Hyperion Cantos: The Shrike Explained

This video will contain some spoilers for Dan Simmon's Hyperion Series.

The Hyperion Cantos is a series of Four science fiction novels written by Dan Simmons. The Story takes place hundreds of years in our future at a time where humankind has formed the hegemony, spreading out to many planets. Mankind also now had the technology to instantly travel from any world connected in the far-casting web, the books mainly center however on the far off Planet of Hyperion where the merciless shrike resided.

The creature known as the Shrike in the Hyperion Cantos is one of the most intriguing characters to come out of modern science fiction. The creature, which was named for carnivorous passerine birds of Old Earth, terrorizes the world of Hyperion. The Shrike is a being of mysterious origin and incredible power. The Shrike appeared in the books as four-armed, and vaguely humanoid. Its entire body was comprised of some strange metal similar to steel with countless barbs and spikes covering it.

Throughout the series the Shrike’s goals and motivations are ambiguous. It seems to act with no rhyme or reason. The Shrike First appeared on Hyperion with the Arrival of the time Tombs, 6 strange structures in a distant valley on the world. The Time Tombs were constructed at some time in the distant future and were sent hurtling backward through time. It is assumed early on that the shrike itself was also created at some distant point in the future, but for an unknown purpose.

Cover art: The Lord and the Colonel by Abiogenisis https://www.deviantart.com/abiogenisis/art/The-Lord-and-the-Colonel-422794976

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