The Shrike: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT [[Shrike (disambiguation)]] |
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{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}} |
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:''This article refers to a fictional creature, for other uses see [[Shrike (disambiguation)]].'' |
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'''The Shrike''' is a half-mechanical, half-organic creature from [[Dan Simmons]]' science fiction [[Hyperion Cantos]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/25/books/science-fiction.html?ref=bookreviews |title=SCIENCE FICTION - New York Times |first=Gerald |last=Jonas |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 25, 1990 |publisher=[[New York Times Company|NYTC]] |location=[[New York, NY|New York]] |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=March 8, 2012}}</ref> The Shrike stands roughly three meters in height and is described as being composed of [[razorwire]], thorns, blades, and cutting edges, having fingers like scalpels and long, curved toe blades. Though metallic in appearance ("quicksilver over chrome"), the Shrike is also described as an 'organic' machine, humanoid in a general way, but with four 'oddly jointed' arms and intense, multi-faceted ruby eyes. It has the ability to control the flow of time, and may thus appear to travel infinitely fast. |
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The Shrike appears in all four Hyperion Cantos books and is an enigma; its purpose isn't revealed until the second book, but even then left malleable. The explanation is changed significantly in the latter two books (The ''[[Hyperion_Cantos#Endymion|Endymion]]'' duology). The Shrike appears to act both autonomously and as a servant of some unknown force or entity, and in the first two Hyperion books, exists solely in the area around the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. In the latter two, it is effectively unfettered. |
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==Abilities== |
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The Shrike does not normally communicate, although once the Shrike communicated with the poet Martin Silenus by forcing one of Silenus's arms to write its responses. Preferring to perform vivisections on its victims, the Shrike generally 'appears' near its victims and blinks about them before killing them in a flash of opening flesh and gore; sometimes it leaves its victims alive and transports them to an eternity of impalement upon an enormous artificial 'tree of thorns' in Hyperion's distant future. The tree of thorns is described as unimaginably large, alive with the agonized writhing of countless human victims of all ages and races. |
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Throughout the books the Shrike can travel through time, appearing to move much faster than light. The Shrike was assumed to be a prisoner of the Hyperion time tombs' anti-entropic fields (the 'time tides'), but as these degraded, the Shrike ranged farther and eventually was observed elsewhere in the galaxy. |
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Resistant to virtually all conventional weaponry, the Shrike's speed and ability to control time allows it to dodge with ease (even laser strikes). It can withstand direct hits from human weapons, such as plasma rifles, with no measurable effect. Upon suffering injury in combat, the Shrike is seen to lose a large amount of cabling likened to intestines, but in no way loses its abilities as a result. |
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The Shrike proves to be more than competent at hand-to-hand combat; it is itself a gigantic cutting utensil, and its control over the flow of time make it nigh invincible. In spite of its impressive abilities, however, the Shrike is not indestructible and is vulnerable to other entities employing similar technology. Rhadamanth Nemes, an agent of the [[TechnoCore]] was able to hold it at bay for five minutes using time-manipulating technology. |
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==Origin== |
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Surrounded in mystery, the object of fear, hatred, and even worship by members of the Church of the Final Atonement (the Shrike Cult), the Shrike's origins are uncertain. The Shrike was created in the distant future and sent backwards through time in the Time Tombs. In ''[[Endymion]]'' and ''[[The Rise of Endymion]]'', the Shrike acts as a protector of [[Aenea]] against TechnoCore assassins. Aenea states that she does not control the Shrike, and that although it may assist her to further the interests of its masters, the Shrike is never a friend. The seed of the Shrike's persona is taken from its nemesis, the warrior [[Fedmahn Kassad]]. |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shrike}} |
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[[Category:Characters in written science fiction|Shrike, The]] |
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[[Category:Hyperion]] |
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[[cs:Štír (Kantos Hyperionu)]] |
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[[es:El Alcaudón]] |
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[[fr:Gritche]] |
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[[he:השרייק האגדי]] |
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[[ro:The Shrike]] |
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[[ru:Шрайк (Гиперион)]] |
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Latest revision as of 03:54, 15 June 2012
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