Last week I blogged about Terry Dowling's hypothesis that
Kirth Gersen can be viewed as being a 6th
Demon Prince. Gersen was the invention of
Jack Vance and first came to the attention of science fiction fans when "The Star King" was published in the
December 1963 issue of
Galaxy Magazine. That's Gersen (image to the right) in action, dispatching three goons who work for the "fifth and final"
Demon Prince known as
Howard Treesong.
I fear that readers who only see the covers of the five novels in the Demon Princes saga will be misled. For example, the scene depicted in that Ken Kelly cover (above) takes place moments after a funny scene in which Gersen is playing flute in The Grand Salon Orchestra. Gersen has infiltrated the high school reunion of
Demon Prince Howard Treesong. Gersen hopes to kill Treesong, but the situation is tricky.
Treesong is guarded by a squad of battle troops. Gersen's terrible flute playing distracts Treesong and he orders Gersen thrown out of the party. While being thrown out and now with "only" three guards nearby, Gersen can act and he quickly kills the three soldiers. Even funnier than the original reunion is the way Gersen writes up an account of it for publication in the journal
Cosmopolis. Really, you should just read the novel: Vance's
creativity and humor shine through on every page.
I first became aware of the existence of Vance in the fall of 1977 by way of his story "
The Moon Moth". The first novel by Vance that I read was
Trullion, which I discovered and read at the start of 1978. My copy of
Trullion had been printed 5 years before I bought it, but was miraculously waiting in a discount store, available to me to buy for 25 cents.
Ian Ballantine, one of the early publishers of science fiction paperbacks, was born in the same year as Jack Vance (1916). I'm eternally grateful for the existence of that 1973 Ballantine Books edition of
Trullion that introduced me to Vance's novels.
About a year later, I bought copies of
Star King and
The Killing Machine, editions published by
DAW in 1978. I love the idea that we all live surrounded by great stories that were published long ago and that are "out there" waiting for us to discover them. Lucky for me, DAW then published
The Palace of Love and
The Face in 1979 and I only had to wait a short time for the final book in the Demon Princes saga (
The Book of Dreams) to be published by DAW in 1981. I pity anyone who first read "The Star King" in 1963 and had to wait 18 years for the conclusion of Gersen's saga.
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starmenter investigation
aboard Lord Gensifer's yacht. |
Who is Kirth Gersen?
A good introduction to Gersen is provided
here. I've previously compared Gersen to two other Vance protagonists (
Glinnes and Glawen) who also were also able to avenge themselves against their enemies. Vance was creative when he invented ways for his protagonists to defeat their enemies.
Glinnes does not have to kill the scheming Lord Gensifer. While trying to escape arrest, Gensifer jumps into the water and is killed by merlings, native sea creatures of the planet Trullion.
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Glawen in action
(he never pulls the trigger) |
Similarly, in Vance's novel
Araminta Station, Glawen does not have to kill
Kirdy Wook. Kirdy tries to murder Glawen, but in so doing he is swept away, out to sea and to his death. Yes, Gersen destroys the
5 Demon Princes who wiped out Gersen's home town, but how bloody does he get his hands? If I'm remembering correctly, Gersen personally kills nineteen of the henchmen who work for the
5 Demon Princes. Thus, the Demon Princes saga has the feel of a long chess game in which many pawns must be captured before the more valuable pieces fall.
After 40 years, I can no longer accurately
* remember what I thought about Gersen after having read only the first book in the Demon Princes saga, so it is interesting to witness the reactions of other people who discover and read
Star King. I was amused this week when I saw
"The Star King" described as a "
tale illustrating the intersection of personal vengeance and cosmic justice".
"
Kirth Gersen is a space vigilante who has dedicated his life to combating evil." And yet, in
The Palace of Love, when
Alusz suggests that all Gersen wants out of life is revenge, he denies it. Gersen explains that his dedication to the cause of killing the
Demon Princes originated from his grandfather who was motivated by "rage and hate". However, Gersen says, "So far as I'm concerned, the hate is abstract." So, should we call Gersen's quest one of "personal vengeance"?
