Talk:Incarnations of Immortality/Archive 2005

It's been a while since I read the series, but I thought they replaced God with Orlene, not Vita... I don't remember now though... - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 21:00, Apr 7, 2004 (UTC)

I do, and you're right. --Paul A 03:47, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. Damn those were great books. I think the series fell off a bit toward the end, but the first five were definitely solid. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 16:36, Apr 30, 2004 (UTC)

According to the Author's Note at the end of 7, he was going to end at 5 but there was enough reader feedback wanting to continue. - RevRagnarok 01:07, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

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A Disney adaptation of the book starring Jamie Foxx to be released in 2005? I cannot find a reference to this ANYWHERE, so I'm deleting it. Pacian 08:29, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

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It's still there and I've been unable to verify this info as well. Also, the mention of 'Under A Velvet Cloak' to be out in 2004? I did some light digging around and came up empty on that as well. Dumahim 18:41, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

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Piers talks about the Jamie Foxx thing here: http://www.angelfire.com/film/rings/interviews/piers.html

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We really could use some kind of family tree for the main characters ;) After the spoiler warning tho. - RevRagnarok 01:07, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

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I wrote a plot summary for For Love of Evil but I can't seem to get the ending right. Here's what I've got so far. Any advice? CronoDAS 01:50, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

[begin summary]

During the Middle Ages, Parry, a musician and apprentice white magician, courts, educates, and weds a beautiful peasant girl named Jolie. However, the practice of magic is against the teachings of the Church, and when the local lord is arrested for heresy, Parry, Jolie, and Parry's teacher are forced to flee. Parry's teacher and Jolie are both killed trying to escape. Parry is shocked when Thanatos comes personally to collect Jolie's soul, for Jolie was good and only those whose souls are balanced between good and evil receive personal visits from Thanatos when they die. Thanatos tells Parry that although Jolie was, in fact, good, the circumstances of her death will eventually lead to enormous evil. Therefore, she cannot enter Heaven and must remain on Earth as a ghost. Jolie's ghost must stay near her remains, so Parry takes a drop of her blood and allows it to dry on his wrist, allowing her to go wherever he does.

Parry then becomes a monk and takes the name Brother Grief. He secretly uses his knowledge of magic and his position as an inquisitor to identify and thwart the schemes of Lucifer, the Incarnation of Evil. He eventually discovers Lucifer's greatest scheme: the impending Mongol invasion of Europe. He also finds a way to stop it; the Great Khan had died, and a message was being sent to the leader of the invasion force, containing orders to return so that he may particpate in choosing the Great Khan's successor. With the help of his magic, Parry stops Lucifer's servants from intercepting the message, and Europe is spared.

His success was not without cost. While he was away, Parry took refuge with a family of peasants, and Jolie's ghost, inhabiting the body of the family's (relatively) young daughter, seduces him. When they return, Parry realizes that, by having sex with Jolie in the body of the young girl, he had broken the vow of chastity he swore when he became a monk. Instead of confessing his sins and leaving the Church, he decides that it would be better to keep it a secret so that he can continue to use his position to do good works.

It doesn't work out that way. Outraged at how one lone friar was able to thwart his schemes, Lucifer decides to take his revenge on Parry. He sends a succubus, Lilah, to seduce Parry and bring him to evil. Having fallen from grace because of his keeping of his secret, Parry succumbs to the temptation and slowly begins to do acts of greater and greater evil. Jolie's ghost, unable to bear Lilah's presence, takes refuge within the drop of blood, and Parry never sees her again during his life.

As Parry is dying of old age, Lucifer appears personally to claim Parry's soul for Hell. However, Lucifer does not realize that Jolie's soul is still trapped within the drop of blood on Parry's wrist; in attempting to kill and damn Parry, he inadvertantly tries to damn Jolie's soul, as well. Damning a good soul is impossible, and the attempt destroys Lucifer. Lilah then instructs Parry on how to assume the office of the Incarnation of Evil, and Parry does so, taking the name Satan.

After securing his hold on power in Hell, Satan makes the horrifying discovery that people were being sent to Hell for "sins" that he didn't believe to be evil. He finds that he does not have the power to send those souls to Heaven, although he can end their torment in Hell. Because there are more souls in Heaven than Hell, the power to determine the difference between Good and Evil lies with God, the Incarnation of Good. Satan goes to Heaven and attempts to speak with God about the problems he sees. When he reaches God, he sees that God is "engaged in a narcissistic contemplation of Himself" and is totally unresponsive to the world around him. He also finds that Heaven, far from being a paradise, is actually very boring; it's better than Hell, but that's about all it has going for it. Satan leaves Heaven in disgust.

On his return trip to Hell, Satan gets lost in primordial Chaos and is rescued by JHVH, the God of the Jews. JHVH tells Satan that all dieties that in which humans believe exist as Incarnations, and their level of power depends on the number of people that believe in them. Satan, contemplating the Chaos around him, concludes that all Incarnations share a common goal: reducing the entropy of the universe by separating the Good and Evil present in raw Chaos. JHVH suggests that, since God is unresponsive, Satan should instead speak with Heaven's chief administrator, the angel Gabriel. Gabriel offers a challenge: he will choose a single individual who will be in a position to influence the future of the world. If Satan cannot corrupt or otherwise nullify that person, or that person's children or grandchildren, Satan will abandon the ambition of overthrowing God.

Satan accepts, and the specific person is revealed to be Niobe Kaftan, who will come into existence in the early twentieth century. The book goes on to summarize the events of the previous five books from Satan's perspective, starting with the beginning of With a Tangled Skein and continuing through to the ending of Being a Green Mother in which he abdicates his Office. It also shows what happens after the wedding. No longer Satan, Parry finds himself trapped in Hell and at the "mercy" of his would-be successor. Niobe, acting on the theory that the devil you know is better than the devil you don't, convinces Parry to attempt to reclaim his Office, and helps him to escape.

[end summary]

Bravo for fixing the plot summary. I can't believe the publisher so royally screwed it up on the cover... Isn't that summary disproportionately larger than the other books'? Is that a problem?

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I rewrote the summary of And Eternity from memory; I lost the book and have not read it in a long time, so I may have made some mistakes.