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Terms
The eldils (or elidila) are otherworldly beings similar to angels. They are usually imperceptible to humans and reside in “Deep Heaven,” the area between planets that humans know as outer space. Most eldils are good and serve Maleldil, the Space Trilogy’s Christ figure, but the eldils of Earth have turned wicked and become Macrobes.
Eldil Quotes in That Hideous Strength
The That Hideous Strength quotes below are all either spoken by Eldil or refer to Eldil. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7
Quotes
“[Y]ou do not fail in obedience through lack of love, but have lost love because you never attempted obedience.”
[…] “I thought love meant equality,” she said […]. “I thought it was in their souls that people were equal.”
“You were mistaken,” said he gravely; “that is the last place where they are equal. Equality before the law, equality of incomes––that is very well. Equality guards life; it doesn’t make it. It is medicine, not food. […] Those who are enjoying something, or suffering something together, are companions. Those who enjoy or suffer one another, are not. […] It is not your fault. […] No one has ever told you that obedience––humility––is an erotic necessity.”
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Chapter 10
Quotes
“Do you place yourself in the obedience,” said the Director, “in obedience to Maleldil?”
"Sir,” said Jane, “I know nothing of Maleldil. But I place myself in obedience to you.”
“It is enough for the present,” said the Director. “This is the courtesy of Deep Heaven: that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you knew. It will not be enough for always. He is very jealous. He will have you for no one but Himself in the end. But for tonight, it is enough.”
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Chapter 11
Quotes
She did not doubt that the eldils existed; nor did she doubt the existence of this stronger and more obscure being whom they obeyed…whom the Director obeyed, and through him the whole household […]. If it had ever occurred to her to question whether all these things might be the reality behind what she had been taught at school as “religion,” she had put the thought aside. The things belonged, for her, to different worlds. On the one hand, terror of dreams, rapture of obedience, […] and the great struggle against an imminent danger; on the other, the smell of pews, horrible lithographs of the Saviour […]. But this time, if it was really to be death, the thought would not be put aside. […] Maleldil might be, quite simply and crudely, God. There might be a life after death: a Heaven: a Hell.
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Chapter 16
Quotes
Therefore [Wither] knew that everything was lost. It is incredible how little this knowledge moved him. It could not, because he had long ceased to believe in knowledge itself. What had been in his far-off youth a merely aesthetic repugnance to realities that were crude or vulgar, had deepened and darkened, year after year, into a fixed refusal of everything that was in any degree other than himself. […] He had willed with his whole heart that there should be no reality and no truth, and now even the imminence of his own ruin could not wake him. The last scene of Dr. Faustus where the man raves and implores on the edge of Hell is, perhaps, stage fire. The last moments before damnation are not often so dramatic.
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Get the entire That Hideous Strength LitChart as a printable PDF.
Eldil Term Timeline in That Hideous Strength
The timeline below shows where the term Eldil appears in That Hideous Strength. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
...to Mars. Ransom’s plan to save the human race is based on advice from the eldils he met on his travels, who are opposed to the corrupted eldils of Earth. Jane...
(full context)
...Merlin is buried under Bragdon Wood. The N.I.C.E.’s interest in the Wood speaks to an eldilic influence on the organization. Ransom believes science is good in and of itself, but it...
(full context)
Chapter 10
...Denniston to follow Jane to search for Merlin. Ransom asks Jane to pledge obedience to Maleldil, but she only agrees to obey Ransom.
(full context)
Chapter 11
...but the lost age of Britain that he represents. Jane wrestles with the implications of Maleldil being God, whom she doesn’t think she believes in. The group sees a “tramp” with...
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Chapter 12
...uniquely capable of affection, the need for companionship is universal. The conversation turns to the eldils, whom Ransom admits are not made for human company, but whom (like Maleldil Himself) became...
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Chapter 13
...tests Ransom’s knowledge to prove that he does in fact serve the Oyéresu (the ruling eldils of the planets). The other residents of the Manor fall asleep in Merlin’s presence, and...
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...Malacandra and Perelandra (Mars and Venus), and Merlin realizes that Ransom’s claim to serve the eldils is not a figure of speech. The wizard pledges service to Ransom.
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Chapter 16
...and the three of them pray before the Head, which is powered by Earth’s evil eldils. The Head demands a sacrifice, so Straik and Wither kill Filostrato. The Head demands another,...
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Chapter 17
...tells them that she had a vision of Merlin overtaken by the powers of the eldils. An earthquake strikes, the first in a series. Feverstone crashes his car on the way...
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