Masters (The Tripods)
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The Masters are a fictional race of beings in John Christopher's, The Tripods trilogy. They are first mentioned and seen in chapter 6 of The City of Gold and Lead.
Their physical appearance is excellently described, making them, easily, one of the most memorable of fictional alien races.
"They stood much taller than a man, nearly twice as tall, and broad in proportion. Their bodies were wider at the bottom than the top, four or five feet around I thought, but tapered up to something like a foot in circumference at the head. If it was the head, for there was no break in the continuity, no sign of a neck. The next thing I noticed was that their bodies were supported not on two legs, but three, these being thick but short. They had matching them three arms, or rather tentacles, issuing from a point halfway up their bodies. And their eyes - I saw that there were three of those, too, set in a flattened triangle, one above and between the other two, a foot or so below the crown. In colour the creatures were green, though I saw that the shades differed, some being dark, the green tinged with brown, and other quite pallid. That, and the fact that their heights varied to some extent, appeared to be the only means of telling one from another. I felt it was a poor one."
"I thought the words issued from the mouth - which I judged the lower of the two central orifices to be - until I saw that it was the upper one which was quivering and open while the other remained closed and still. With the Masters, I was to discover, the organs of breathing and eating were not connected, as men's are: they spoke as well as breathed through one, ate and drank only through the lower, larger opening."
From The City of Gold and Lead, Chapter 6
As well as physical differences to humans the Masters display chemical ones. The air they breathe is thick and green, like a chlorine fog. The human slaves of their city must wear specially provided breathing apparatus. Likewise the foods eaten by Masters and Slaves appears to have nothing in common, though it is never fully revealed whether Masters' food would poison a human or vice versa.
In The Pool of Fire it is revealed that the Masters have a very low tolerance to alcohol. A few drops of spirit in a captured Master's food render it paralysed and unconscious for over six hours. The Masters have a preference for high temperatures. Room temperature for them is somewhere around 40 degrees Celsius (about 115 degrees Fahrenheit). The pools that they bathe in are often extremely hot (described as "only just bearable"). This would indicate that their digestive and respiratory enzymes are quite different from those found in terrestrial life.
The Masters are also different from human beings psychologically. They are completely incapable of lying, finding it difficult to tell the difference between a fictional novel and a biography. As such they are extremely gullible, taking everything told to them as indisputable truth.
Their reaction to despair, as well, shows a marked difference. The Masters are incredibly tolerant of hardship and difficulty, to the point of becoming ill if they do not work hard. However, if they find themselves in a situation to which there is absolutely no escape; they die. It is unknown whether this is natural or some form of suicide.
Masters have very little in the way of a social life. They spend most of their time in their own home. It is unlikely that Masters form any kind of nuclear family, throughout the books there is no mention of there being any more than one Master to an apartment.
On the rare occasions that they do meet with others, very little conversation or activity between the two takes place. There are various events and functions around their city; communal baths, museums, and others that have no human equivalent, however each Master will attend and enjoy these events on their own. Even when in close proximity to other Masters doing the same thing they are unlikely to engage in any kind of social intercourse, and if they do then it will be short-lived and limited.
The Masters are not uniform, each one displaying a certain character. Will's Master (the one who's personality is most explored in the trilogy) is somewhat of an intellectual, constantly questioning and studying and learning. Fritz's Master however is a sadist, most interested in physical exertion as well as inflicting pain on whatever slave he happens to have at the moment. The captured prisoner, Ruki, the only Master to be named in the trilogy, is explored little, however he is the only Master seen to display any understanding of humour and sarcasm.
The Masters' city has machines that increase the local gravity (the "lead" in the book's title). This increases the weight of any object in the city by slightly more than twofold. According to Will's Master this is still less than the gravity enjoyed by the Masters on their home planet.
This high gravity environment is very wearing on their human slaves. However, the Master's preferred method of moving, described as a slapping hop on all three feet (presumably similar to a bird's movement) is light and fast, completely untroubled by the incredible weight that their size must hold. As shown by this lightness in a heavy environment the Masters are, physically, extremely strong, able to easily lift a human male with just one of their three tentacles. Their skin is described as being damp, reptillian and leathery and is therefore very resilient to attack.
The Masters, however, do have one crippling, physical weakness. The area between their upper mouth and the orifice that is their nose is extremely sensitive. Even a light brush to this area causes extreme pain. Hits may cause unconsciousness and a sufficiently heavy strike will kill the Master outright.
Nothing is revealed about the Masters' home planet, or indeed how much of the galaxy they have a hold on. The true name of their species is never revealed. The closest that is ever got to a name is "Skloodzi". At this Will comments that he is unsure as to whether this is his Master's name, his Master's family name, the name of his Master's race or the species itself.
[edit] Adaptation
When the BBC made the television series of The Tripods in the '80s they departed from Christopher's description. The Masters somewhat resembled the Tripods they drove. This makes the Tripods themselves seem much more like mecha, than purely eccentric vehicles. This is similar to the way that the aliens in 2005's War of the Worlds seem to have based their machines around themselves. In the BBC serial the Masters did not need to eat, sleep or drink. Additionally they were not the rulers of the city, but were themselves under the rule of beings made of pure energy, known as Cognoscs. The Masters themselves came from a planet named Trion that was in the centre of a triple star system.
The method by which the Masters name themselves is also different. Rather than having names they are simply called by their address. Will's Master is called West Avenue 4, Sector 6, Level 8, or West 468.
The Masters in the BBC production did not breathe green air and did not prefer the high gravity and high temperature of those in the book, since these would be more or less impossible to re-create onscreen. Their treatment of the slaves, rather than being harsh and thoughtless, was reasonable to the point of being friendly; with luxuries, such as a disco, provided for them.
