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Toward the end of Endymion (the third out of four books in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos series) the Shrike, who has been intermittently following Raul, Aenea, and A. Bettik prevents Radamanth Nemes from killing Aenea.

In the scene, the Shrike and Nemes fight, seemingly using very similar abilities to timeshift and to use blades connected to their bodies to cause damage. Next thing we know, Nemes appears to be melting into the surrounding lava. However, there seems to be a rather unclear jump between these two moments, and its not at all clear how they got there. Based on her previously displayed abilities, its very unlikely that Nemes would be caught by lava on her own, without the Shrike's influence, so it makes sense to assume the Shrike is responsible.

Is anyone aware of any details around what exactly the Shrike did to get the upper hand and kill Nemes?

Ana
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2 Answers2

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The Shrike didn't kill Nemes. The two fought, then a ship in orbit hit Nemes with a massive energy weapon, which pinned her in place. As the rock under her melted she sank into the ground.

Here's a little more detail on the scene (Wikipedia)

JohnWinkelman
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Actually, when they fight for that very first time, Nemes easily outdoes the Shrike, to her disappointment even. But since Aenea is her priority target, Nemes relunctantly gives up fighting and focuses on killing the girl, not before getting rid of the annoying thorny giant thanks to an entropy-bubble device provided by Albedo and his kin.

This bubble sends the Shrike about 5 minutes forward into future. Enough for Nemes to behead Aenea, had it not been for De Soya's timely intervention.

Emilio S.
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