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	Message: : : : *SPOILERS* : Released early in the life of the CD-ROM format, The Madness of Roland : crosses the lines between a novel, a play, a radio drama, and video art. : Split across multiple perspectives and media, it unfurls a Medieval tale : of magic, lust, and legacy, though the way it tells that story is more : interesting than the story itself. : The novel is loosely based on two epic poems, The Song of Roland and Orlando : Furioso, both about the exploits of the knight Roland. In this version, he : is the nephew of Charlemagne, leading the charge in a siege against Paris : in the year 778 as he wields the mythical sword Durendal. His foes speak : of him as if he has supernatural strength, like a soldier from an ancient : Greek legend, and Angelica, enamored with this man, tries to defeat him : through seductive magic. Instead, the magic corrupts him, turning him into : a force of chaos who goes on a rampage totally fucking shit up. Although : everyone at first believes he’s a demon, he retains his consciousness, : terrified of what he has become. They discover how to return Roland’s : “reason,” yet even while he was an unworldly monster, Angelica still found : herself in love with him. Love, of course, may be the real madness. : ----------- : The major characters show an inner life. None are as awesome as Durendal, the : sword, who carries her own monologue as the embodiment of carnage. “All of : you are meat, sweet meat made for dying. Only steel endures,” she snarls. : (Holy shit!) The Madness of Roland seems to condemn her thirst for blood, : contrasting her parts with a Lao Tzu quote about the empty pursuit of : “delight in killing.” Yet as the story advances, she shows change, first : boredom and then remorse, beginning to question her corrupting role in : war. She confesses to the reader, in a fragile moment, that she dreams of : becoming a human woman and experiencing peace. “Yet,” she continues, “in : the shadow time of stillness I yearn for taste and breath I yearn for : tears I yearn for other than the thinness of cleaving.” : ----------- : The Madness of Roland was an "interactive, multimedia novel" : cd-rom, from the early 90s : ----------- : And I'm only posting it here because we're familiar with that sword I think : XD : I always saw the infamous Marathon AIs Durandal and Tycho as male, and Leela : as female. But it makes sense for a sword, and a computer to be female... : just something I noticed, not that it makes any big difference. Please : note that english is my second language.
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