is one of those characters that arise from an author's subconscious mind and take on a life of their own by virtue of
certain obsessive qualities of imagination. In a mythopoetic sense,
they represent archetypal beings that inhabit the collective unconscious of
human culture. In the context of a science fiction story, a character like this could
represent a political force, or a radical departure from reality.
Morn is first revealed to us as a classic victim-maiden-in-distress. She is in the
possession of Angus Thermopyle, the putative villain of the story. "When Morn Hyland and
Angus Thermopyle came into Mallorys, the men in the corners noticed the way her whole body
seemed to twist away even when she sat close beside him. They heard the dull, almost
lifeless sound of her voice when she spoke -- a tone of suppression unexpected from
someone who had presumably spent weeks or months away from people and drink. And they
opserved that he kept one hand constantly fisted in the pocket of his grease-stained
shipsuit."1
Scratch the surface of this picture however, and just as you might expect, there are
complex forces at work that reveal Morn to be more than what she would appear.
She is a member of the elite UMCP, the United Mining Corporation Police; as
was her father, mother and siblings. She is responsible — because of an heretofore
undiscovered neurological weakness called gap-sickness2 — for the destruction of
her family's starship, Starmaster, and the death of her crew. When she doesn't seem
particularly grateful for Nick Succorso's rescue, we learn of the deal that she made
with Angus for her release and the control of her zone implant in
exchange for her secrecy regarding Angus' illegal pirate exploits. Ironically it is this
further descent into subterfuge that allows her to use the zone implant to modulate her
gap-sickness2.
Morn is drawn into a conflict that places her life on the line as she uncovers
a secret government conspiracy that threatens to betray the human race to the alien
Amnion. Through the development of the Gap saga she is transformed over and over
again from victim to hero and villain. She is not above treachery and manipulation
to gain her freedom and prevent the assimilation of her race. Morn chooses to bear a son
that was the product of her rape by Angus. Her son becomes the subject of experiments by
the Amnion and is given all of her memories — even the ones which Morn had blocked
in the aftermath of the destruction of Starmaster. The subsequent events test Morn
more than any other times in the story. Each time she is at the limit of her endurance
and strength, she manages to find a way to overcome her weakness as she defeats her
ememies. The depth of her suffering and the intensity of her struggles are drawn in
almost painfully intricate detail by the author; Morn is
transformed more deeply and disturbingly than Thomas Covenant or Terisa Morgan. As
with Donaldson's other characters, it would be hardly possible to know Morn and not come
away yourself transformed by the experience.
1. The Gap Into Conflict -- The Real Story, by Stephen R. Donaldson;
©1991; Bantam Books.
2. Gap-sickness: An altered state of consciousness triggered in susceptible individuals by hyperspace
travel. Morn Hyland describes her experience, "The whole inside of my head
was different. I was floating, and everything was clear. It was like the universe spoke
to me."cf While in this state, the victim is dissociated from their
surroundings and will frequently act in such a way as to place their own lives and those
around them in danger.