Biography:
Wooden Heart: Suibhne is the 18th emanation of Ashtara. He was emanated to replace Ailann at a point when the emanations believed that Tara was dead. Ailann was unable to cope with his grief and turned to alcohol abuse. Suibhne was emanated as a substitute archon, but without the Chosen to provide a focal point, Suibhne lost his sanity.
Suibhne’s behavior is erratic and occasionally terrifying, although he manages to fulfil his primary function – he keeps the power grid operational and controls the environment on Dolparessa. He decides to assume the persona of Napoleon as traditionally appropriate to a madman; he is obsessed with historical accuracy. Most of his antics – such as turning the cabinets in the war room to custard, or making Lord Danak’s clothing into see-through synthetics – are harmless, but the idea of such incredible power in the hands of a madman foments revolution in the Domha’vei. Suibhne also scandalizes the Convocation of the Forest when he single-handedly murders the larch grove at Court Emmere “in the fashion of Carlo Gesualdo.” The emanations understand this to mean that like Cillian, Suibhne is one of the few emanations with the ability to kill.
As part of a plan by General Panic, Suibhne is preyed upon by Covey, the CenGov attaché who is also a psychologist and telepathic black ops. Employed to assist the mad god in regaining his sanity, his real aim is to subtly manipulate Suibhne until he believes that Tara felt revolted by Ashtara, but used him for his power. Covey persuades Suibhne to commit suicide.
Unbeknownst to Suibhne, Tara is alive. General Panic tries to convince her that the shuttle explosion was Ash’s attempt to kill her – that Ash really wants independence, and the only way to achieve it is by destroying the Chosen. Suibhne’s emanation and behavior are a result of Ashtara’s guilt – he is driven mad by remorse and lack of a Chosen to focus his sensorium.
Tara is not entirely convinced, and sneaks back to confront Suibhne. She finds him just as he is preparing for his own immolation. They manage to figure out that they have been set up, but not before Suibhne admits part of the reason he believed that Tara was disgusted by Ash: Covey told him General Panic revealed to Tara that Ross had been raped on Panic’s orders. Ashtara completely buys into the Cu’enashti taboo against rape victims, and so Suibhne is shocked that Tara’s response is not to reject Ross, but instead to rage infuriated against General Panic. Tara and Suibhne then set a trap for Covey and General Panic; Suibhne pretends to set Atlas on fire, but he employs firebird oil, which burns at a much lower temperature than wood. Covey and Panic are taken into custody and tried.
It should be noted that there is always a question of whether Ashtara understood the truth of what was happening even when his emanations did not – the fact that Suibhne was named after a mad king of Ireland known for sitting in the branches of trees to recite poetry indicates some kind of foreknowledge.
Tara is grateful to Suibhne and sympathetic to his ordeal. She also recognizes him as having a peculiar kind of genius. Thus she is tolerant of his eccentricities, even encouraging them, such as the time they break into the Clover Apollinaire and put fake mustaches on all the statues.
Eden Blues: We first encounter Suibhne when Tara requests that Ari take Gyre in order to communicate with the Atlas emanations. In the Atlas pleroma, he encounters Whirljack and Suibhne, his two “brother” branches from which he is constructed. Ari feels sympathy for them, but not enough to sway his conviction that Goliath is better for Tara than Atlas. Suibhne half-jokingly suggests that they try to seduce Ari, which scandalizes Whirljack. Then he suggests that Cuinn should invent a time-machine so that they could go shopping in Napoleonic France. The visit ends without much resolved, but Suibhne proclaims prophetically, “I’m not so crazy as to think I can fight against God.”
Dermot reveals that Ari, the first emanation of Goliath, was specifically constructed from Suibhne because of his ability to function in the absence of the Chosen, balanced with Whirljack’s drive and charisma.
Suibhne is called to testify before the SongLuminants. His historical obsession has shifted abruptly from Napoleon to Admiral Nelson. He tells a thinly-veiled autobiographical tale about a sentient penguin on Volparnu. When pressed, he attempts to tell his own story. Dermot reveals that Ashtara must’ve known that Tara had faked her death because He had always known about the vision of Tara’s Destiny. Suibhne reacts with an insane fit of rage and grief, shocking and frightening the SongLuminants.
The Poison Garden: At the beginning of the novel, Suibhne attempts Tarlach’s Tara-therapy, but it doesn’t result in an improvement to his sanity. Tommy theorizes that it’s because Suibhne was “intended to be broken” by Ashtara.
When Seth emanates, he reveals that he is the “brother” of Suibhne and Blackjack, causing Tara much consternation.
In the second part of the book, Suibhne is the narrator of “The Bathtub Prophecy.” It is the first time he begins to refer to himself extensively in the third person. After a meandering narrative, he reveals that he pasted photographic portraits of the emanations onto a fleshiwood army of toy soldiers so that Tara could “have them all at once.” Tara, understanding Suibhne’s intent, invites him into the bath. After a harmless and rambling conversation about broccoli, with Tara continually humoring him, Suibhne tells Tara that she should not be afraid because he knows how to make it all right when she dies.
