Posted by Parsifal Pankarow on January 09, 1997 at 22:39:43:
The house-ghouls present a mystery not totally resolved at the close of the opus. Are they savage and insensate beasts only,or perhaps something more complex and more disturbing? Observe that they wear cloaks ( not unlike the Phung, whose dread exploits were related in "The Pnume). What is the origin of this apparel? Do the ghouls barter for it? Do they raid human dwellings for bolts of cloth which they then tailor with their long agile fingers? Do they weave it themselves, and--if so--out of what strange stuff?
An intrguing answer is hinted at in the account of the destruction of the Foundance. There, Jaro thought to glimpse ghoul-like figures acting as Foundance technicians.This suggests a symbiosis between humankind, Seishanee, and ghoul with--how shall one say?--sinister overtones....
Mr. Vance, alas, cannot visit this site to elucidate. Who then will venture an opinion?