Circle Trilogy

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The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker is a series of books about a man named Thomas Hunter who, after a head injury, wakes up in an alternate reality every time he goes to sleep. The stakes are raised when he realises that a deadly virus is about to be unleased on our world, and that the 'Other Earth' is also being threatened with catastrophe. The pace quickens as links and parallels between the two earths are revealed, and clock begins to run down for both worlds.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Black

The Circle Trilogy is a Christian novel about a fantasy world designed to teach religious lessons, much like The Chronicles of Narnia. In Black: The Birth of Evil, the first novel of the trilogy, Hunter discovers the alternate world of the colored forest which is gradually revealed to be a world in which the Fall of Man never occurred: Tanis, the "firstborn," and his wife have populated a world of unfallen people who experience no pain, want for nothing, are overseen by angelic figures - white bats called Roush- and desire only the thrill of worshipping God, called "Elyon" in this world, which is Hebrew for "Most High" (see Elyon) who appears sometimes as a boy. While Hunter experiences his own redemption for a sinful life in the real world, he learns about Teeleh, a batlike Satan-figure in the world of the black forest who wants nothing other than to rule over the people and world of the colored forest. Teeleh succeeds in tempting Tanis to accept his water (analogous to the forbidden fruit), which permits him to cross into the colored forest with his army of bats (called Shataiki), who destroy everything and kill many.

Meanwhile, a Left Behind-like premillennialism scenario is playing out in the world of Earth (called "Ancient Earth" in the world of the colored forest, which also sees itself as Earth). Each time Hunter sleeps in one world he awakens in the other. In "Ancient Earth," a terrorist group is attempting to create a biological plague through mutation of a vaccine. The group's plan is to offer the cure for the plague to the world at the cost of the sovereignty of the world's nations. The inhabitants of the world of the colored forest have knowledge of Ancient Earth's complete history, including events which have not happened yet. They refer to this time as the "Great Deception." The books strongly imply this event was the beginning of the great apostasy and the reign of Antichrist. In the last book of the trilogy, White, the Great Deception is now referred to as Teeleh's seduction of Tanis (since the Great Deception on "Ancient Earth" is prevented).

At the conclusion of Black, the few survivors are directed by Elyon to seven forests on the other side of the world. There they are to bathe once daily in lakes provided by Elyon which cleanse them of a leprosy-like disease that has spread over the whole world. They are given a total of seven rules to follow, including the commandment that they must never allow blood to come in contact with the lakes.

The title "Black" refers to the color of the Shataiki and their forest, which in contrast to the luminescent colored forest is composed entirely of black trees; after Tanis accepts the water of Teeleh and the Shitaiki invade, the colored forest turns black as well.

[edit] Red

In Red: The Heroic Rescue, Thomas has spent years in the "dream world," having been persuaded by his new wife there to eat a fruit which will prevent him from dreaming. Only eight hours have passed in the world of Earth, but the plague has been released and the terrorists are making their demands.

Thomas is in a world torn by conflict. Followers of Elyon live in the seven forests and continue to bathe daily, as instructed. However, the deserts outside of the forests are home to the Horde, with a much larger population than the forests. Members of the Horde (individually referred to as "Scabs") are subject to the degenerative skin disease of the fallen world and are constantly trying to conquer and destroy the inhabitants of the forest. Moreover, they actually worship Teeleh, carrying banners with images of the Shataiki. Thomas heads the Forest Guard which defends the followers of Elyon from the Horde.

In the forests, the people keep Elyon's seven rules but have added to them, scrupulously trying to make it as difficult as possible to violate the actual rules. The people continue to celebrate the themes of their life in the colored forest, before the Great Deception. Interpretation of the rules is vested in a priest-like figure named Ciphus. Members of the Horde are allowed to come and bathe and become part of the forest dwellers, but this is actively discouraged as Ciphus has determined there is not enough water in the lakes to support a much larger population. This is generally not an issue, as the skin disease of the Horde makes any contact with water agonizingly painful, and the Horde view themselves as "normal" and the forest dwellers as "defective." Occasionally, however, a Horde member will be washed. Also, forest dwellers who go too long without bathing in Elyon's water begin to develop the skin disease, eventually losing the ability to think rationally and becoming members of the Horde. The Forest Guard has developed extensive procedures for carrying bathing water with them while on patrol in order to try to prevent this.

