Monday 19 December 2016

Armageddon

"Armageddon Artaheer!"

At a Memorial Evening for James Blish, Bob Shaw said that, when he first met Blish, he expected him to be a very serious person on all levels. He had noticed that Armageddon came up quite frequently in Blish's works and, presuming to advise such a man, he said, "Jim, don't worry so much about Armageddon. It's not the end of the world!"

A demon tells a black magician:

"'...YOU ARE THE AGENT OF ARMAGEDDON.'"
-James Blish, Black Easter and The Day After Judgement (London, 1981), p. 110.

One human being tells another:

"'...what name will this battle be given?...
"'We will name it from the hill that overlooks the battlefield...Har-Megiddo. Armageddon, in our tongue.'"
-SM Stirling, On The Oceans Of Eternity (New York, 2000), Chapter Thirty-One, p. 616.

(An appropriate page number: "616" is an alternative to "666.")

In Black Easter, a supernatural conflict between angels and demons has occurred off-stage. However, Stirling puts forward that a human battle literally at Armageddon is also possible.

3 comments:

  1. There have been a -lot- of battles fought around there...

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  2. Location, location, location.

    Richard Armour, in a satirically tongue-in-cheek history of war, said:
    "The city taken by Thutmose was Har-Megiddo, or Hill of Megiddo, later known as Armageddon. Like many conquerors, Thutmose may have thought he was fighting the last great battle instead of the first one."

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    Replies
    1. Kaor, DAVID!

      Well, I think the account Thutmose III gave of his battle at Armageddon was the earliest detailed account we have of any battle.

      Sean

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