During Conphas' ruminations on godhood in chapter 5, he concludes that "[the] famed Ikurei Conphas was not quite human." If not human, and not god, however, then what?
There are really only a handful characters in PoN who seem even partially immune to Kellhus' ability to "make us love": Moenghus, Cnauir and Conphas. And these are, not coincidentally, the folks that Kellhus sees as his greatest threats.
The first two have inside information. One is a Dunyain himself. And the other has the intellectual heft to evaluate Kellhus' actions knowing that everything he does is intentional, with purpose.
Conphas, at first blush, is your typical vainglorious villain who from his initial introduction is set up for ignominious defeat. But as the books progress, we realize that he’s not nearly as motivated by human passions as, for example, his uncle. The more we learn about Conphas, the more he resembles the sort of quasi-sociopathic “Prime Mover” that we see in Ayn Rand’s novels: he believes his own bullshit to a degree that could only be regarded as pathological.
Awfully Dunyaini, isn’t it? Which is where his “…not quite human” comment comes in.
We’re lead to believe that Dunyain-hood is part nature, part nurture. So if Conphas seems part-Dunyain, how did it happen?
Conphas was primarily nurtured by Istriya, and to a lesser degree, Martemas -- maybe even Skauras? These together lead to how he’s initially portrayed: a privileged wunderkind who is largely the product of having the best training money can buy. So I think we can rule out his Dunyain-ness coming from nurture.
This leaves nature; like Gaga, he was just “born this way.” He is Dunyain by-nature (resisting a “down wit OPP joke” here*), hence “not quite human”.
Now, it’s not inconceivable that among the millions of births since the First Apocalypse, there are a few that just happen to possess the genetic characteristics that might approach the Dunyain ideal. They selected to increase the probability of getting the right mix. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t just happen.
The other possibility, is that Conphas is one of Moenghus’ secret other kids. And while this theory is a nice fit in some ways, it has a number of significant issues that have been discussed in detail on the board. As a result, I lean toward the former option, that he won the genetic Powerball.
Either way, I do think that there’s evidence supporting the notion that Conphas is at least partially Dunyain, which explains his immunity to Kellhus’ charms and why Kellhus sees him as the greatest threat to his post-Shimeh plans.
Part Dunyain, but sadly, mostly douchebag. Oh what could have been, Conphas?
* Other People’s Probabilities?
