Date: Sat, 08 May 1999 10:31:42 -0600 From: IF X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: John Bailey , carl@wurb.com, nwdave@cyborganic.com Subject: Re: Regarding MAZE References: <3732034F.4B4673A3@ix.netcom.com> <373227B2.718591A8@frontiernet.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------F3B6053AEBDD6641E446D8BD" X-UIDL: 38034cf2fcacc4a6c4dae91806fbdbab X-Mozilla-Status: 8013 --------------F3B6053AEBDD6641E446D8BD Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit LIST OF CLUES TO NARRATOR'S IDENTITY IN MAZE This is an extremely rough first draft, I'm just noting down the obvious clues in the text, there is sure to be more to be found. As I go I'll establish what my guesses are, but be warned, I'll probably make some discoveries as I go, so my theories are apt to change. Prologue "I met them at the gate though I usually wait inside." A seemingly innocent line, this establishes The Narrator as a gatekeeper of some kind, which supports the Underworld theories that I suggest later "They never noticed my crown, my pain, the fire in my eyes." Establishes some form of royal connection or power as well as some kind of torment or injustice "They think I am some poet who will lead them through the symbols and spaces of this Underworld." A reference to Dante, obviously, though in context he seems to be clearly stating he is NOT a Dante of any sort. This is the first formal declaration, and it's hinted at further along, that the Maze (or House as he calls it) is a Hades of some sort. This is the first major pointer towards my strongest suspiscion: That The Narrator is King Minos of Crete, the king who comissioned the Minotaur's labyrinth and who, after death served as a judge of the dead at the gates of hell (see gatekeeper comment above). Minos is in fact directly mentioned in Dante's Inferno, and if anyone can find the relevant passages, I'd be most grateful. "They should call me Cerebrus..." The guardian of the gates of Hades in Greek mythology, brutal and terrifying, as The Narrator is shown to be at times (Room 24 comes to mind). "I take some pride in my role as architect." Establishes him (Gender is never stated, but the voice seems to be masculine) as not just the guide and proprietor of the maze, but it's designer as well. May be a reference to Daedalus, who designed the Cretan labyrinth for Minos. "The sun was very hot." One of many references to weather in the book. I bring it up only because the heat theme seems to hint towards the hell motif. Room 1 "The uncertainty of visitors is one of my little pleasures." Another hint of his fiendishness. "'This can be a sinister place.' The sun glared at me through the gateway." Together with the sun comment from the previous page, reinforces hell theme. "'Nary a soul to be seen,'" Mention of souls also supports hell theme. Room 2 Nothing Obvious Room 3 Nothing Obvious Room 4 "'What a foolish face,' I snorted. 'Pay no attention.'" The only face in the picture is the smiling sun above the far door. Either he has something against the sun or is by nature not an overly jovial person. Room 5 Nothing Obvious Room 6 "'You continue to judge everything by the way it looks!'" This is one of several times he warns them about the danger of trusting appearances, which probably is as true for his identity as it is true for the nature of the maze. "If you think of all the deceptions practiced in my family, particularly on my father..." One of the more direct statements he makes about his identity, the idea that this summoned up for me were either Norse or Greek gods, who were constantly trying to trick one another. This would either establish him as on of the gods (I'm leaning towards the Greek pantheon, given the Grecian references to hell and the fact that the general reading audience would be more familiar with them than the Norse gods) with Zeus probably as the 'father' in question, or as the son of one of the gods and a mortal. Greek mythology is full of such beings, and Minos is one of them, son of Posidon and Europa. However, there is something mildly jarring about this. While Minos may have been the son of a god, I'm not sure he would go as far as calling the other gods his "familiy." I can't discover anything about Daedalus' lineage, but I think from this line we can rule out one suggestion I've heard, that The Narrator is the Minotaur. The Minotaur was the offspring of Minos' wife and a handsome bull (I don't want to think about the details either). Another pssibility that arises from this is that The Narrator might be Atlas. He is made reference to in the hint mentioned on the web page, which, given the duplicitous nature of the book, may be a hint both to the solution of the riddle and to The Narrator's identity. My problem is that I can find relatively little on Atlas' lineage, only that he was the son of the titan Iapetus. Certainly though, he was closer to the gods than Minos, and therfore has more cause to refer to them as his family. While that would still give