Perpetual Rose: When Lens has a vision of Tara’s death, the other emanations are devastated, but Suibhne reiterates his prophecy that “all will be well.” True to his word, at the proper moment, he tells Tara to initiate the Aion just before her craft is fired upon by a CenGov ship. Till, the Archon of Nightside, emanates for the first time, armed with the knowledge obtained by Lorcan of the absorption techniques of the Denolin Turym. He is able to absorb Tara’s consciousness into the pleroma and emanate a body for her.
Rand accesses Suibhne’s memory about the growth of Canopus. Suibhne begins by making an axe out of nothing, revealing that he has the archon’s power to create ex nihilo. Tara comes upon him and assumes that he is trying to attack Atlas, but in fact, he is obtaining a root cutting. He reveals that his mysterious comment about Tara’s death in “The Bathtub Prophecy” referred to the incident at Nightside. He instructs her to plant the root stock, making a penjing pot and temporarily using the Staff of the Matriarch as a growth stick. The real intent of this is to direct nul-energy into the pot, which is eventually embedded with pos-matter crystals and hooked into the power grid. He claims that this will “fix” something, but cannot explain further.
Tara theorizes that Suibhne, and then Jamey and Davy, were emanated because they are inarticulate, and Ash is hiding something from her. She initially believes that it is the reason for the creation of Canopus, but it turns out to have a much simpler reason* – After the separation caused by the growth of Goliath and Yggdrasil, he wanted to create a tree that was capable of being portable so that he could always accompany Tara.
At the end of Perpetual Rose, Suibhne creates a deck of trading cards featuring Tommy’s table of vital statistics and Driscoll’s paintings. He tells Till to give them to Tara.
*There is yet another reason, but it won’t be revealed until The Persistence of Weeds.
The Portable Grove: Suibhne is supposed to take part in Experiment 3, but to his dismay, he isn’t pollinated. He does make the suggestion that Constantine draw on his body with Tara’s stylus, resulting in the idea that Constantine fetishistically collect tattoos from each emanation. He also steals a pair of Tara’s panties to give to Cillian.
Suibhne’s failure to get his model airplanes to fly leaves to Davy’s development of the fokkerflies. Suibhne realizes – but doesn’t reveal until the gathering at Sloane’s – that the little animate airplanes can be used to facilitate cross-pollination. He asks Tara to come see his flat, which turns out to be a complete reproduction of the Moika Palace, an ancient Russian architectural landmark which was the site of Rasputin’s murder. Tara agrees to host the final experiment – an orgy with the theme of the Nine Vices of Victory – at Suibhne’s palace.
During the second stress test, Malachi explains that Suibhne is the emanation closest to expressing Ashtara’s mind because Suibhne doesn’t impose rational structures over his trans-rational conclusions. Everything in Suibhne’s world – from the penguins to the palace – symbolizes a problem Ash is trying to work through.
Suibhne takes part in the fifth stress test, where he takes the part of Reefer, a Magellanic penguin in Axel’s play. The play is an odd composite of Shakespeare and Cu’enashti symbolism. Suibhne is continually upset by the violation of historical continuity. Axel and Suibhne discover that each had put the other as his cross-pollination request; they grow closer at Tommy’s drinking party.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Suibhne Ennis (Gaelic: well-going, also a reference to the legend of mad Suibhne; Gaelic: island.) |
| Numeration | 18th emanation of Ashtara; 18th branch of Atlas; 61 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 34 |
| Hotness | 7/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.831 meters tall, cock size 16.53 cm when erect. |
| Description | A handsome rounded face which can seem alternately stern or childlike. Long fiery hair, sometimes kept in a ponytail. Imposing build; wears an array of bizarre fancy-dress costumes, most recently Admiral Nelson. |
| Skills | There’s method in his madness – often his ramblings will reveal a subconscious conclusion of the Ashtara entity. He is also capable of dealing with painful situations which would break the others. He can assume the powers of the Archon. Also, he is a stickler for historical accuracy, and possesses a remarkable depth of knowledge – it’s quite possible that were he sane, he would’ve been a historian. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | There’s just no telling. Fascinated with penguins, but that doesn’t seem to be a sex thing. |
| Average Duration of Play | 12 minutes, 45 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Larix decidua, the European larch. |
| Fixed Star | Keid, the broken eggshell (ο2 Eri). |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Minchiate trump Il Matto, the madman. |
| Function | Creative stabilization. |
| Official Title | His Most Sublime and Eminent Radiance, Suibhne Ennis, 3rd Archon of Skarsia. |
| His Prophecy | A magician’s trick. |
| Dessert | Nau’gsh Tarte Tatin (upside-down fruitcake) |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Natural branch growth resulting from the trauma believing Tara dead. Used as a template for his half-brothers on Goliath, Ari and Seth. |
| Nul-history | Discovered by the young Ashtara entity; recruited by Make (Davy) and Strong (Cillian). |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Impulsiveness, designated Capricious. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 283 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |