Secular Saviors: Guidance from

Religion to Humanism in Ilium

Heather Castille
In Dan Simmonss 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 oldstyles 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 nave 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 peoples
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 intellectualists 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 elois 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 Daemans personal growth from coward and
ladies man to brave and a real friend (39). Religious symbolism penetrates
the elois 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 Gods 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 Savis death to realize this

new purpose for his life; through her sacrificial death, Savi both attempts to save
Daeman and Harmans 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). Savis 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). Savis 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 Savis 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. Christs
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 Christs 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 Odysseuss way of
preparing them to survive without servitors, voynix and firmaries.

Long before Odysseuss 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
theyre 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). Odysseuss looming fight against the voynix parallels Christs battle against
Death, and, if he succeeds, Odysseuss 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 elois 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 Im 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 ones abilities, as Daeman has done, as well as take control of ones
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; Daemans
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.
Odysseuss 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.