Overlord (species)

The Overlords are a species featured in Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End".

Physical characteristics and culture

They are bipedal beings that are larger than humans both in size and proportion. This is likely because their home world has a weaker gravity field than Earth's. An observation from the character George Greggson reveals that their body is mostly covered with a hard black external armored shell and it may be their only supporting framework because it is never known if they possess an internal skeleton. Their main defining features are large wings, a small pair of horns on their heads, and long tails with an arrowhead-like tip which is used for streamlined flight, similar to certain species of birds. Because of this, they can be compared to the traditional image of demons. Direct sunlight is painful to them and can only bear staying in it for mere seconds before finding cover. To remain in sunlight, they wear "dark glasses" as described by Clarke. Both of their hands consist of five fingers and dual opposing thumbs. They have gill-like organs on the side of their faces which has a double action breathing cycle for them. Though they can breathe oxygen, they prefer their own specific gas and carry around canisters of it on their waist belts to refresh themselves. They have also mastered the use of light speed travel with a mechanism built into their space ships known as the "Stardrive" and this has given them the freedom to explore the universe.

Their current home world orbits a bright red star that is part of the Carina constellation, called the NGS 549672. It is not their place of origin as it is revealed they evolved on a smaller world. On their home world, their architecture is massive and is designed only for species that are capable of flight. If there are any walkways placed on a comfortable level, they are limited. Thousands of small cities exist on the world and each one is devoted to a branch of scientific knowledge and study. They even have museums much like humans do except on a larger scale, covering all sorts of worlds.

The Overlords have a split view of humanity. On one hand, they show pity to humanity as they can not achieve the reach of stars. On the other hand, they view them with jealousy and envy. This is because of the "Overmind"'s choice to collect humanity into itself while the Overlords have not yet achieved the ascension.

The Overmind

The Overlords are loyal to an entity that is composed of the energy of other alien species known as the "Overmind" which can be considered a god to their species. The Overmind itself was once a material organism but for reasons never revealed, became a being of pure energy and has achieved near omnipotence. Their servitude to the Overmind is why they journeyed to Earth. It is revealed later in the story that their current physical make up is the peak of their evolution and the "Overmind" will not allow them to join a higher plane of existence with it because of that. It wants the next stage of human evolution for reasons never revealed though at first it sent the Overlords to stop humanity engaging into search of telekinesis study of the paranormal. Karellen, the Overlord Supervisor on Earth, revealed that if humanity were to discover the secrets to the phenomena, they would have become a "telepathic cancer" that would have posed a threat to the Overmind. But after studying humanity, the Overmind saw humanity as a species capable of joining it.

Karellen

Karellen is the "Supervisor" of the Overlords on Earth, and is the most notable of all the Overlords in the story. He is the only character who is present throughout the entire story. He befriends the Secretary General of the United Nations Rikki Stormgren and has interviews with him every few weeks in the novel's "The Earth and the Overlords" section. Karellen is hidden in a dark room, behind a large glass, which means Stormgren and Karellen never meet face-to-face; this is because of Karellen's belief that humanity was not ready to see the Overlords for who they were in that period of time. The first humans to see Karellen (although it is implied Stormgren glimpses him after shining a flashlight through the glass during their final meeting) are two young children by Karellen's request, when the half-century long secrecy of the Overlords comes to an end and Karellen's ship descends into a plain. Throughout the story, Karellen helps guide humanity into a peaceful co-existence with the planet and the Overlords though also guiding them towards their next stage of evolution.

According to Stormgren in the short story that would become Childhood's End, "Guardian Angel", Karellen is a professor of "astropolitics" on a world called Skyrondel (which may be the name of the Overlord's planet but Clarke did not list the name when he wrote Childhood's End) and initially refused to come to Earth until he was forced to by his superiors (This was changed to being sent by the Overmind). He also runs a private zoo.

Other notable Overlords

Rashaverak is first thought to be a low level Overlord but he is actually an assistant to Karellen. He is first seen living with Rupert Boyce reading a book in his library and he is shown to gain a large amount of knowledge in a short time through reading. Thanthalteresco is called "The Inspector" when he visits New Athens. He is seen wearing a "silvery cloth" over his armor on the second day of his inspection of the island. Vindarten is only mentioned when Jan Rodricks arrives at their homeworld. He is described as having a poor understanding of the human language at first but improves quickly and he helps Jan navigate through the Overlord's cities. He takes Jan to a museum and many creatures from parts of the universe are seen. The most notable sight is a giant eye from a cyclopean creature.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/jcsherwood/ACClinks2.htm Arthur C. Clarke links & image archive]