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Anonymous Third Person Observer

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 9 months ago

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Anonymous Third Person Observer

 

A mysterious man, presumably an Elemenstor, who was revealed to be narrating Book 3 in a brief mention in chapter 14. Little is known about the Observer, other than he wears "stylish" clothing and has a deep resonating voice.

 

His identity is one of the most hotly-debated topics in ELotH fan circles today.

 

Theories on the Observer's identity

 

The Observer is Brahe

 

Many leap to the initial conclusion that the Observer is really none other than Tycho Brahe himself. The most common objection to this theory is that Mr. Brahe and the Observer cannot be the same person for the simple reason that Mr. Brahe's clothing has never been stylish, but a little thought dismisses this objection. Mr. Brahe's clothing must be stylish from his own perspective, otherwise he wouldn't wear it. (Some pedants add that while Brahe's clothing is indeed strange, it undeniably has a style of sorts - merely a style with which the modern world is unfamiliar.)

 

While, for many, it would be a great let-down from a literary standpoint if this theory turned out to be accurate, it cannot be dismissed, due to both popularity and simple lack of evidence to the contrary.

 

A poll conducted in mid-2003 showed that roughly 42% of Elemenstormers support this theory.

 

The Observer is a fictional character

 

Just over 50% of ELotH fans support one or more of the variations on this theory. Depending on who you ask, the Observer is:

 

  1. a fictionalisation of Brahe. Given how many of us mere fans have created characters for use in ELotH video-, card and board games over the years it would seem naive to assume that Brahe himself did not have a character of his own. This theory assumes that Mr. Brahe did what so, so many fan fiction authors did after him and inserted himself into the story as a character. See Mycho Eharb for the possible identity of this character.
  2. a character we are already familiar with. Most people with beliefs along these lines claim that the Observer is Harbinger Portent or some other Elemenstor, such as Gendoman Ovelkus. Others suggest a much more powerful individual, perhaps a Hierach or a Chronosorcellor, who might have plausibly been familiar with the entire events of Book 3. Of course, it could be practically anybody.
  3. a character we have not met before.

There is of course the chilling possibility that the Observer is a fictional character but inhabits a different fictional world entirely, one in which the Elemenstor Saga is as much fiction to the Observer as it is to us. Perhaps he is reading Book 3 to another person, or reciting it from memory. Versions of theories 1 and 3 above can be constructed along these lines.

 

See Fictional Author Theory.

 

The Observer doesn't exist

 

Most proponents of this (much less popular) theory suggest that the Observer is simply a metaphor for the reader or author, and does not exist, even fictionally. This theory is so thoroughly explicated in Refractions in the Scattered Light of Metallic Rainbows; A Retrospective Look at the Artistic Undercurrents of Tycho Brahe's Elemenstor Saga and Their Interplay with New Criticism, Marxist Theory, and the Emergent Domain of Contemporary Virtue Ethics and Platonic Character Actualization; Or, How I Learned to Ride Dragons that there is little point in duplicating it here.

 

What about the rest of The Elemenstor Cycle?

 

It is a popular deduction that the entire book series was written from the first person perspective of the Observer. This is actually an extremely handy assumption from a continuity standpoint - again, see Fictional Author Theory.

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