him a tie to royalty, it wouldn't make sense with this line or the other mention of heredity in Room 25. There are of course many other explanations for this line than a connection with the gods, but that was what immediately came to mind. In the picture there is a torn poster reading "IMPORTANT NOTICE! All those who are visiting this house must be aware th[e] individual repr[resenting] himself as the [torn off] is no other tha[n] the [torn off]" From this we can establish that The Narrator is indeed male and that, since he ripped the poster, that he wants his identity hidden. Moreover, being on the same page as the large clue above, it is made clear that discovering The Narrator's identity is indeed a solvable puzzle, and not just a wild goose chase. Room 7 "Looking at the picture on the wall they decided it wasn't a very good likeness." Here's and interesting one. Given that it's unlikely that the picture room would have pictures of any of the members of the exploring party, the likeness they refer to must either be of some famous person, or, and this is my belief, of The Narrator himself. This does not help greatly. In the room we have, moving clockwise from the top left: A shadowy portrait that could be anyone The peerying face of the man with the top hat (presumably the one we see running through the maze later) A couple, the woman with long hair, the man looking nervous An old man with a book (Minos? Daedalus?) An old woman in a turban A fairly detailed picture of a modern man. This picture makes me wonder if the apparently exciting clue in this room might not be a red herring, and that the likeness they refer to is that of the author, Christopher Manson. I don't know what it is about the portrait, but something about it just screams "children's book illustrator and puzzle hound" to me. Does anyone have a picture of Mr. Manson we could check against this? A fat man with a medieval hair cut A landscape (Atlas perhaps?) A boy in a derby (do we see this hat again anywhere?) A clowinish figure A boy in a rennisance collar (Possibly Hamnet Shakespere, see notes for Room 45) A monk A mirror with bulls horns (The Minotaur? But why a mirror?) A faded picture of an old man with a crown (I seem to think this is our man, given the crown and the darkness about him) An expressionistic picture that could be anyone. "'Weren't you ever irrespnsible?' I asked, thinking of my childhood and how wild I had been." This is a pretty obvious clue, but I can't find anything about the childhoods of my suspects. Still, it does seem decidedly Grecian to me. Room 8 Nothing Obvious Room 9 Nothing Obvious Room 10 "'I signalled my approval..." This is in regards to the umbrella, which he seems rather fond of. Is this a clue or just a red herring? Room 11 "I've always hated confinement." Possibly a reference to Minos, who I recall, though the memory is vauge, being imprisoned as a judge of the dead. Or perhaps it refers to the Minotaur or even Atlas. "'Whatever you do,' I warned them, 'don't touch that!'" This is in reference to the huge button with the signe "For Assistance Please Ring Bell." One wonders if The Narrator is trying to hinder them and keep them from getting help or honestly help them, since, given the cage-like nature of the room, it's entirely possible all they'd get for their efforts would be a massive shock, like a rat in an experiment. "I had noticed this guest before; I would have to be careful." He seems nervous about the smart member of the group. This brings out his two faced nature, that of guide and of tormentor. Perhaps also he is nervous that his identity will be discovered. Room 12 "'But you know what I say about appearances.'" Another statement he makes about what reality and perception. "It would have been a relief to get outside for a while." Reference to the above mentioned confinement, or just passing comment? Room 13 "Well, it's true that is was closer to the end of the week than they realized." Can ANYONE tell me what this means? This may be the most puzzling line in the text for me. Room 14 "I knew she would bear watching." Another reference to the thoughtful one in the group. Room 15 "Immediately I regretted this act of charity... sometimes I think, after all these years, that I don't really know myself." From this I think we can safely assume that The Narrator is some sort of legendary, at least semi-immortal being, given that his "all these years" is probably a very long time indeed. Again, we see his underhanded, destructive nature here as well as some moments of kindness (pity?) for his little group. Another idea just came into my mind this moment: if the Maze is indeed the underworld, might The Narrator be Charron? This is not quite a trip across the styx, but it is a journey deeper into hades none the less. Again however, I have little knowledge of Charron's lineage or childhood to support this. Or perhaps is The Narrator Pluto himself, the lord of the underworld? This would certainly put him in the royal family of the