At the very end of the Demon Princes saga, after the death of Howard Treesong, Gersen announces that he is "done". At this point, Gersen is still a relatively young man. He has remaining to him many years of life after completing his task of destroying the
5 Demon Princes. And yet, evil still remains in the
world galaxy. Will Gersen continue to "seek out and destroy" even more evil men? I think not. He never "dedicated his life to combating evil". Gersen's grandfather had Kirth trained for the specific task of destroying the men who had attacked their home town of Mount Pleasant, killing and enslaving the residents. When that task was completed, Gersen was "done".
By my count, Gersen only actually kills two of the five
Demon Princes. After Treesong is captured and taken prisoner at Blue Forest Camp by Tuty and Otto Cleadhoe, Treesong says, I am at your mercy," and asks Gersen, "How will you deal with me?"
Gersen replies, "What more could I do to you?"
Treesong: "Well, there is always torture. Or you might take pleasure in killing me."
Gersen: "I have destroyed you as a man. That is enough."
Aliens
During the course of events while Gersen hunts the
5 Demon Princes, he comes to learn about their lives and motivations. For me, as a science fiction fan, perhaps the most interesting aspect of
Star King is the role that alien creatures play in the story. The first
Demon Prince hunted down by Gersen (
Malagate) is an alien "Star King". Star Kings (from the planet Ghnarumen) can live among humans, not being recognized as alien creatures.
Gersen gets to visit a distant exoplanet that is the home of an alien creature called a "Dryad": "They are at least half
plant...bipeds, with a peculiarly human torso and head structure...the
head showed...purplish-green bruises which seemed to be eye spots." It is on the planet of the Dryads that Malagate dies. However, Gersen does not kill Malagate. A Dryad does.
The first human to visit the planet of the Dryads was Lugo Teehalt. Teehalt was a "locater", hired to search the depths of the galaxy for new and useful planets. Had all gone according to plan, Teehalt would have provided his sponsor with the location of the planet of the Dryads, collected his locater's fee and been done with the job. However, Teehalt discovers that his sponsor is the criminal Malagate and he feels that the planet of the Dryads should not be given to Malagate for his exploits. Teehalt dies rather than provide Malagate with the location of the Dryad planet.
Chance
I
previously suggested that there might be a reason for the unlikely meeting between Gersen and Teehalt on
Smade's Planet. If there was "cosmic justice" involved then we can imagine that the Dryads are a kind of highly evolved creature that had telepathic powers. It is as if the Dryads recognized their world was in danger of becoming a secret base in the far
Beyond that Malagate would use for his personal plan of creating a new race, superior to both humans and the Star Kings.
Was it the Dryads who made sure that Teehalt met Gersen at Smade's Tavern? I've previously speculated that the planet
Cadwal was able to protect itself, using Glawen as their "telepathic agent".
Were the Dryads of "Teehalt's planet" able to make use of Gersen in a similar way? Maybe what appears to we humans as some kind of "cosmic justice" is due to ancient aliens, the Dryads, protecting themselves from we humans.
How? Why?
After Teehalt had spent some time observing the Dryads and their way of life, suddenly, "he knew that the time of his departure was close at hand. How? Why? He had no answer. The compulsion nevertheless was real; he must leave, and he knew he would never return." Taking one last look around from the top of a hill, in the distance Teehalt could see "a crumble of gray boulders like the ruins of an ancient city".
What if the Dryads had once existed within a technologically advanced society? Maybe they had given up on their cities and other trappings of civilization, preferring to live in the forests as an integrated part of their planet's biosphere. However, what if they are still being protected by means of their ancient advanced technologies? Imagine
nanite probes entering into Teehalt, turning him into an alien-controlled weapon that is capable of destroying Malagate, another alien creature who wants to take-over the planet of the Dryads for his own purposes.
Teehalt leaves the planet of the Dryads and returns to worlds of men. There, Teehalt soon provides Gersen with the coordinates of the distant planet of the Dryads. Gersen then lures Malagate to the planet of the Dryads and it is there that Malagate is killed, by a Dryad. Yes, Gersen has successfully destroyed the first of the
5 Demon Princes, but from the perspective of the Dryads, something more important has been accomplished. Their planet will be left unspoiled by human encroachment and its location will be kept secret.
Shortly before their departure from Teehalt's planet, Gersen says to his travel companions, "I suggest that we keep the existence of this planet secret, to preserve it from what could only be desecration."
