Other Worlds Than These (Discussion Thread)

[Midge]

Yay! I love that book.

[Varnafindë]

I think my favorite of the three is Out of the Silent Planet. There are some very nice creatures that he spends a lot of time with on Malacandra.

I like That Hideous Strength as well. But it is an even darker book. Yes, darker than Perelandra.
But there are happier sections of it as well. I love the section where they talk about Old Solar.

"Not even in Numinor was it spoken in the streets."
(Wrong spelling, because the books hadn't been printed yet, Lewis had only heard Tolkien reading the manuscripts aloud ...)

[Aikanáro]

Originally Posted by Varnafindë

I think my favorite of the three is Out of the Silent Planet.

I'm really enjoying what I've read of it so far. Ransom is just such an instantly likeable character.

"Not even in Numinor was it spoken in the streets."
(Wrong spelling, because the books hadn't been printed yet, Lewis had only heard Tolkien reading the manuscripts aloud ...)

That's brilliant!

When I've finished reading, I might have to start a proper discussion thread in the CS Lewis forum to share my thoughts.

*points people gently back in the direction of the story thread*

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

*points people gently back in the direction of the story thread*

*follows the direction she points*

[Midge]

I have noticed the reference, but I didn't compute why it was spelled incorrectly. I just thought it was one of those things like colour and color.. or whatever. I knew what he meant.

We should just face it: the whole trilogy is pretty good. My favorite thing about it is the emphasis on pleasure that Lewis places in priority in the worlds other than Earth.

Now, back to this topic before Varna has to kick herself and me back to the Lewis forum where we belong , that will be a major factor with my Perelandrian characters: the pleasures in life, and particularly how they seem to be absent from Middle-Earth.

[Varnafindë]

I believe that Middle-earth is so closely connected to our world that it is another Silent Planet - or even counts as the same one, as Tolkien meant it to be at some stage of his development.

[Midge]

So... Thulcandra and ... Middle-Thulcandra?

[Midge]

Just nit-picking, Varna, but there are also mountains in the south of Narnia, in Archenland and on the borders.

On a different note, I'd like to get straight all the story-lines we have here. There seem to be several:

1. Rivailen, Beryn and Barufiniel all accidentally happened upon the same spot where Anahera has appeared and is now confused as to where she is. They are talking about Narnia and portals. Anahera seems to have left the group, trying to find her way home.

2. Tanwendë found(?) Fearghan and they are having difficulties understanding that each is not from their own world.

3. Ashkaio ran into Elspeth, and they also do not understand the rift between the worlds. Ashkaio has explained the situation in his own city and they have decided to go to a bar to find out something... anything (it appears).

4. Aerin is currently wandering the fields of Gondor, and Nightshade is still sniffing up truffles in Narnia. Each are blissfully unaware of the existence of the portals.

Note: Because I have re-written Lur and Lantie's story a bit, I removed the posts I'd already posted about them. I've incorporated the original posts' content into the re-write and will re-post in due course of their story. As it is, they only add a 5. to this list, which is quite full for me at the moment.

[Aikanáro]

Originally Posted by Varnafindë

*follows the direction she points*

Yay!

Originally Posted by Midge

3. Ashkaio ran into Elspeth, and they also do not understand the rift between the worlds. Ashkaio has explained the situation in his own city and they have decided to go to a bar to find out something... anything (it appears).

Ashkaio's got more of an idea than most, since he came through deliberately. He's assuming the people of *this* world know more than he does and so neglecting to explain the basics as of yet. There are hints, though:

Despite their best efforts to study them, the opening of the doorways remained at best unpredictable.

When you list it all out like that, Midge, it does look complicated!
*hopes it all comes together nicely given a little time*

1 and 3, at least, will be able to merge at the inn to the north of 1's current location. (Rivailen's staying there, Baru and Beryn want to, and if Anahera doesn't come back she's wandering in the right direction to reach it).

[Midge]

I'm sure it will come together wonderfully. I just wanted to get it all out there, who was associated with whom, etc. Easier to remember.

And I didn't know that Ashkaio came through a portal on purpose. He just was trying to get to a different world than Middle-Earth?

[Aikanáro]

Answered via PM. If anyone else is curious - Ashkaio will be happy to talk about it IC.

[Earniel]

I'm thinking, since I will be gone and without internet the whole next month, whether I should let Beryn go track this little dragon, while she asks Barufiniel and Rivailen to warn the locals that there's a dragon around.

I don't know if I'm going to let Beryn handle the dragon herself or that she can eventually lead other people to its hiding place so they can deal with it. But either way Beryn can thus be absent for a while from the game without me holding the rest of the game up. What do you think?

[Aikanáro]

If you're going to be away for a month, that sounds like a good idea. You can have her set off to track the dragon before you go, and leave it open so that when you come back to the thread you can decide what she'll do when she finds it.

ETA: I finished Out of the Silent Planet today. Loved it.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

If you're going to be away for a month, that sounds like a good idea. You can have her set off to track the dragon before you go, and leave it open so that when you come back to the thread you can decide what she'll do when she finds it.

Excellent, I'll go with that then.

[Midge]

Awesome! I can't wait to hear what you think of Perelandra!

Hey, Varna, when are you planning on having Nightshade find the portal?

[Varnafindë]

Nightshade can find it in her next post - I suppose we needn't wait for anything else now before we get on with it? Anything other than the writer sitting down to write, that is ...

A question to the threadmaster: Does the portal lookthe same from the other side? Or does that differ from one world to another?

One person saw the portal and recognised it and chose to go through it. Others have stumbled through theirs. Didn't they see it?

Should Nightshade see it?

[Aikanáro]

Given that some people have managed to fall through by accident, I think it's fair to say that some portals are subtler than others.

As a general rule - the more portals that are appearing on a given world, the more obvious and visible they will be. It's up to you how affected Narnia is by the portal phenomenon, and depending on that Nightshade may see or not see the portal.

With this in mind, it's quite possible for one side to look very different to the other, too.

[feawen]

right im back im going to read up on the story and up date anahera, figure out where she is!

[Midge]

Well, Aerin's eyes are currently peeled - not for portals, but that might well be what she ends up finding.

[Earniel]

Ah, it's obvious Beryn hasn't travelled all that far yet. The idea of people not wanting to exterminate dragons when they've got the chance is a strange one for her. Personally, I'm a bit of a fan, but Middle-earthern dragons just don't have such a good rep so I just can't justify Beryn not thinking that a good dragon is a dead one.

But it remains to be seen if she actually tries to kill it when she tracks it down. If I was the little dragon, I'd practise puppy-eyes real quick.