gods, explain his prescence in the underworld, and support is oddly destructive behavior. Looking at the clues now, I wonder why I didn't think of this earlier. Certainly his father, Cronus, was among the worst tricked of the gods by his son Zeus. But did Hades have a "wild childhood"? This room also bring up another motif that is repeated often throughout the book, that of the sun and possibly the son. I'm not sure what, if anything, this MEANS, but certainly a father-son relationship (Daedalus and Icarus? Posidon and Minos?) is hinted at. Room 16 "...a stone chamber which reminded me of my old neighbors. Of course, that was a long time ago now, but would you believe their descendants are still telling stories about me and my family to their children?" One of the longest passages dealing with The Narrator's identity, this provides some interesting clues. Again, he refers to his family and how stories are told not just of him but of them as well. Again, the gods come to mind. However, it's the neighbors he mentions that I find most intruiging. If we go with the concept that his family are the gods, then his neighbors are the humans, who's descendants are still telling stories of them. This seems fairly good proof for the gods=family theory, but it damages the Minos=Narrator theory. Since Minos is half human, why would he refer to mortals only as neighbors? Some other god then perhaps, like Pluto? And what about the room reminds him of humans, if they are his neighbors? The jesters staff seems improbable, and the crown on the step, though appearing significant doesn't seem to help either. The machine (a grinding machine) might mean something, but my attention was drawn to the large poster. However, this looks less like a man and more like a giant. Perhaps the neighbors he refers to are not humans but titans? But where does this fit with the line about their descendants (forgive me if my mythology is weak, are humans the descendants of the titans?) ? "Even if most of the stories are lies and exaggerations, it is immortality of a sort." Another reference to immortality, if rather self-depricating. Room 17 Nothing Obvious Room 18 Nothing Obvious Room 19 Nothing Obvious Room 20 "I watched with an amusment shared, I think, by the wise old tortoise." Another indication that The Narrator may be ancient himself. Certainly, like the tortoise, he has seen this all several times, the flow of visitors to the maze is steady. By the way, has anyone thought of cataloguing the animals that appear in the book? Like the hidden animals in Kit William's Book with No Name they may be a valuble clue. Room 21 Nothing Obvious Room 22 "It's true, I am by nature extremely critical. Although my life is a lonely one I have not spared any of my guests the rigor of my judgement... we all have our role to play." More than any other line, this makes me think of Minos and his appointed role of judge of souls. As I recall, Pluto, though ruler of Hades, didn't play a direct role in judgement, though I may be wrong in that assumption. The pitchfork in the picture moreover emphasises the hell theme. Or perhaps it is a trident, symbol of Posidon, Minos' father and Pluto's brother. Room 23 "I'm always ready to be helpful with the less important things." Another indication of his veener of helpfulness in contrast to his darker purpose. What IS that purpose I wonder? "...one said, looking over my shoulder, which is not easy to do." This small line has given rise to many ideas on my part. Certainly, it supports the Atlas suggestion, and to a degree the Minotaur, but does it have any connect with Minos? Pluto? Daedalus? Room 24 "Even my bellowing laughter couldn't fill this place." This is the dark room, a room that honestly gave me chills when I first stumbled across it and made me rethink my idea of the Maze as an innocent game. Like The Narrator, there is a darker purpose beneath the helpful facade. More than anything, this illuminates his dark side, and also seems to support the hell concept of the maze. Room 25 "Though one of my parents might be low-born, the other was close to a king..." A line which reveals much, but also upsets most of my theories. Of those suspects whose lineage we know, this certainly rules out the Minotaur. Moreover, Pluto's mother was a goddess, hardly lowborn, and his father ruler of the titans, not "close to a king," but a king among kings. Only Minos' lineage seems at all in line with this. His mother, Europa was a mortal and his father, Posidon a god. Though in my view this would make Posidon more than a king, he was considered less than Zeus, so that statment would be true if it were "close to a king among gods." Again there are probably many other possibilities, possibly outside of the Greek mythos, which I'm overlooking at the moment. At this point I need to get to a job interview, I'll finish the list off later today. Thank's for your help! Ian Finley --------------F3B6053AEBDD6641E446D8BD Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit  

