Matters of Life and the Beyond Vol. 1

Written by the sarusan maester Alonso Bodrii, this book speaks of the several studies and investigations the scholar made during his life.

Matters of Life and the Beyond

In the first few chapters of the book, Alonso describes and explains the concept of life and death, in which, according to himself and other specialists, a soul is an indivisible and indestructible thing and cannot be undone. It is created at the moment of conception and never ceases to expire. At this point, he does mention the common belief which tells how a soul might "wither" in Skuggar, but he does not believe this fully, saying that soul simply becomes lost and forgets about itself in the shadow realm. He follows on explaining how the soul is pure by itself and yearns for good and order. In this matter, he explains, like the Exodists do, that the soul is responsible for it's own fate, and so, whether it ends up in Kaorar or Larianor, it isn't because of the decision of some higher being, but because the soul insists on cleansing itself, but those that go to the realm of suffering end up trapped there, never being able to escape.
In the second part, the scholar writes how several other maesters investigate the matter of death and if it would be possible to bring back from the other realms a deceased one, and in this affair, he says there is no way, as it is impossible to put a soul back in a dead body, reason as to why necromancy can only animate the dead, not bring them back. However, he declares to have investigated if it would be possible to at least commune or speak to the souls that have passed away, saying it is a real possibility, given one could reach them. In a long series of chapters he explains how his experiments pointed that the realms are all connected in different ways, saying that some could be physically connected, and thus could be reached by the mortals. Regarding Larianor, he speaks several times about the need of the Golden Scepter, but does not describe the item nor it's location, and says it is the key to reaching the realm of the gods. On the other hand, he says Kaorar could be reached by sailing to the End as written below:

Unlike Himmel, who stands high above the clouds and beyond our grasp, the inferior realm lies somewhere around or beneath. The passages of Mörkt Nedan are treacherous and could potentially lead anywhere, and thus it is fruitless, and so, only one path remains, which could only be attained by sailing to the End, towards doom.

Purpose

Describe and report Alonso's research.

Type

Study, Scientific

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

710 EL