This Immortal - Major Themes

Major Themes

Many of Zelazny's heroes are overmen, or even gods or demigods; Conrad Nomikos is no exception to the rule. Identified early in the book as a possible "Kallikanzaros" by his lover Cassandra (who exhibits the same abilities to foretell the future but not be believed as her namesake), Conrad is later also compared to Pan. Whether or not Conrad is a god, however, is left unclear in the book: while he has led an extraordinarily long life, it is hinted that this could be the result of mutation due to the nuclear war. Jane Lindskold, in her book titled Roger Zelazny, suggests that the fact that Conrad's face is handsome on one side and disfigured on the other is a metaphor for Conrad's ability to be both creator and destroyer, and it is not until the end of the book that the broken god can be "healed."

Zelazny declared that “I wanted to leave it open to several interpretations—well, at least two. I wanted to sort of combine fantasy and sf…either Conrad is a mutant or he is the Great God Pan. The book may be read either way.” In keeping with this, some of the clues that Conrad may be Pan are that Conrad's surname Nomikos recalls Nomios (one of Pan's titles), he plays a syrinx (panpipes) in the novel, he may be immortal, and he has a disfigured appearance (limp, scarred face, and heterochromia).

Conrad Nomikos is a prototype for later Zelazny rogues such as Corwin, the amnesiac god from The Chronicles of Amber and the cigarette-smoking Buddha, Sam (aka Mahasamatman) in Lord of Light — both flawed humans who are also flawed superhumans.

Zelazny also identified Aldous Huxley as one model he kept in mind while writing this novel: "Bear in mind when constructing the cast of characters, including the monomaniac scientist as a note of thanks for the assist, but take nothing else. Do not lean too heavily on anyone."