Characters
The novel has a range of major and minor characters, each with a backstory which, in some cases, is deliberately vague with the intent of intensifying a sense of mystery. While many of the characters bear the names of Hindu gods, wear similar clothing, and carry items that the gods are traditionally depicted with (such as Kali's necklace of skulls), they are never intended to be interpreted by the reader as Hindu gods; they are humans masquerading as gods in order to secure power. To devout Hindus the novel may appear to be blasphemous, but Zelazny was respectful of Hinduism and had clearly read widely in the subject.
The gods live in Heaven, an artificial plateau in the polar regions "where only the mighty might make their home." It is covered by a giant dome for defense and weather control. Heaven is divided into the Celestial City and the Forest of Kaniburrha.
Read more about this topic: Lord Of Light
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“The major men
That is different. They are characters beyond
Reality, composed thereof. They are
The fictive man created out of men.
They are men but artificial men.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“I have often noticed that after I had bestowed on the characters of my novels some treasured item of my past, it would pine away in the artificial world where I had so abruptly placed it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)