moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Andrew Sigel, posting via Moriarty) (01/27/86)
The red-headed telepath goes back decades, if not centuries, in fiction. A good part of it comes from the Scottish highland tradition of "second sight". Certainly that's where Marion Zimmer Bradley got it from (as she confirms in DARKOVER LANDFALL by having half the colonists be of celtic descent); I imagine that Jean Grey got her hair color more from contrast to the other X-Men, as she did start out with only telekinesis, not the more common telepathic powers that are usually associated with red hair. As for the similarity in the form of fire of Sharra and Phoenix, it is certainly possible that Claremont had Sharra in mind; he is known to have been a Darkover fan, as anyone who has noticed the Shi'ar use the name "Sharra" as an expletive (and similar other "tributes" that I can't call to mind just now) could tell you. However, compared to Phoenix, Sharra is almost a wimp. (There is, of course, the fact that both powers were conceived of as warping the user... I could go on, but I won't. The major question is, how much is deliberate, how much is tribute, how much is coincidence, and how much can you attribute to people who have used these themes long before Bradley or Claremont picked up a pencil. And, certainly, I wouldn't dream of discussing the similarities in power and outlook of Dorylis from STORMQUEEN and Ororo as Storm....) Andrew Sigel The red-headed telepath goes back decades, if not centuries, in fiction. A good part of it comes from the Scottish highland tradition of "second sight". Certainly that's where Marion Zimmer Bradley got it from (as she confirms in DARKOVER LANDFALL by having half the colonists be of celtic descent); I imagine that Jean Grey got her hair color more from contrast to the other X-Men, as she did start out with only telekinesis, not the more common telepathic powers that are usually associated with red hair. As for the similarity in the form of fire of Sharra and Phoenix, it is certainly possible that Claremont had Sharra in mind; he is known to have been a Darkover fan, as anyone who has noticed the Shi'ar use the name "Sharra" as an expletive (and similar other "tributes" that I can't call to mind just now) could tell you. However, compared to Phoenix, Sharra is almost a wimp. (There is, of course, the fact that both powers were conceived of as warping the user... I could go on, but I won't. The major question is, how much is deliberate, how much is tribute, how much is coincidence, and how much can you attribute to people who have used these themes long before Bradley or Claremont picked up a pencil. And, certainly, I wouldn't dream of discussing the similarities in power and outlook of Dorylis from STORMQUEEN and Ororo as Storm....) Andrew Sigel
kathy@gsg.UUCP (Kathryn Smith) (02/03/86)
Mr. Sigel is certainly right about the similarities between Jean Grey/ Phoenix and MZB's Sharra, but I question his comment that Sharra is a "wimp" compared to Phoenix. The only time we ever see Sharra in the Darkover books is in her "bound" state, and even in that state she is described as being powerful enough to pull one of the moons down out of the sky if the people raising the force were mad enough to try it. This is a "wimp?" MZB never describes what she would be capable of without the restraints imposed by on her by Aldones (another diety in the Darkover series), but it seems reasonable to assume she would be significantly more powerful without them. I am also slightly puzzled by his remark about the similarities between Dorilys in Stormqueen and Ororo. Their powers are certainly similar, but the similarity of outlook he mentions escapes me competely. I would be interested in hearing him expand on this. Claremont is obviously very fond of introducing the X-Men to things and people from his favority books. Darkover is not the only thing which has slipped in. You may remember in the last issue of the New Mutants that Lila Cheney showed up in her making a reference to having played as backup for a rock band called the Nazgul before their lead singer got the top of his head blown off my an assassin with a high powered rifle at their last concert. This is straight out of a book by George R. R. Martin called The Armageddon Rag. (which, by the way, is an excellent book and well worth reading). Finally, there is X-Men #204. Apparently Claremont is planning to have Nightcrawler visit Ruritania. For those who don't get the reference, Ruritania is a ficticious central European country created by Anthony Hope in The Prisoner of Zenda. I haven't read the original myself, but judging by the Classics Illustrated version which I read years ago, it's pulp melodrama, narrated by an English Gentleman, and probably pretty heavy going. Finally, it's interesting to note the overlap between Darkover fans and X-Men fans. I belong to a Boston, MA area Darkover fan group, and we spend at least as much of our meetings discussing the latest comics as we do Darkover. Kathryn Smith (...decvax!gsg!kathy) General Systems Group, Inc Salem, NH Kathryn Smith