Lord of Light

Lord of Light (1968) is an epic science fiction/fantasy novel by Roger Zelazny. It was awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and nominated for a Nebula Award in the same category. Two chapters from the novel were published as novelettes in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1967.

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.

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The Gods live in an artificial city in the polar regions, on an artificial plateau, accessible only by aircraft. The entire plateau is covered by a dome, and is known as Heaven or the Celestial City.

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Major Characters

• Sam is one of the original colonists of the planet. He thus belongs to the group who are known as the First, a diminishing number of people. As Sam himself says, "All the rest are dead, or are Gods". He himself was a God, styling himself Kalkin. Thanks to his long life and many exploits, he is known by many names, such as Maitreya, Lord of Light, Manjusri of the Sword, Binder of Demons and so on. His major contribution to the ascendancy of the Gods was his use of his power of electrodirection, or mental control of electromagnetics, to conquer and destroy or bind the natives of the planet, who were beings of pure energy known to men as demons. Eventually disillusioned by the rise of the Gods, he retires to the life of Prince Siddhartha, until he finally rebels. In doing so, he creates more legends, and gains more names, including Buddha, The Enlightened One, Tathagatha, Mahasamatman or Great-Souled Sam etc.
• Yama, the God of Death, is first Sam's enemy, then his ally. He is a second generation colonist with an unusual history. A juvenile scientific genius, he was mortally injured in an explosion, so that he had to be quickly reincarnated into the first available body, which happened to be middle-aged. He was "old before he was young", and did not have the same outlook as someone who has "known first love in the days of spring". As a result he is the cold, calculating master of arms and sciences, who has created most of the technology behind the power of the Gods. He is also a master swordsman, and has the power of death-gaze, which allows him to kill by looking his victim in the eyes. Asked by Sam how he can bear to serve a "bunch of drunken body changers" he puts forth a "higher cause" rationale. However he also is emotionally involved and eventually turns as a result of a betrayal.
• Kali, Goddess of Destruction, also known as Durga, consort of Kalkin, and Candi the Fierce, is another of the First. Over the centuries, she has been Sam's lover, companion, wife, comrade-in-arms, and finally enemy. She yearns for the days when the planet was still wild and unconquered. As Sam warns Yama, who loves her, she loves only "those who bring her gifts of chaos". Like Yama, she has the death-gaze power, along with many others only hinted at. She also carries a weapon, the skull-wheel, which is some kind of ultrasonic emitter that causes confusion and oblivion, even to the demons.
• Tak, of the Bright Spear, is a former demigod exiled to the world as an ape, as punishment for trying to help Sam while he was in captivity. He is also Sam's son, a fact Sam does not know. Tak rationalizes this away, because when people have many bodies, biological parenthood becomes meaningless. However, he helps Sam mostly because of that connection between them.
• Kubera is Yama's friend and companion in an order of the Gods called the Lokapalas. No matter how he is reincarnated, his body always runs to fat. He is however, shrewdly intelligent and a master technologist, surpassing Yama in some areas. He has the unusual ability to invest inanimate objects with emotion, which he uses to create the Pavilion of Silence at Worldsend, a structure at the far end of the place known as Heaven in which rooms are dedicated to emotions such as Despair, Heartbreak, and Fear. This is a place of retreat for the Gods. After centuries of idleness as a God he eventually breaks with the rest and helps Sam.
• Ratri, Goddess of the Night is Kubera's friend who is sucked into the conflict, not altogether unwillingly. She too is disgusted by the treatment Sam received in Heaven, and runs to Kubera after she witnesses Brahma's last twitches when he is poisoned. Eventually she helps Kubera escape Heaven with Sam. Her power is to cast Night across any area, which is used in the Battle of Keenset. After that battle, because she is judged to have been merely weak-willed in helping Sam, she is expelled from Heaven to wander the world in bodies that can not express her powers, or her beauty. In spite of this she can occasionally summon the strength to become the Goddess whose "radiance drives out the dark". In character terms she provides an emotional counterweight to Yama's hatred and Sam's zeal.

Minor Characters

• Jan Olvegg, also known as Olvagga, or Janaveg, or Janagga, is another one of the First. In fact, he was the Captain of the colonists' ship. Sam encounters him in exile while still contemplating his own rebellion. He identifies himself to Olvegg with "It's a long way to Tipperary". Olvegg, who at first cannot recognize Sam because of his changing of bodies, brings Sam up to date on the rise of the Gods since Sam retired, and thus precipitates Sam's campaign. He is later captured by, and forced to fight for, Nirriti the Black.
• Rild, later called Sugata, is an assasin and master swordsman, a holy disciple of Kali and thuggee. He is sent to kill Sam while Sam is reviving Buddhism, but instead becomes a convert and, eventually, the real Buddha.
• Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva rule in Heaven. However, Brahma is weak-spirited, mostly concerned with "his" manliness, since "he" is a reincarnated lesbian woman. Shiva is an "old warhorse" whose main power is a sceptre made by Yama, which can kill or disintegrate. Shiva also uses the "Thunder Chariot" a nuclear powered aircraft. Vishnu, the Preserver, was the architect of the place called Heaven, but is a passive god who goes along with Brahma's machinations, which in turn seem to be driven by the influence of Kali and Ganesha.
• Ganesha is a manipulator, an insider, the self-styled power behind the throne. He pushes the other Gods to consolidate their power, even to the extent of persuading them to allow Sam to preach while held captive in Heaven, hoping to tempt sympathizers into revealing themselves. As the power of the Gods wanes, he tries to maintain his position by betraying them to Nirriti. Asked if he trusts Ganesha, Nirriti replies "Yes, but I would give him his silver afterward", a clear reference to Judas Iscariot, Nirriti being a Christian.
• Agni, God of Fire, is at first a fearsome being armed with a wand that emits the Universal Fire, evidently thermonuclear in nature, which destroys anything it touches. He also has goggles that enable him to see in infra-red and ultra-violet radiation, and for immense distances. It is said he scored the face of the Moon with his wand, while standing on the ground.
• Taraka, Lord of the Rakasha, is a demon, an energy being. Like the rest of his kind he was bound by Sam in the early days, but he is set free by Sam as part of a bargain to marshall his fellow demons to oppose the Gods.
• Nirriti the Black was originally Renfrew, the chaplain of the colonists' ship. A staunch Christian, he is disgusted by the ascendancy of Hinduism on the planet and eventually sets himself up with an army of zombie soldiers to conquer and convert the planet. This character is deeply ironic, a Christian who comes to be known as "The Dark Lord", leader of an army of "Soulless Ones". His final irony is to die in the arms of the false Buddha, Sam.
• Mara, Lord of Illusion can project illusions across great distances, a power that the Gods use both for entertainment and in battle. He is the one God who can stand against Sam and Yama at Keenset where both exert their full powers, being able to misdirect their attacks. Likewise he frustrates Sam's attempt to escape Heaven by confusing him as to the way out of the dome. Despite this his character is not much in evidence in the novel, only his actions. In the first story he appears in disguise attempting to find out what Yama is doing, but for some reason he is unable to realize his full power and Yama defeats him.