Files

3.6 KiB
Raw Permalink Blame History

Unsong Chapter 13: The Image of Eternal Death

Post:

Link to content

Comments:

u/ulyssessword [+18] (24 minutes later)

The stranger seized the threads, pulled them forward, sheared them to their essence. HRCN. Then he rearranged them, made them dance. CHRN. Then fleshed them out. ACHERON. The river that formed the boundary of Hell. Sohu felt the storm darken, become deathly hot. Somehow the transmutation was affecting reality.

I'm getting vibes of Anglophysics from this.

Last time we saw Sohu, it was Oct 3, now it is the 10th. Both are Wednesdays.

u/LiteralHeadCannon [+3] (3 hours later)

Agreed that it feels Anglophysicsy.

u/abcd_z [+3] (a day later)

The shouting was, of course, egged on by the beer they had already produced, which sort of made it an autocatalytic reaction if you squinted.

For some reason this line made me laugh.

u/ulyssessword [+12] (9 hours later)

The duel:

  • SAAR

Hebrew for "storm", it was drawn from the hurricane by Thamiel.

  • TEMPESTAS

Latin for "season, weather; bad weather; storm, tempest" as well as the ancient Roman goddess of the same portfolio, it was translated from SA'AR by Thamiel.

  • HURRICANE

English word. It was translated from TEMPESTAS by Thamiel.

  • HRCN

Transitional state. Thamiel stripped the vowels (and one R) from HURRICANE to create it.

  • CHRN

Transitional state. Thamiel rearranged HRCN to create it.

  • ACHERON

The river at the boundary of hell. Thamiel added vowels to create it.

  • CHAI AARON

"Life" and "Aaron" (the historical figure). Uriel changed the meaning without rearranging any consonants.

  • CHAOS RUIN

Thamiel brought an "s" from the wind, and didn't otherwise change the consonants. Note that the text presented this in the opposite order (Ruin, Chaos) despite Thamiel not rearranging the letters, which is not a coincidence.

  • MACHINE RAZ

"Machine" and "secrets". I don't know if it is "Machine Raz" or else "Raz Machine". Uriel brought an "M" from the water, and hardened the "S" into a "Z".

  • NACOM RASHA

"Punishment" and "Wicked", again presented backwards in the text. Thamiel softened the "Z" back into an "S" and reorganized many letters.

  • MEREA + ?SH?

"Friend". The "N" and "C" fell out of their own accord when Thamiel pointed at them.

  • SOHU

The "M" and "R" fell out when Thamiel pointed to them.

u/alexanderwales [+7] Time flies like an arrow (53 minutes later)

“NO. YOU CAN LEARN A LOT OF THINGS FROM STARTING A WAR. EIGHTY YEARS AGO SOME PEOPLE STARTED A WAR AND THEY ENDED UP LEARNING THE SECRETS OF THE ATOM. IT WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE.”

But it's 1990? So what war in 1910 he talking about?

u/ScottAlexander [+12] (56 minutes later)

It was a mistake. Corrected.

u/narfanator [+9] (3 hours later)

Oh, there's GOT to be a way to have Uriel explain how WWI and WWII are the same war.

u/Frommerman [+6] (7 hours later)

Some mundane historians already think this.

u/Atilme [+4] (4 hours later)

I really wanna see Sohu teach Uriel how to fight with reality words better. That's pretty awesome.