Roger Zelazny Book Review: Lord of Light, Part VI - The Lokapalas are never defeated

This is the sixth and final part of a lengthy review of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. Had I planned it out properly from the beginning, I think I would have done it as a seven part review and given Chapter Two its own discrete entry, rather than bundling it inartfully with Chapter Three. Live and learn, I suppose.

Part One:Overview and Chapter One

Part Two: Chapters Two and Three (Death & the Executioner)

Part Three:Chapter Four (Hellwell)

Part Four: Chapter Five (Sam's time in Heaven)
Part Five: Chapter Six (Flight from Heaven and the War against Heaven)

All my Zelazny reviews at this link.

I never knew how Lokapalas was pronounced, but Victor Bevine says it "Low-ka Pay-Lahs". I always figured it was "Lokka Palace". His reading is very, very good. I don't know where you can find a copy of it any more, as Audible.com no longer seems to offer it, but it really is worth tracking down.

Sam has returned and he calls his allies to him and pulls his loose ends together. His enemies do likewise. I think the slow build really works, especially when juxtaposed against what has gone before. The marshaling of forces, and the diplomatic wranglings makes me think, of all things, the endgame of a Sid Meier-style computer game, like Civilization (or more likely, Alpha Centauri). (I would play the hell out of a Lord of Light Alpha Centauri mod, by the way)

Ganesha and Brahma refer to a mushroom cloud as a tall man of smoke twice ("I think the tall man of smoke who wears a wide hat shall bend above Nirriti's palace." and "If we cannot reclaim it, then let the man of smoke nod his wide white hat, over Mahartha.") and I can't help but think of Planet Busters.

There are a lot of short but rich exchanges.I don't want to quote every one of them because then my review would be nothing but "This was awesome!" - (Extended quote from the book), "This was awesome!" - (Extended quote from the book) "This was awesome!" - (Extended quote from the book) "This was awesome!" - (Extended quote from the book).

(Sadly, some of my reviews already look like that.)

That said, I do really like the way Taraka has been developed. I don't know why I like the following exchange as much as I do:

Taraka wavered. His face and left arm became smoke.

"Sam ... "

"What?"

"Which one is the right way?"

"Huh? You're asking me that? How should I know?"

"Mortals call you Buddha."

"That is only because they are afflicted with language and ignorance."

"No. I have looked upon your flames and name you Lord of Light. You bind them as you bound us, you loose them as you loosed us. Yours was the power to lay a belief upon them. You are what you claimed to be."

"I lied. I never believed in it myself, and I still don't. I could just as easily have chosen another way, say, Nirriti's religion, only crucifixion hurts. I might have chosen one called Islam, only I know too well how it mixes with Hinduism. My choice was based upon calculation, not inspiration, and I am nothing."

"You are the Lord of Light."

I appreciate the maturity (for lack of a better word) in Sam's approach.  This contributes to the "Civilization" vibe.

"So we are in the middle and we have several choices before us. We could not make a deal with Nirriti. Do you think we could make one with Heaven?"

"No!" said Yama, slamming his fist upon the table. "Which side are you on, Sam?"

"Acceleration," he replied. "If it can be procured through negotiation, rather than unnecessary bloodshed, so much the better."

As we near the end, the chapter has some very vividly imaged battles, perhaps my very favorites in Zelazny's entire body of work.  I love the Amber books but the descriptions of fights ("a feint in quarte, a feint in sixte") are not easy to follow and I even have the advantage of having fenced for a couple years in college. It's strange to think of the Amber books as being any way more "grounded" in reality, but Corwin and Eric weren't throwing fireballs at each other when they were fighting.

Indra dropped Thunderbolt and struck Yama in the jaw. Yama fell, but he swept Indra's legs out from under him, carrying him to the ground.

His Aspect possessed him completely then, and as he glared Indra seemed to wither beneath his gaze. Taraka leapt upon his back just as Indra died. Yama tried to free himself, but it felt as if a mountain lay across his shoulders.

Brahma, who lay beside Nirriti, tore off his harness, which had been soaked with demon repellant. With his right hand he cast it across the space that separated them, so that it fell beside Yama.

Taraka withdrew, and Yama turned and gazed upon him. Thunderbolt then leapt up from where it had fallen upon the ground and sped toward Yama's breast.