LIST OF CLUES TO NARRATOR'S IDENTITY IN MAZE
        This is an extremely rough first draft, I'm just noting down the obvious clues in the text, there is sure to be more to be found.  As I go I'll establish what my guesses are, but be warned, I'll probably make some discoveries as I go, so my theories are apt to change.

Prologue

    "I met them at the gate though I usually wait inside."
        A seemingly innocent line, this establishes The Narrator as a gatekeeper of some kind, which supports the Underworld theories that I suggest later

    "They never noticed my crown, my pain, the fire in my eyes."
        Establishes some form of royal connection or power as well as some kind of torment or injustice

    "They think I am some poet who will lead them through the symbols and spaces of this Underworld."
        A reference to Dante, obviously, though in context he seems to be clearly stating he is NOT a Dante of any sort.  This is the first formal declaration, and it's hinted at further along, that the Maze (or House as he calls it) is a Hades of some sort.  This is the first major pointer towards my strongest suspiscion:  That The Narrator is King Minos of Crete, the king who comissioned the Minotaur's labyrinth and who, after death served as a judge of the dead at the gates of hell (see gatekeeper comment above).  Minos is in fact directly mentioned in Dante's Inferno, and if anyone can find the relevant passages, I'd be most grateful.

    "They should call me Cerebrus..."
        The guardian of the gates of Hades in Greek mythology, brutal and terrifying, as The Narrator is shown to be at times (Room 24 comes to mind).

    "I take some pride in my role as architect."
        Establishes him (Gender is never stated, but the voice seems to be masculine) as not just the guide and proprietor of the maze, but it's designer as well.  May be a reference to Daedalus, who designed the Cretan labyrinth for Minos.

    "The sun was very hot."
        One of many references to weather in the book.  I bring it up only because the heat theme seems to hint towards the hell motif.

Room 1

    "The uncertainty of visitors is one of my little pleasures."
        Another hint of his fiendishness.

    "'This can be a sinister place.' The sun glared at me through the gateway."
        Together with the sun comment from the previous page, reinforces hell theme.

    "'Nary a soul to be seen,'"
        Mention of souls also supports hell theme.

Room 2

    Nothing Obvious

Room 3

    Nothing Obvious

Room 4

    "'What a foolish face,' I snorted.  'Pay no attention.'"
        The only face in the picture is the smiling sun above the far door.  Either he has something against the sun or is by nature not an overly jovial person.

Room 5

    Nothing Obvious

Room 6

    "'You continue to judge everything by the way it looks!'"
        This is one of several times he warns them about the danger of trusting appearances, which probably is as true for his identity as it is true for the nature of the maze.

    "If you think of all the deceptions practiced in my family, particularly on my father..."
        One of the more direct statements he makes about his identity, the idea that this summoned up for me were either Norse or Greek gods, who were constantly trying to trick one another.  This would either establish him as on of the gods (I'm leaning towards the Greek pantheon, given the Grecian references to hell and the fact that the general reading audience would be more familiar with them than the Norse gods) with Zeus probably as the 'father' in question, or as the son of one of the gods and a mortal.  Greek mythology is full of such beings, and Minos is one of them, son of Posidon and Europa.  However, there is something mildly jarring about this.  While Minos may have been the son of a god, I'm not sure he would go as far as calling the other gods his "familiy."  I can't discover anything about Daedalus' lineage, but I think from this line we can rule out one suggestion I've heard, that The Narrator is the Minotaur.  The Minotaur was the offspring of Minos' wife and a handsome bull (I don't want to think about the details either).  Another pssibility that arises from this is that The Narrator might be Atlas.  He is made reference to in the hint mentioned on the web page, which, given the duplicitous nature of the book, may be a hint both to the solution of the riddle and to The Narrator's identity.  My problem is that I can find relatively little on Atlas' lineage, only that he was the son of the titan Iapetus.  Certainly though, he was closer to the gods than Minos, and therfore has more cause to refer to them as his family.   While that would still give him a tie to royalty, it wouldn't make sense with this line or the other mention of heredity in Room 25.  There are of course many other explanations for this line than a connection with the gods, but that was what immediately came to mind.
 
