Abaddon
“We fought against the empire of heaven. We were - that I will not deny - vanquished in that conflict: Yet the great intention was not lacking in nobility. Something or other gave them victory; to us remains the glory of a dauntless daring. And even if my troop fell thence vanquished, yet to have attempted a lofty enterprise is still a trophy.” - Giambattista Marini, 1623
I have finished Julian May’s Galactic Milieu saga yet again, from the Saga of the Pliocene Exile to Intervention to the Galactic Milieu Trilogy. I would still place these, especially Jack the Bodiless and Magnificat (both from the Galactic Milieu Trilogy), among the top 10 books I’ve ever read. As I have raved before, Julian May’s writing is magnificent. Her stories are nifty enough that Katie and I sought out one of the reoccurring locations, if you remember. Folks, you need to borrow these books from me. 
Intervention, where you should probably start, is with me in Gainesville, so if one of you Gainesvillians wants to get hooked, drop me a note. Another starting point would be The Many-Coloured Land which was the first novel published. It’s here at home.
But this post is titled “Abaddon”, the Hebrew word for destruction. Abaddon is also personified in Revelations 9:11 as the angel prince of Hell. In the Galactic Milieu saga, it is the nickname of the central character, Marc Remillard: the Angel of the Abyss. The greatest killer who ever lived.
May’s books are a character-driven epic which tells Marc’ story. In the Pliocene Exile books, the first published, he is already an adult, has already committed his atrocities and is a powerful recluse still striving toward his goal of surpassing God and engendering homo summus, the pinnacle of Human evolution. In Intervention, though Marc is not yet born, we are introduced to Uncle Rogi, Marc’s stalwart great-granduncle, chronicler and sometime hero. Finally in the Galactic Milieu Trilogy we watch Marc grow up, grow strong and fall only to rise again, told from the perspective of Uncle Rogi. The above quote from Giambattista Marini well describe the choices Marc makes during Magnificat, the last book of the Galactic Milieu Trilogy.
Marc Remillard and his uncle Rogi are two of the best hero/anti-heroes I’ve ever found. Their personalities are so complete and detailed that there is no need to suspend disbelief to enjoy the science fiction - there’s no disbelief left.
I’ve considered continuing this post into some character analysis of Marc Remillard but I don’t think it would be appreciated by those who haven’t experienced this universe. Nevertheless, if any of my readership is interested, drop me a line. We’ll converse about arrogance, pride and the Metapsychic Rebellion.
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Not quite on topic, sorry. The word “character-driven” started this train of thought:
To me, Dorothy doesn’t seem particularly saintly until she pairs up with Jack. Conversely, Jack often seems not-quite-human until he meets Diamond Mask. Thoughts? I confess, I find myself more interested in this pair than in Marc through much of the saga. Marc is so clearly doomed to go bad, but I didn’t guess Jack’s fate. And I find his search for humanity compelling; Marc seems to loose his.
I’m not borrowing any more of your books until you take back all the Star Wars books under my couch!
You’re completely correct. In their case, similar to Denis’, they needed to find love before they could find humanity. Actually, Paul admits a similar situation where he wasn’t quite human until he saw Teresa perform the first time and was appropriately smitten. This is even more true for Jack, being as he’s… bodiless. It doesn’t happen for the other characters in the books, but for the Remillard men (and Dorothy, to a smaller extent) love seems to be necessary to find humanity.
It’s ironic that Marc’s love, which in Rogi’s eyes makes him finally human, ultimately changes him into a monster.
Warning: semi-spoiler (highlight to read)
…Marc does regain it, interestingly enough, after discarding his own race. I find that so entertaining: he became a monster during the Metapsychic Rebellion, became a Llymik some million years earlier and only then after he renounced his own race did he find his humanity again.…
Re: semi-spoiler. True. And I do like Atoning Unifex.
PS - clever way of hiding a spoiler!
I’ve thought Marc was one of the more interesting characters, simply because he did not accept ‘normal’ as how he should live his life. I think his reasons for becoming the leader of the Rebellion is a bit off their track, but he couldn’t create Mental Man any other way.
marc Is a fantasic character rich in texture and tradegy.
Mental man was not marcs idea…
ah, marc the modern faust.
you have left out fury { i won’t spoil the mystry}
a person so devoted to good, capable of such evil whitch one seems more real
In my humble opinion julian may has caught most facets of the gems of humanity.