Question about the Adamant tower and the Fortess.

[Converse02]

How did it get build in such a short time?

Maybe I missed something in the books, but it appears Lord Asriel just stepped into the portal, and when Lyra and the witches followed a short time later, Lord Asriel is suddenly this ruler over a massive city. Huh?
Not even Rome was built in a day. What happened?

[latency]

I think it's an illustration of his calling power.

When Ruta Skadi visited him, she saw the vastness of the fortress, and all the armies from many worlds flooding to Asriel's call, it shows that he's got the power to make waves, rather than being some spoiled brat standing on his own because he doesn't like the class.

[Converse02]

I think it's an illustration of his calling power.

When Ruta Skadi visited him, she saw the vastness of the fortress, and all the armies from many worlds flooding to Asriel's call, it shows that he's got the power to make waves, rather than being some spoiled brat standing on his own because he doesn't like the class.

How did he call all those armies? Did word just get around he was building a republic and people just agreed? Doesn't sound to plausible.

[horst]

Ruta Skadi thinks that he yould perhaps have power over time. Would explain how fast he built and how he got all the support.
And in NL, there is a passage, where it is stated that Lord Asriel has a very special way of getting what he wants. He asks for it and he gets it. That's how massive his power over people is. He is not an ordinary man. Perhaps he's not even a man at all...

[Converse02]

Power over time is the only way I think it is possible.
But I did not recall reading that anywhere, and having "power over time" would bring a whole host of problems into the series (how did he get power over time, how does he move time in some dimensions but not influence time in Lyra and Will's dimension, why didn't he have power over time in Lyra's universe, why not go back in time and kill Hitler, you get the idea)

Are you suggesting his power to call is special and somehow supernatural or magical?
As for as i can tell from the series (I have only have 100 pages of TAS left), Asriel is an ordinary man. He states this again when his forces are outnumbered by the Authority. Being a man, he has flesh and is therefore stronger than the angels.

[horst]

In the very beginning of NL, one of the scholars whispers about him and calls him "the devil!" (At least in the German translation.
Perhaps he is some manifestation of the first fallen angel that rebelled against Heaven. Bit less angel-like => less supernatural but not an ordinary man either.

[Converse02]

Kinda makes sense..
Lyra is not an ordinary girl, she is actually Eve and can read the aleithiometer.

Makes sense her father wouldn't be totally ordinary either.

[dannyyyy]

i was wondering how he made that fortress in so little time, and they did say he could time travel but never brought it up again. but if he could time travel then that still doesnt explain how he built it beacause he was still stuck in his world trying to open the aurora into a new world. ALSO where did he go after lyra followed him? because he wasnt in citagazze. confusing....

[thewolfstar]

Maybe the opening in the aurora was like a portal for all different kinds of worlds, so like a multi-doorway, I don't exactly know. Good question though. HOW did he build that fortress? Maybe he learned magic at Hogwarts.

[Nessarose]

My speculation is that Lord Asriel had actually PLANNED EVERY DETAIL AND STUDIED UP ON EVERYTHING before he ripped the sky and walked through it. Then he'd know where to go and how to recruit people and other organisms from other worlds. With the help of his followers (never mentioned how much, but if I recall correctly some cliff-ghast said he had millions of followers in TSK), building a big fortress when there's already a definite plan wouldn't take years. Makes sense, no?

[thewolfstar]

hmmm, makes sense. Would take heaps of years and preparation though.

[Sayuri]

It happened quickly because Lord Asriel is awesome (apart from at the end of TNL)

[Razzy]

The argument that Asriel has some command of time is a strong one, but given the possible anagrams of his name, it's a stronger argument that he possesses secret knowledge and has used this all his life to build up to the war against the Authority.

Consider some of the possible anagrams of "Asriel" in biblical lore. Azrael is the angel of death (recall the quote that Asriel intends to "destroy death"); Sariel is another possible anagram, and in mythology he could have been a fallen angel, but is definitely an archangel and one who is capable of dealing both death and healing; finally, and perhaps the most convincing anagram of Asriel, is Raziel, an archangel who possesses knowledge of all the secrets and mysteries of heaven and earth. He wrote a book that contained this knowledge which was passed on and on until its eventual loss to time. It could be that Asriel came across the book, or the knowledge contained therein in some metaphorical sense, and has kept it secret. It could also be a direct metaphor, that Asriel possesses secret knowledge about the multiverse and how to communicate through it, thus building his armies and his fortress long before he ever arrived to command them.

His long expeditions over the years could simply have been finding the windows to other universes and consorting with the rebels in those universes to build his army. Even if he was able to make it to two of them, and give those people the means to communicate with other universes and so on, it would have been enough. It could possibly have only taken a few years...

Man it's fun to speculate!

[dannyyyy]

Im liking it Razzy!! that makes more sense than time travel and angel of death crap, i think he DID find windows on his expeditions, and formed an army in those, and told them to make the fortress.

[Danz]

I'm thinking he had been cooperating with angels even before going into that world,
and having powerful angels as your acomplices definitely boosts up your power and rank.
I'm willing to bet that they helped him get whatever he needed.
And also, if you'll think of perhaps technical reasons, it did advance the book a lot having that fortress made already.
I mean, describing its construction and actually waiting around until all the worlds heard about it
would have called for writing another book.