Enoch Root (Enoch the Red) is a fictional character from Neal Stephenson's novels The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. He is a religious leader by profession, but can handle himself in a fight, and is also competent in medicine, chemistry, and cryptography. He has ties to a semi-secret society known as the Societas Eruditorum. Randy Waterhouse describes him, simply, as a wizard. A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (b. ... Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... The Baroque Cycle, a series of books written by Neal Stephenson, appeared in print in 2003 and 2004. ... Cryptonomicon is a sprawling novel by Neal Stephenson that is more a combination of historical fiction and contemporary techno-thriller than the science fiction of Stephensons earlier works. ... The Societas Eruditorum was a German organisation set up to produce similar results to the British Royal Society. ...

Root possesses an alchemical means of rejuvenation called by Leibniz the elixir vitae, which allows him to resurrect himself after he dies, and be present in novels set in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. He also has an uncanny ability to be at the right place at just the right time to influence other characters, so that they do something of importance. For example, Root sees Eliza in an observatory in Amsterdam, and shouts out a cryptic message that gets her to turn the telescope to the horizon, where she spots the sails of a French ship sailing in to abduct William of Orange. Once she figures this out, Eliza rushes to the beach to help rescue the Prince. Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (July 1, 1646 in Leipzig - November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ... Elixir, by Yousuf Karsh, 1938 Elixir has several meanings: In alchemy, an elixir was a substance believed to be able to change base metals into gold. ... It has been suggested that Resurrection of the dead be merged into this article or section. ... Eliza is a main character from Neal Stephensons The Baroque Cycle (consisting of the novels Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World). ... William III of England (14 November 1650 – 8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, King of England and King of Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scots...

Root's elixir vitae resurrects both Daniel Waterhouse and Sir Isaac Newton in The Baroque Cycle, as well as curing Bobby Shaftoe and America Shaftoe in Cryptonomicon. Daniel Waterhouse is a fictional character from Neal Stephensons The Baroque Cycle, a series of novels: Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World. ... Sir Isaac Newton in Knellers portrait of 1689. ... The Baroque Cycle is a series of books written by Neal Stephenson and published in 2003 and 2004. ... Cryptonomicon is a sprawling novel by Neal Stephenson that is more a combination of historical fiction and contemporary techno-thriller than the science fiction of Stephensons earlier works. ...

How Root has what he has and does what he does is a mystery to readers. His last name may be a play on the concept of root user, the superuser, who has godlike powers in Unix style computer operating systems (operating systems being a subject Stephenson has written about at length). It may also be a clumsy transliteration of the word "red" from a Germanic language, since he is sometimes known as "Enoch the Red" in keeping with the Lord of the Rings naming convention for wizards. On many computer operating systems, superuser is the term used for the special user account that is controlled by the system administrator. ... Unix or UNIX is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T Bell Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy. ... Finux is the name used by Neal Stephenson in Cryptonomicon denoting an operating system written by Finnish people. ... In the Beginning. ... Dust jacket of the 1968 UK edition The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy story by J. R. R. Tolkien, a sequel to his earlier work, The Hobbit. ...

There is also a figure in the Book of Genesis called Enoch, who, after living a faithful life, walked with God instead of dying. The nature of Enoch Root in Stephenson's books may have more to do with legends about that Enoch's place in Jewish mysticism and the mythology of Freemasonry than strictly what is in the Bible. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Enoch (חֲנוֹךְ) is a name occurring twice in the generations of Adam. ... This article is about the overall Jewish mysticisms tradition. ... The Masonic Square and Compasses. ...

A god associated with alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus, who is often identified with Enoch (the religious figure). Hermes Trismegistus was a syncretism of the Greek god Hermes, and the Egyptian god Thoth. Hermes is already related to Neal Stephenson's work, being mentioned in The Diamond Age as a trickster-technologist god, and talked about in Quicksilver as Mercury, specifically about his role as the god of profit and commerce. Thoth was the Egyption god of wisdom. Hermes Trismegistus (Greek for Hermes the thrice-greatest, Greek: Ερμης ο Τρισμεγιστος) or Mercurius ter Maximus in Latin, is the syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth. ... Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate, even opposing, beliefs and to meld practices of various schools of thought. ... Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles Hermes (Greek IPA ), in Greek mythology, is the god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators, literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures and invention and commerce in general, of liars, and of... Thoth (Ramesseum, Luxor) In Egyptian mythology, Thoth (also spelled Thot or Thout), pronounced Toe-th, is the Greek name given to Djehuty (also spelt Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, Tetu) - the original pronunciation of his name is disputed, and may have been approximately Tee-HOW-ti -, who was originally the deification... The Diamond Age, or A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer is a 1995 cyberpunk or postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson taking place in a world where nanotechnology is ubiquitous. ... The trickster figure Rénert the Fox as depicted in an 1869 childrens book by Michel Rodange. ... The word Quicksilver could represent: Quicksilver, another name for the chemical element mercury. ... Look up Mercury in Wiktionary, the free dictionary // Mercury, or Mercurius, derives from the Roman god Mercury (mythology). ...

See also

• Solomon Kohen
• Philosopher's Stone

The philosophers stone, in Latin philosophi lapis, is a mythical substance that supposedly could turn inexpensive metals into gold and/or create an elixir that would make humans younger, thus delaying death. ...

External links

• Enoch Root page at The Metaweb.
• What's up with Enoch Root?
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