Secular Saviors: Guidance from Religion to Humanism in Ilium–Heather Castille

         In Dan Simmons’s Ilium, humans on Earth are post-literate, sustained by technology that they neither understand nor question. The “old-style” humans live on Earth, confident that their world has always been the way they know it and believing in the post-humans as godlike, omnipotent controllers of the humans’ fate. They also believe that after the fifth Twenty, humans are taken up in the final fax to live in the rings forever with the posts, reminiscent of belief in a heavenly afterlife. The “old-styles” do not test anything they are told, but blindly believe in the will of the posts. These myths are romantic ideals that can be compared to religious beliefs. Savi and Odysseus, two characters in the novel who do not naively believe these myths, both act as Christlike figures to bring the “old-styles” to enlightenment. These two figures each play a role in bringing the truth to the four eloi, as Savi calls Daeman, Harman, Ada and Hannah, and preparing the rest of the humans for a world devoid of their lifelong romantic beliefs. The two Christlike figures ironically achieve their goal of enlightenment by dethroning the humans’ faith and preparing them for a life of secular humanism in which humans will have faith only in themselves.    

     The humans on Earth in Ilium live in a state of romantic idealism with a faith resembling religious belief; they have “a sense of grandeur and wonder at the cosmos and its works” without questioning anything about their universe (Mendlesohn 264). It has never occurred to them to question their beliefs until they meet Harman and, then even more so, Savi. Upon first meeting Savi, Hannah argues, “There are a million of us. There have always been a million of us,” but when Savi asks her how she knows this, Hannah replies unsteadily, “Why . . . I mean, everyone knows . . .” (269). The humans hold several beliefs that seem to be common knowledge but have never been proven; the objects of their faith seem to have always been. Farah Mendlesohn states that “the association of religion with intellectual degradation remains intact” in American society today (266); this connection is seen in Ilium as the post-literate society of humans, having undergone an “intellectual degradation,” live by faith in the unseen or the seen that they do not know how to explain.

          Although religion itself is never labeled in the novel, the humans are religious in a way, believing in unseen myths that the world has purportedly always known. Similar to religious belief in an everlasting deity, the humans’ faith in the voynix and the post-humans is inexplicable yet adamant. When Harman questions Daeman about the voynix, Daeman replies, “The voynix have always been here. They are permanent, fixed, eternal – moving, sometimes out of sight, but always present” (38). This description of the voynix closely parallels one definition of a “god”: “the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit” (M-W). The humans’ naïve trust in the voynix to protect them is revealed yet betrayed when the voynix fail to protect Daeman and he is eaten by an allosaurus. After this mishap, Harman begins asking questions about the voynix: “Where do they come from?” and “[A]re they . . . here for their own purposes?” (107). Ada and Hannah laugh at these “absurd question[s]” (107). Savi uncovers the unsubstantiated “old-style” belief in the posts as almighty and good when she begins telling the truth that what she knows about the posts. The “old-styles” are reluctant to accept the truth in what Savi tells them but cannot answer why they believe what they do; Daeman simply asks, “Why would the posts lie to us?” (169). Realizing the folly of his people’s beliefs, Harman leads three other eloi on an exploration journey that can be seen as a religious quest. Harman is the only one with specific intentions on this quest: to find a spaceship, travel between faxnodes, and explore the unknown. He wants to find the truth that lies outside of the world to which he has been restricted. Wondering what lies beyond the Earth is similar to pondering the much-asked, transcendental question: “What is the purpose of life?” Many turn to religious belief for answers. Harman, and eventually the other three, believes that the answers human life are not found on an earthly level but in an otherworldly place, namely in the “rings.” 