"Very well, : said Kelle, "I'm agreed."
"I agree," said Detteras.
To what extent have the sentiments of Gersen, Kelle and Detteras been crafted by the Dryads?
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| the red-faced Hildemar Dasce |
All Aboard!
Three other passengers arrive at Teehalt's planet:
Pallis Atwrode,
Hildemar Dasce and Robin Rampold. That's the hideous Hildemar Dasce in the image to the right. Dasce, who works for Malagate, is being held in the spacehip's cargo hold as Gersen's prisoner for having kidnapped and raped poor Pallis. Gersen is dedicated to defeating the
5 Demon Princes, but while at work on that dangerous task, he asks Pallis Atwrode out on a date.
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Pallis takes Gersen to
dinner at the Nautilus |
While hunting for Malagate, Gersen met Pallis, who is a secretary at the Department of Galactic Morphology, Sea Province University, on the planet Alphanor. They become friends and go out on the town. "She had tinted herself a beautiful olive-green". Gersen finds Pallis to be, "a gay, warm-hearted creature".
When Pallis arrives on Tehalt's planet, she is dazed and withdrawn: severely traumatized after being held prisoner by Dasce. Robin Rampold is in little better shape, having been held as Dasce's prisoner for many years. However, after a short time on Teehalt's planet, both Pallis and Robin recover. Robin decides to stay on Teehalt's planet, now holding Dasce as his prisoner. I suppose that must be a depiction of Dasce attacking Gersen (image to the right), although in this depiction his face looks green, not red.
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| Robin decides to stay on Teehalt's planet |
Cosmic Justice
In the short concluding epilogue to
Star King, Gersen returns to Teehalt's planet one year after the death of Malagate. He finds Robin Rampold looking "bronzed and strong and fit". Robin explains that Dasce has now become "a changed man". I like to think that the Dryads had to eliminate Malagate to protect their world. It was the job of Kelle and Detteras to finance the efforts of locaters like Teehalt and search for new planets, but the Dryads were able to make Gersen, Kelle and Detteras keep the location of Teehalt's planet secret. Perhaps as payment, did the Dryads heal the psychological wounds of Pallis, Robin and Dasce?
*Footnote.
I first read
Star King about 40 years ago, so it is very difficult to remember my initial reactions to the story beyond the fact that I had become hopelessly enthralled by Vance's unique style of writing. I was struck by Gersen's squeamishness. By the point in time when
Star King opens, Kirth and his grandfather had spent many years unsuccessfully trying to track down the space pirates who had destroyed their home village of Mount Pleasant.
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| at Brinktown |
Gersen finally makes progress towards his goal by traveling to a lawless world
Beyond and torturing a retired criminal named Parsifal Pankarow at a secluded location near Brinktown. After the grisly work of torturing and killing Pankarow, Gersen experiences "nausea, misgivings and misery". Readers must wonder if Gersen has what it takes to complete his daunting task of hunting down the
5 Demon Princes. Gersen seems like a tool of his now-dead grandfather, carrying out a task assigned to him by his grandfather, avenging crimes now more than two decades in the past, crimes committed when Kirth was a boy only 8 years old. Now grown to manhood, Gersen appears to be not very highly motivated to persistently work through the bloody work he must do.
As soon as Gersen returns from the Beyond and lands on the civilized planet of Alphanor, he trades glances with a pair of pretty girls at the spaceport. "Gersen contemplated them wistfully... undoubtedly he had lived a grim cheerless existence." Later that morning, Gersen asks Pallis out on a date, an act which he soon regrets when Malagate orders Dasce to eliminate Pallis, fearing that she can provide Gersen with clues to Malagate's secret identity. From that moment on, Gersen seems changed. He comes alive and from that point on, Gersen relentlessly acts to save Pallis.
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Gersen: "I can now kill
you without compunction." |
The horrors inflicted on poor Pallis seem to finally provide Gersen with the motivation he needs to ruthlessly complete the great task given to him by his grandfather. Gersen's guilt over his own all-too-human weaknesses is the final impetus that drives him to success. Helping
damsels in distress is a major source of motivation for Gersen through the entire Demon Princes saga.
Related Reading:
Betty Ballantine died three months after I wrote this blog post.
Next:
Return to Wild Isle.