    In the picture there is a torn poster reading "IMPORTANT NOTICE!  All those who are visiting this house must be aware th[e] individual repr[resenting] himself as the [torn off] is no other tha[n] the [torn off]"
       From this we can establish that The Narrator is indeed male and that, since he ripped the poster, that he wants his identity hidden.  Moreover, being on the same page as the large clue above, it is made clear that discovering The Narrator's identity is indeed a solvable puzzle, and not just a wild goose chase.

Room 7

    "Looking at the picture on the wall they decided it wasn't a very good likeness."
        Here's and interesting one.  Given that it's unlikely that the picture room would have pictures of any of the members of the exploring party, the likeness they refer to must either be of some famous person, or, and this is my belief, of The Narrator himself.  This does not help greatly.  In the room we have, moving clockwise from the top left:
        A shadowy portrait that could be anyone
        The peerying face of the man with the top hat (presumably the one we see running through the maze later)
        A couple, the woman with long hair, the man looking nervous
        An old man with a book (Minos?  Daedalus?)
        An old woman in a turban
        A fairly detailed picture of a modern man.  This picture makes me wonder if the apparently exciting clue in this room might not be a red herring, and that the likeness they refer to is that of the author, Christopher Manson.  I don't know what it is about the portrait, but something about it just screams "children's book illustrator and puzzle hound" to me.  Does anyone have a picture of Mr. Manson we could check against this?
        A fat man with a medieval hair cut
        A landscape (Atlas perhaps?)
        A boy in a derby (do we see this hat again anywhere?)
        A clowinish figure
        A boy in a rennisance collar (Possibly Hamnet Shakespere, see notes for Room 45)
        A monk
        A mirror with bulls horns (The Minotaur?  But why a mirror?)
        A faded picture of an old man with a crown (I seem to think this is our man, given the crown and the darkness about him)
        An expressionistic picture that could be anyone.

    "'Weren't you ever irrespnsible?' I asked, thinking of my childhood and how wild I had been."
        This is a pretty obvious clue, but I can't find anything about the childhoods of my suspects.  Still, it does seem decidedly Grecian to me.

Room 8

    Nothing Obvious

Room 9

    Nothing Obvious

Room 10

    "'I signalled my approval..."
        This is in regards to the umbrella, which he seems rather fond of.  Is this a clue or just a red herring?

Room 11

    "I've always hated confinement."
        Possibly a reference to Minos, who I recall, though the memory is vauge, being imprisoned as a judge of the dead.  Or perhaps it refers to the Minotaur or even Atlas.

    "'Whatever you do,' I warned them, 'don't touch that!'"
        This is in reference to the huge button with the signe "For Assistance Please Ring Bell."  One wonders if The Narrator is trying to hinder them and keep them from getting help or honestly help them, since, given the cage-like nature of the room, it's entirely possible all they'd get for their efforts would be a massive shock, like a rat in an experiment.

    "I had noticed this guest before; I would have to be careful."
        He seems nervous about the smart member of the group.  This brings out his two faced nature, that of guide and of tormentor.  Perhaps also he is nervous that his identity will be discovered.

Room 12

    "'But you know what I say about appearances.'"
        Another statement he makes about what reality and perception.

    "It would have been a relief to get outside for a while."
        Reference to the above mentioned confinement, or just passing comment?

Room 13

    "Well, it's true that is was closer to the end of the week than they realized."
        Can ANYONE tell me what this means?  This may be the most puzzling line in the text for me.

Room 14

    "I knew she would bear watching."
        Another reference to the thoughtful one in the group.

Room 15

    "Immediately I regretted this act of charity... sometimes I think, after all these years, that I don't really know myself."
        From this I think we can safely assume that The Narrator is some sort of legendary, at least semi-immortal being, given that his "all these years" is probably a very long time indeed.  Again, we see his underhanded, destructive nature here as well as some moments of kindness (pity?) for his little group.  Another idea just came into my mind this moment:  if the Maze is indeed the underworld, might The Narrator be Charron?  This is not quite a trip across the styx, but it is a journey deeper into hades none the less.  Again however, I have little knowledge of Charron's lineage or childhood to support this.   Or perhaps is The Narrator Pluto himself, the lord of the underworld?  This would certainly put him in the royal family of the gods, explain his prescence in the underworld, and support is oddly destructive behavior.  Looking at the clues now, I wonder why I didn't think of this earlier.  Certainly his father, Cronus, was among the worst tricked of the gods by his son Zeus.  But did Hades have a "wild childhood"?