A new figure in the book is Justin, a former fighter in the Forest Guard. Justin begins to anger the leadership of the forest dwellers, however, by his unorthodox attitudes. He actively seeks peace with the Horde. Interestingly, as the story progresses, it is revealed that Justin always seems to be clean of the disease even when he seems to have been unable to bathe.

Justin attempts to broker a peace between the Horde and the forest dwellers, but is betrayed and sentenced to death by the leadership under Ciphus. At this point, the Horde is actually in the main forest, and demands the right to carry out the execution as they consider Justin to have betrayed them, too. Justin is sentenced to death with the Horde's most feared form of execution: drowning in water. He is first hung over the lake and beaten until his bones are broken and he is severely disfigured. Mysteriously, during his beating Justin's body begins to be covered with the Horde skin disease. Upon his death, Justin is stabbed and his blood pours into the lake, violating Elyon's prohibition about blood entering the water.

The next day, the water itself has turned to a blood red color and the forest dwellers are all completely infected with the skin disease. Yet Justin, revealed to be Elyon himself, is returned to life and commands Thomas to join him by drowning in the water. First Thomas, and then others including both forest dwellers and members of the Horde, give up their lives in the red water, finding that they, too, are returned to life and completely cleansed of the skin disease. In fact, these new followers of Elyon through Justin discover that they need never be cleansed again: they are immune to the skin disease.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the former forest dwellers have been corrupted by the disease and merge the religions of Elyon and Teeleh, inviting the Horde to come dwell in the forest. The sacrifice of drowning in the red water is unthinkable to those infected with the disease, and they view the cleansed people as defective "albinos." The "albinos" flee for their lives into the desert.

There, Justin himself meets them and excitedly proclaims his happiness over them. He proclaims the new group to be his "Circle" (a symbol of marriage dating back to the days of the colored forest) and to be his "bride," and ecstatically thanks Elyon for what he calls his "beautiful bride," referring to Elyon as his "father." Justin reveals to the Circle that they will find more red pools hidden in the desert and that for the rest of their lives they will be his and will be charged with the mission of saving as many members of the Horde as possible by inviting them to drown in the pools.

The title "Red" thus refers to the color of the blood shed by Justin to redeem his followers from the Fall, and to the blood-red pools in which his followers give up their lives in order to be reborn as Justin's people.

[edit] White

In White: The Great Pursuit, all those who follow Elyon have formed "The Circle". They usually try to avoid the Horde but when Thomas and a few of his elite are captured by the Horde, Thomas meets a woman he had met years earlier and begins to fall in love with her, after the death of his last wife. The others in the Circle at first believe him to have gone mad but when they find out he truly does love this Scab, they're willing to help. The problem is that she, being diseased, is completely forbidden from falling in love with one of the Circle. She does anyway and decides to follow Elyon even if it means certain death. She and Thomas survive. Meanwhile, back on "Ancient Earth" in the 21 century, the doctors have discovered that the only cure they have is Thomas's blood. He awakens and allows them to kill him. He falls asleep for only a few minutes before they do, and he lives a full and complete life with his new wife in the Circle. White is the Third and final part of the Circle Trilogy. It concludes the events set forth in the first two books.

[edit] The Trilogy as an Allegory

The entire trilogy is a Christian allegory displaying Christ's love for us. Several similarities between the Bible and the Trilogy include

The Colored Forest - The Garden of Eden

Physical death by drowning through Justin - Spiritual rebirth through Jesus

Even though Chelise was diseased, Thomas still loved her - The world sinning and Jesus still loving us.

The disease - Sin

Teeleh - Satan

Elyon - God

Justin - Jesus

Roush - Angels

Shataiki - Demons

There are many others, too many to list here for the entire series is a type of allegory.


[edit] References

[edit] External links

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