[pat5150]

This Q&A was a long time in coming, but it's worth the wait!

Check it out on the blog!

Cheers,

Patrick

[Optimus Prime]

I'm very excited about The Aspect Emperor! It sounds like there is going to be a lot more action and less internal dialogue. While I didn't mind that in TPoN series....it means much more ass-kickery in the upcoming sequel!

Great job Pat!

[Mentalist]

well, I have gained most of my understanding of Bakker's world only after finishing the Glossary ant the end of the Thousandfold Thought.

I'll def be looking forward to seeing more Nonmen, and hopefully the far Western part of Earwa (forget what it's called, it starts with Z and that's where the most awesome assasins come from

[Optimus Prime]

Totally want to see more of the world and the Nonmen, so I agree. The Far East is called EANNA...right? Did they mention what the fare West was...Zeum I think?

[Mentalist]

Xander;246377 said:

Totally want to see more of the world and the Nonmen, so I agree. The Far East is called EANNA...right? Did they mention what the fare West was...Zeum I think?

yes, that's what I was thinking of!!!! have rep

[Optimus Prime]

kud13;246388 said:

yes, that's what I was thinking of!!!! have rep

Thank you, kind sir

I'm interested to see the true motives of the Nonmen...are they all allied together for one side...or are their "bad" and "good" ones.

[Yellow]

Good interview.

Except that "The Great Ordeal" is a better title than "The Judging Eye"

What was the name of the third book? Didn't catch it.

[Skywalker]

Very nice interview Patrick! Rep to you.

I was a little confused bout the names... The Judging Eye, The Great Ordeal, The Aspect Emperor. Which were the series, which were the book titles?

So I did some Wikipedia searching, and here are the results:

Bakker says he is not yet sure if The Aspect-Emperor (series name, sequel to The Prince of Nothing) and its following novel(s) will be a duology or a trilogy. At a book-signing in 2006, he said it "felt like" it would be a pair of duologies. The individual book titles will be The Great Ordeal and The Horns of Golgotterath

At one time I remember reading an interview that had Bakker saying if he revealed the name of the last book, it would be a series spoiler. So it isn't out there I guess

[paladin]

sky_walker;246742 said:

At one time I remember reading an interview that had Bakker saying if he revealed the name of the last book, it would be a series spoiler. So it isn't out there I guess

kind of like "The Dragon Reborn"?............

[Skywalker]

More likely something like "The Second Apocalypse: Fall of Kellhus"

[Optimus Prime]

paladin;246788 said:

kind of like "The Dragon Reborn"?............

LMAO exactly.

of course, the cover of "The Dragon Reborn" gave even more away...at least in the US

[Yellow]

sky_walker;246811 said:

More likely something like "The Second Apocalypse: Fall of Kellhus"

I have predicted the final trilogy/series will be called "The No-God"... but people on the three seas forum largely ignored/laughed at me

[Werthead]

That makes sense. Kellhus is the Prince of Nothing, then he is the Aspect-Emperor so that does make him also...

[Optimus Prime]

I'm very excited about this new set of books.

*has no clue really what the deal is with the No-God as of yet*

[paladin]

his lack of originality creating the no-god and non-men kind of pisses me off. its more confusing than anything(ok, so its the no-god, but its a god? okay they are non-men but they are human[oid?]). the no-god is like not-apsalar or something

[Optimus Prime]

It was confusing..but also fascinated me

[Mentalist]

well, we have to remember that the names are given from a HUMAN pov...
so when the 4 tribes came into Earwa, they called themselves "men" Those who weren't them were "non-men"....

As for the No-God, for humans, once again, Gods were seen as protectors, aspects of life.
Mog Pharau was a the antithesis of lfe--hence, "No-God"....

lol, at least that's how I figured it....

[Werthead]

The No-God is a powerful entity of some kind, but it's not a god. I think RSB said somewhere he was taking a GRRM tack with the religions in the book, so we'd never know if the gods existed or not, which would seem to suggest that Mog-Pharu (who definitely does exist) is not a god at all.

The Kellhus-as-No-God Theory roughly goes that Kellhus gets more and more powerful but loses his identity. That's why the No-God goes around bellowing, "WHAT DO YOU SEE?" Obviously time travel would be involved somehow in this scenario. Another possibility is that Kellhus will become the incarnation of the No-God in the Second Apocalypse.

[Skywalker]

@paladin - I'm surprised you found Bakker unoriginal. Who do you think he's replicating?

I found the idea of the No God thrilling. I interpreted it as Mog Pharau being a sort of deity of nihilism. Because it is nihilistic, it believes in nothing, and its followers too... therefore they are not really its followers. Circular logic eh?

Put another way, it is not a god in a nurturing/ worshippable/ angry-paternal sense. It is instead a mindless hunger.

I was also rocked by the questions the No-God asks in Achamian's memory of the Celmomian prophecy... "WHO AM I?" "DO YOU KNOW?"... sounds like a *something* that is so bewildered, so disbelieving in everything that it instinctively devours what it touches. (Shades of the KCCM Matron from MOI, Pannion's adoptive 'mum')

The Kellhus = No-God theory has meat to it, especially if you factor in Achamian and say that Achamian is the next Seswatha. So Earwa becomes an unending chain of Apocalypses where each 'destroyer' of the No-God becomes the heir to the No-Godship, and his mentor/ friend becomes the propagator of the Gnosis.

BUT - it would be too clever for its own good methinks. I hate circular stories... the only one I found tolerable was The Dark Tower when

Spoiler

Roland 'draws' himself into the story at the end to start the next iteration of the tale

[paladin]

by unoriginal i meant unimaginitive. and im just talking about the naming of the non-men and no-god. people dont name things as such(and everything else in his world has a proper name), its more that he just named them as such to provoke some type of external feeling or thought from the reader, which takes away from the immersion in the books