    This room also bring up another motif that is repeated often throughout the book, that of the sun and possibly the son.  I'm not sure what, if anything, this MEANS, but certainly a father-son relationship (Daedalus and Icarus?  Posidon and Minos?) is hinted at.

Room 16

  "...a stone chamber which reminded me of my old neighbors.  Of course, that was a long time ago now, but would you believe their descendants are still telling stories about me and my family to their children?"
        One of the longest passages dealing with The Narrator's identity, this provides some interesting clues.  Again, he refers to his family and how stories are told not just of him but of them as well.  Again, the gods come to mind.  However, it's the neighbors he mentions that I find most intruiging.  If we go with the concept that his family are the gods, then his neighbors are the humans, who's descendants are still telling stories of them.  This seems fairly good proof for the gods=family theory, but it damages the Minos=Narrator theory.  Since Minos is half human, why would he refer to mortals only as neighbors?  Some other god then perhaps, like Pluto?  And what about the room reminds him of humans, if they are his neighbors?  The jesters staff seems improbable, and the crown on the step, though appearing significant doesn't seem to help either.  The machine (a grinding machine) might mean something, but my attention was drawn to the large poster.  However, this looks less like a man and more like a giant.  Perhaps the neighbors he refers to are not humans but titans?  But where does this fit with the line about their descendants (forgive me if my mythology is weak, are humans the descendants of the titans?) ?

    "Even if most of the stories are lies and exaggerations, it is immortality of a sort."
        Another reference to immortality, if rather self-depricating.

Room 17

    Nothing Obvious

Room 18

    Nothing Obvious

Room 19

    Nothing Obvious

Room 20

    "I watched with an amusment shared, I think, by the wise old tortoise."
        Another indication that The Narrator may be ancient himself.  Certainly, like the tortoise, he has seen this all several times, the flow of visitors to the maze is steady.  By the way, has anyone thought of cataloguing the animals that appear in the book?  Like the hidden animals in Kit William's Book with No Name they may be a valuble clue.

Room 21

    Nothing Obvious

Room 22

    "It's true, I am by nature extremely critical.  Although my life is a lonely one I have not spared any of my guests the rigor of my judgement... we all have our role to play."
        More than any other line, this makes me think of Minos and his appointed role of judge of souls.  As I recall, Pluto, though ruler of Hades, didn't play a direct role in judgement, though I may be wrong in that assumption.  The pitchfork in the picture moreover emphasises the hell theme.  Or perhaps it is a trident, symbol of Posidon, Minos' father and Pluto's brother.

Room 23

    "I'm always ready to be helpful with the less important things."
        Another indication of his veener of helpfulness in contrast to his darker purpose.  What IS that purpose I wonder?

    "...one said, looking over my shoulder, which is not easy to do."
        This small line has given rise to many ideas on my part.  Certainly, it supports the Atlas suggestion, and to a degree the Minotaur, but does it have any connect with Minos?  Pluto?  Daedalus?

Room 24

    "Even my bellowing laughter couldn't fill this place."
        This is the dark room, a room that honestly gave me chills when I first stumbled across it and made me rethink my idea of the Maze as an innocent game.  Like The Narrator, there is a darker purpose beneath the helpful facade.  More than anything, this illuminates his dark side, and also seems to support the hell concept of the maze.

Room 25

    "Though one of my parents might be low-born, the other was close to a king..."
        A line which reveals much, but also upsets most of my theories.  Of those suspects whose lineage we know, this certainly rules out the Minotaur.  Moreover, Pluto's mother was a goddess, hardly lowborn, and his father ruler of the titans, not "close to a king," but a king among kings.  Only Minos' lineage seems at all in line with this.  His mother, Europa was a mortal and his father, Posidon a god.  Though in my view this would make Posidon more than a king, he was considered less than Zeus, so that statment would be true if it were "close to a king among gods."  Again there are probably many other possibilities, possibly outside of the Greek mythos, which I'm overlooking at the moment.
 
 

    At this point I need to get to a job interview, I'll finish the list off later today.  Thank's for your help!

Ian Finley
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