          Harman becomes dissatisfied living in the deluded world which believes the voynix have always been and nothing must be questioned, thus he rejects the romantic view of religion and embraces an intellectualist’s view. Robert A. Segal defines religion as viewed by two groups, intellectuals and myth-ritualists; embarking on their journey, the eloi begin to practice the intellectualist version of religion: “an explanation . . . wholly reflective” (174). The eloi’s journey is focused on gaining an explanation; Ada believes that Harman likely wants “to fly up to the rings and talk to the post-humans in person,” an idea that we learn is not too far-fetched from his actual goal (106). All four begin the questioning process for the first time, from Hannah and Ada asking Harman to all four asking Savi and Odysseus, depicting their thirst for explanation for all the mysteries about which they have not previously wondered. The second part of the definition, “wholly reflective,” is seen in the humans’ journey of processing all the knowledge they acquire. Reflection plays an emphatic role as well in Daeman’s personal growth from coward and “ladies’ man” to brave and a real friend (39). Religious symbolism penetrates the eloi’s journey and enhances the fact that they are on a journey of spiritual enlightenment. The archetypal cross appears in the Basin where the voynix dare not go; “there were black metal crosses rising above the level of the wheat . . . and, impaled on each cross, was what looked to be a pale, writhing, naked human body” (457). In the Basin where Savi, Daeman, and Harman go to escape the voynix, the crosses seem to be a source of protection for the three travelers, fulfilling their role as the traditional Christian symbol of salvation. If the image of a cross being protection were not enough, Simmons has placed an image of the dying or dead Christ upon each cross. The salvation this death symbolizes in Christianity has been experienced by the four travelers in escaping the voynix.

          Perhaps the earliest religious sign we see is before the eloi embark on the mission; Harman reveals that he seeks the “Wandering Jew.” This is two-fold since the Jews in general are considered God’s chosen people and because Christ himself was a Jew. Seeking Savi is representative of seeking Christ, the ultimate goal of a religious journey. Fulfilling the role of a Jew leading the eloi to enlightenment, Savi brings Daeman and Harman to Jerusalem, the Holy Land. The eloi require explanation about this because, until now, none of them know what Jerusalem or Jews are. In this, Savi is able to somewhat enlighten the eloi about religion, the whole concept of religion seemingly being part of the knowledge that has been lost on Earth.

         Not only is Savi a Christlike figure because she leads the four eloi to the truth, but several other aspects of her life parallel the life of Christ. Significantly, she is called “Wandering”; this characteristic is reminiscent of Christ as Luke 9:58 says, “The son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” Christ constantly has to keep moving and is rejected by most people, just as Savi has been rejected by the rest of the world. She is not taken up in the final fax, and now she cannot fax at all because she would be recognized and killed by “the voynix and the other watchers who wish [her] ill” (254). Knowing she is wished dead or injured by many is similar to the sentiments of Christ, as the Pharisees constantly plot to kill Him. Despite this knowledge and her inability to fax, Savi flies Daeman and Harman in a sonie to Jerusalem in order to ride the chairs to the rings. In this, she is able to introduce them to the traditional Holy Land, one main religious image in the novel, eventually instilling a sense of urgency in Daeman to “go get those nine thousand people out of that goddamned blue light” (719).

         Perhaps Daeman needs something as drastic as Savi’s death to realize this new purpose for his life; through her sacrificial death, Savi both attempts to save Daeman and Harman’s lives and allows Daeman to fulfill the mission that she has not been able to accomplish. When she, Harman, and Daeman are facing Caliban, she shoots Caliban, and the creature “[bites] through her neck with one powerful snap of his jaws” (588). Savi’s life, as long as the eloi have known her, consists of teaching the humans, motivating them to question things, and ultimately, sacrificing herself in an attempt to save Daeman and Harman. This sacrifice to bring salvation is similar to that of Christ, who cannot die until his three-year ministry is complete; the moment before he dies, Christ says, “It is finished,” because He knew the final part of his mission was to die (John 19:30). Savi’s mission of teaching the humans is complete, and she allows herself to be eaten so Daeman and Harman can live. Although Savi dies, the mission of enlightening the “old-style” humans does not end; Odysseus is also a Christlike figure and has begun preparing the rest of the humans on Earth for the days to come. The confusion that Daeman and Harman feel after Savi’s death is only a small portion compared to bewilderment that the rest of the humans will experience when the servitors break, the voynix disappear, and they can no longer be renewed in the firmary. While Daeman and Harman are fighting their battles in the firmary area, Odysseus is speaking to crowds at Ardis Hall who do not realize at the time that he is preparing them for the days ahead of them.

