, the one with the largest nascent portal. This person is also bred to be incredibly strong of body and mind. Moenghus exposes Kellhus to the Circumfix as a way of further enlarging Kellhus' capacity to channel the Outside. Only a Dunyain would be strong enough to endure it, live, and make use of it.
