Wielding a Red Sword

Mym, an Indian prince, defies his father's plans for an arranged marriage, instead joining a travelling circus. He meets Orb, who teaches him to manage a stutter through song. He is soon discovered, and his father arranges for him to marry a princess by the name of Rapture of Malachite. After fighting against this for days on end, he finally realises that Rapture is worth loving, and so concedes to the marriage. However, a plot to separate him from her results in his decision to become the Incarnation of War.

Through the course of living as Mars, Rapture takes up a life of her own and decides that she does not need him any more. Satan arranges, subtly, a demoness for his new companion, hoping to get Mars in his debt that way. In the end, this backfires and he ends up with two loves in his life.

His ultimate goal was to use his position to ameliorate some of the suffering being caused by war on Earth, and is surprised by Satan's encouragement. Soon he realises the subtle importances of human war and conflict: under certain circumstances, human suffering is increased, not decreased, by abstinence from armed response. Satan's plan is to have an inexperienced office-holder in the position of the Incarnation of War, such that he can manipulate the course of armed conflicts on Earth, allowing some wars through and blocking the progression of others, such that the overall balance of evil in the world is increased.

He accomplished the replacement of the previous Mars by facilitating the cessation of all conflict in the world—not only war, but bar brawls and even minor squabbles between children counts as conflict—every time this happens in history, the Incarnation of War retires and passes on into the afterlife. Mym stepped into the office at a time when global violence was just being recommenced, and thus became an opportunity for Satan to manipulate a naïve Mars.

Part of this process was a plot by which Satan managed to trap Mym in Hell. Mym eventually led a revolution of the lost souls and secured an escape route, employing lessons from Miyamoto Musashi's famous treatise, The Book of Five Rings, to defeat Satan in a one-on-one battle. However, during his absence, Satan has manipulated the geopolitical situation such that international tensions everywhere are at an all-time high, and the world is on the brink of apocalypse.

This results in virtually every government everywhere adopting martial law, as normal democratic process is eminently non-viable. A result of this, and an important objective for Satan, is that Luna Kaftan has become sidelined, unable to fulfill the prophecy that she would rise into political office and stand as a bulwark against Satan.

Mym realises Satan's underlying objective, and forces a confrontation on terms unfavourable to Satan—he travels to the Doomsday Clock, a signifier of how close the world is at any given time to Armageddon, and there employs the powers specific to his office to escalate world violence and bring War to ultimate fruition—Judgement Day.

The crux is this: that Satan is not yet ready for the Final Judgment to happen, as the current balance of souls on Earth is favourable to God—i.e. God would get a greater proportion of the souls, signifying (in this fictional universe) the ultimate victory of Good. At the very last minute, Satan is forced to concede and withdraw. Mym lowers his Sword and returns the world to a state of relative peace.

Mym learns that his responsibility as War is not to promote war and violence, but to make sure that conflicts are handled fairly.

War's method of transfer is unique in several ways. For one, he is the only Incarnation that takes breaks between officeholders – there are short periods where he is simply not needed. And secondly, the Red Sword in fact chooses the new candidate, rather than the previous officeholder. War is forcibly retired the instant that there is no war left on Earth, anywhere. With worldwide peace, his office is no longer necessary, and he is sent on to Heaven or Hell. As soon as a new war begins, however, the Red Sword activates once more and seeks out an appropriate officeholder. It looks for those with warrior training, proficient in strategy and weapon use, who is both a member of one of the sides in the newly declared war, and who desires the position – measured by rage and bloodlust at the time of the war.

Dave Langford reviewed Wielding a Red Sword for White Dwarf #93, and stated that "What dissatisfies is the introduction of tantalizing conflicts which aren't developed. How can a devout Hindu begin to accept Anthony's massively Christian heaven and hell? No credible answer emerges."[1]

• Review by Michael M. Levy (1986) in Fantasy Review, December 1986[2]
• Review by Andy Sawyer (1987) in Paperback Inferno, #68
• Review by Phyllis McDonald (1987) in Interzone, #22 Winter 1987
• Review by Don D'Ammassa (1988) in Science Fiction Chronicle, #101 February 1988

• Wielding a Red Sword title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database