          Savi tells the “old-styles” that Odysseus needs to be housed somewhere he will be around a large number of people, but she does not explain why at the time; we find out that his mission is to speak to and teach as many people as he can. Christ’s mission was to tell everyone he could about the His heavenly Father and to give them the chance to be saved from their sins, yet his ministry only lasted about three years. Similarly, Odysseus speaks to people in order to prepare them for the days to come so they may survive, yet he knows when Ada asks that he will stay “[n]ot much longer” (598). Odysseus has no other apparent mission on Earth, at least in the humans’ world and time, so it can be assumed that his “ministry” is to prepare people and give them the chance to be saved when the war comes. Since his mission is not clear until he arrives at Ardis Hall, Odysseus is not revealed as a Christ figure until crowds begin gathering to hear him. Despite not being allowed to fax to hear him speak, people walk over a mile to get to Ardis; this reveals how captivating he must be and how much the people think they need to be taught what he has to say. Christ was always followed by a crowd of both desperate and curious people, and He taught and healed those people a large portion of His time during his ministry. Not only do people come to listen to Odysseus, but they ask questions and value his answers, even calling him “teacher” (596). This exact image is seen in the Bible as Christ’s followers call him “rabbi,” a Jewish title for a religious teacher.

         Another messianic characteristic of Odysseus is that some of the followers who stay with him faithfully are called disciples, and he sets expectations for them in his teachings. When the sky starts falling, “[m]ost of the guests had fled . . . but seventy disciples had stayed” (698). Christ trains twelve men over the course of his ministry and those men rarely leave his side; they learn from him and change their lives in accordance with his commands and example. Odysseus requires that his followers wrestle every day, and he sets up obstacle courses for the crowds to complete. The disciples do not know, however, that they are being prepared for something. Odysseus explains to the crowds that they should do everything with excellence, a concept with which they are not familiar, and explains the concepts of arete and agon (594-95). Having the disciples train physically and learn how to understand and better interact with the world around them is Odysseus’s way of preparing them to survive without servitors, voynix and firmaries.

         Long before Odysseus’s teachings begin, as we learn in the last chapter of Ilium, Savi and Odysseus, in a prophetic role, introduce turin cloths to Earth to serve as a tool for preparing people for the impending war. Centuries later, people are fascinated by these cloths and use them purely for enjoyment and escape. Since war is an unknown concept to the humans of this time, Savi and Odysseus, since they alone know what will happen, seek to educate the humans through the cloths and succeed in this covert mission. Similarly, Christ is privy to more information than the average human of his day. He knows the future, and he is able to tell people secret things about their lives by divine knowledge given from God. In the New Testament book of John, Christ tells a Samaritan woman, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” (John 4: 17-18). The woman is amazed at his knowledge, much like the eloi are when Odysseus reveals the original purpose of the turin cloths. In providing the cloths to the world with Savi, Odysseus serves as a prophet to Earth, further securing his messianic role.

         Odysseus, like Savi, sacrifices his life for his friends, the ultimate Christlike act. Before he leaves Ardis, Odysseus tells Hannah about his plans “to do some reconnaissance,” she asks how far his home is and he says, “If you only knew” (717). Odysseus is from a land unknown to the humans, much like Christ, who has come from a Heavenly home that the humans on Earth at the time could not comprehend. Once Odysseus leaves Ardis, Harman admits that Odysseus “is going to attack the voynix,” a likely fatal move, given his earlier would-have-been attack from the voynix (718). Odysseus is going to try to “stop them from doing whatever they’re planning to do”; this act is unselfish and motivated by concern for his friends’ lives (718). Upon death, Christ is believed, in Christianity, to have gone to Hell and fought Satan for the keys of death and now “[has] the keys of Death and Hades,” in effect, freeing those who believe in Him from this “Death” (Revelation 1:18). Odysseus’s looming fight against the voynix parallels Christ’s battle against “Death,” and, if he succeeds, Odysseus’s friends and the rest of the world will be saved from whatever destruction the voynix may have been planning.

         Daeman and Harman also commit an act for the good of mankind by destroying the firmary, and this act proves to be the first step in the humans’ shift from their religious beliefs to secular humanism. One critic explains secular humanism as “the denial of these beliefs: deity of God, existence of the soul, life after death, biblical account of creation, and absolute standards of right and wrong” (283). Many of these beliefs, or the eloi’s parallel beliefs, are dethroned in the process of the humans’ journey to enlightenment by Savi and Odysseus. Once Harman and Daeman have reached what should have been “the rings,” they discover, among many other surprising, disappointing findings, that the firmary is actually dangerous and must be destroyed. Discovering that most of their previous beliefs are false, no one has actually ascended to the rings to live forever, and the posts are not where they were thought to be, leaves them with an obligation to now live in complete “denial” and rejection of all that they have grown up believing. The humans are not left with a choice of what to believe; they have stumbled upon the truth they originally set out to find. Their belief in ascending to the rings, correlating to an afterlife, has been shattered, and their belief in a deity, revealed in reliance on the voynix and the posts, has disappeared.

