The Unmaker
Encyclopedia
The Unmaker is the main antagonist in Orson Scott Card
's alternate history
/fantasy
series The Tales of Alvin Maker
. Never directly confronted, it is a supernatural force that breaks apart matter and aims to destroy and consume everything and everyone. Essentially, entropy
as a conscious and incredibly destructive entity.
Aside from generally opposing all life, the Unmaker is the nemesis of one Alvin Maker in particular.
That Alvin is heavily magical doesn't matter, but he is a Maker, a person of exceptional power diametrically opposite in purpose. Furthermore, there's something to be said for the argument that Alvin is affiliated with another higher element - a not particularly subtle detail, given the Unmaker's nature. It makes repeated attempts on his life, mostly by inducing accidents at Alvin's childhood (especially by drowning, since eroding water has a natural affinity to it) and increasingly by influencing people later on.
To make something is to oppose the Unmaker, but a point often made is that this is futile. By natural law the Unmaker can tear down faster than any man can build. On the other hand, Making cares nothing about natural law. As Taleswapper reveals to a seven-year-old Alvin, the creation of what's known as the Crystal City could defeat, even destroy, the Unmaker. This then becomes Alvin's mission in life.
The Unmaker is usually undetectable to most people, though Alvin can detect its attention as a shimmering around his field of vision. It manifests when it needs to in order to tempt people into war and destruction, in which case it takes the most effective shape; a priest would see an avenging angel, a slave-owner a great overseer, etc. It won't appear to those who destroy willingly - they serve its cause already.
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
's alternate history
Alternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
/fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
series The Tales of Alvin Maker
The Tales of Alvin Maker
The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of novels by Orson Scott Card that revolve around the experiences of a young man, Alvin Miller, who discovers he has incredible powers for creating and shaping things around him...
. Never directly confronted, it is a supernatural force that breaks apart matter and aims to destroy and consume everything and everyone. Essentially, entropy
Entropy
Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
as a conscious and incredibly destructive entity.
Aside from generally opposing all life, the Unmaker is the nemesis of one Alvin Maker in particular.
That Alvin is heavily magical doesn't matter, but he is a Maker, a person of exceptional power diametrically opposite in purpose. Furthermore, there's something to be said for the argument that Alvin is affiliated with another higher element - a not particularly subtle detail, given the Unmaker's nature. It makes repeated attempts on his life, mostly by inducing accidents at Alvin's childhood (especially by drowning, since eroding water has a natural affinity to it) and increasingly by influencing people later on.
To make something is to oppose the Unmaker, but a point often made is that this is futile. By natural law the Unmaker can tear down faster than any man can build. On the other hand, Making cares nothing about natural law. As Taleswapper reveals to a seven-year-old Alvin, the creation of what's known as the Crystal City could defeat, even destroy, the Unmaker. This then becomes Alvin's mission in life.
The Unmaker is usually undetectable to most people, though Alvin can detect its attention as a shimmering around his field of vision. It manifests when it needs to in order to tempt people into war and destruction, in which case it takes the most effective shape; a priest would see an avenging angel, a slave-owner a great overseer, etc. It won't appear to those who destroy willingly - they serve its cause already.