Yama seized the blade with both hands, its point inches away from his heart. It began to move forward and the blood dripped from the palms of his hands and fell upon the ground.

Brahma turned a death-gaze upon the Lord of Hellwell, a gaze that drew now upon the force of life itself within him.

Our heroes win the day, but Kali (Brahma) is mortally wounded and while Yama is able to transfer her mind to a new body, she suffers significant brain damage as a result. Kubera comes seeking him some time after the battle. This is certainly my favorite scene in the book, and it may be my favorite scene that Zelazny ever wrote, period.

The innkeeper told Kubera that they did have a guest who fit that description, second floor, rear room, but that perhaps he  should not be disturbed.

Kubera climbed to the second floor.

No one answered his knocking, so he tried the door.

It was bolted within, so he pounded upon it.

Finally, he heard Yama's voice:

"Who is it?"

"Kubera."

"Go away, Kubera."

"No. Open up, or I'll wait here till you do."

"Bide a moment, then."

After a time, he heard a bar lifted and the door swung several inches inward.

"No liquor on your breath, so I'd say it's a wench," he stated.

"No," said Yama, looking out at him. "What do you want?"

"To find out what's wrong. To help you, if I can."

"You can't, Kubera."

"How do you know? I, too, am an artificer-- of a different sort, of course."

Yama appeared to consider this, then he opened the door and stepped aside. "Come in," he said.

The girl sat on the floor, a heap of various objects before her. She was scarcely more than a child, and she hugged a brown and white puppy and looked at Kubera  with wide, frightened eyes, until he gestured and she smiled.

"Kubera," said Yama.

"Koo-bra," said the girl.

"She is my daughter," said Yama. "Her name is Murga."

"I never knew you had a daughter."

"She is retarded. She suffered some brain damage."

"Congenital, or transfer effect?" asked Kubera.

"Transfer effect."

"I see."

"She is my daughter," repeated Yama, "Murga."

"Yes," said Kubera.

Yama dropped to his knees at her side and picked up a block.

"Block," he said.

"Block," said the girl.

He held up a spoon. "Spoon," he said.

"Spoon," said the girl.

He picked up a ball and held it before her. "Ball," he said.

"Ball," said the girl.

He picked up the block and held it before her again. "Ball,"  she repeated.

Yama dropped it.

"Help me, Kubera," he said.

"I will, Yama. If there is a way, we will find it."

He sat down beside him and raised  his hands. The spoon came alive with spoon-ness and the ball with ball-ness and the block with block-ness, and the girl laughed. Even the puppy seemed to study the objects.

"The Lokapalas are never defeated," said Kubera, and the girl picked up the block and stared at it for a long time before she named it.

It's just a short vignette about decency and brotherhood, but it always makes me happy. I always remember this as the real ending of the story.

It's not though. Zelazny wrote that he came up with four endings and thought, "What the heck, why not use them all?" I like the ambiguity. Is Sam living the life of an anonymous monk or the invisible guardian of mankind's eternal underclass? Has he returned to Nirvana or has he journeyed to the East to deliver Parvati? Pick whichever one you like, for Sam's part in the story has ended.

This is the real ending.

[Yama] left his daughter Murga in the care of Ratri and Kubera and she grew into a strikingly beautiful woman. He may have ridden into the east, possibly even crossing over the sea. For there is a legend in another place of how One in Red went up against the power of the Seven Lords of Komlat in the land of the witches. Of this, we cannot be certain, any more than we can know the real end of the Lord of Light.

But look around you...

Death and Light are everywhere, always, and they begin, end, strive, attend, into and upon the Dream of the Nameless that is the world, burning words within Samsara, perhaps to create a thing of beauty.

As the wearers of the saffron robe still meditate upon the Way of Light, and the girl who is named Murga visits the Temple daily, to place before her dark one in his shrine the only devotion he receives, of flowers.

So ends Lord of Light and with it, my review. I don't know if it's my favorite Zelazny work, but I do consider it his best. So, what do you folks think? I see that I get the occasional returning visitor, so I'd like to hear some other opinions on this. What do you think of the books? Of the characters? Of the review? Please post your comments. I'd love to hear what other people have to say.