         As their beliefs are no longer valid, the humans must start a new chapter in their lives, one of secular humanism, believing “humanity must be its own supreme being since there is none higher” (Tourney 284). When Savi dies, the reality that there is “none higher” hits Daeman and Harman, and they must become their own “supreme being.” They can no longer live in a world where myths keep them comfortable. This reliance on self is first seen when Daeman makes a firm decision for the first time and tells Harman, speaking of the firmary, “We have to destroy this whole damned place” (627). Without Savi acting as a Christlike figure for them to follow, Daeman and Harman must rely on themselves, as they begin to follow their own instincts, survive however they can, and, in turn, free the entire human race.

         Destroying the firmary not only saves the human race from the doom they may have faced if Caliban happened to be too hungry one day, but it forces all humans to become self-reliant, something to which they are unaccustomed. After Daeman and Harman return to Ardis, Ada exemplifies the process of developing self-reliance when she tells Harman, as he points out a weed in the flower bed, “Servitors used to weed the garden . . . I try, but I’m so busy with the meals and laundry and everything” (718). Ada has been somewhat prepared for this new way of life to come upon the humans, but the rest of the world has not. People are likely thrown into disarray when the servitors break and voynix disappear. Humans now have to cultivate self-reliance without the protection of anyone or anything else.

         Not only do the humans have to take control of the tasks the servitors had done for them, but each has to “be its own supreme being,” in accordance with secular humanism. One “[being] its own supreme being” means one must make decisions and rely on one’s abilities, as Daeman has done, as well as take control of one’s own existence. Although unknown to the people at Ardis, the firmary no longer exists; this realization will be most sobering to the humans. Everyone on Earth, for as long as any of them can remember, is faxed to the firmary every twenty years for renewal and is given a new body if the old one is destroyed somehow. Without the firmary, people have to take responsibility for their actions because now; Daeman’s realization when he is fighting Caliban will now be applied to all: “whatever happens next is forever” (677). The “supreme being” of the firmary no longer exists to ensure one hundred years of life. In this, humans are no longer able to place their faith in anything they cannot see; they must now have faith in only themselves, taking control of their own fates.

         This newfound secular humanism directly opposes the religious beliefs the humans hold in the beginning, as religion demands faith of its followers whereas humanism denies all belief in the unseen; this reversal from religion to humanism is brought about by the two prominent Christ figures. The religious quest of the eloi brings them into this humanism, as they personally discover that everything they believe is a lie. Furthermore, Savi and Odysseus enable this spiritual journey in the first place. Harman has no idea how to go about finding a spaceship unless he can find the “Wandering Jew,” and Hannah, Ada and Daeman likely would never have questioned anything about their lives had it not been for Harman leading them to Savi, whose role is to encourage the religious journey on which the four embark. Odysseus’s role is to prepare the world to be able to live in the secular humanism that will be required in the end. All of these changes would have caused such chaos that few would have survived if not for the subtle guidance from turin cloths and Odysseus teaching and preparing the humans at Ardis. Through teaching fighting skills and giving lessons on how to live life to the fullest, Odysseus allows many humans a better understanding of how life can be lived with no second chances. Humanity does not know how to “be its own supreme being” until Savi leads the four eloi to enlightenment and Odysseus prepares the rest of the humans to survive living in truth. Savi and Odysseus can be seen as secular saviors, as they greatly resemble Christ and His mission, yet, in the end, lead the humans on Earth away from their faith and cause them to find a new life in secular humanism, believing only in themselves.

Works Cited

Mendlesohn, Farah. “Religion and Science Fiction.” Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Ed. Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2003.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online. 2009. Merriam Webster, Incorporated. 12 November 2009.

Simmons, Dan. Ilium. New York: HarperTorch, 2003.

Segal, Robert. A. “The Myth-Ritualist Theory of Religion.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 19.2 (1980): 173-185. Print.

Tourney, Christopher P. “Evolution and Secular Humanism.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 61.2 (1993): 275-301. Print.