The World of Tiers by Philip José Farmer
"The World of Tiers" is a fantasy series set in a multi-layered universe constructed like a wedding cake, with each tier representing a different realm. Central to the plot is the dynamic between a family of gods known as the Lords, who create these worlds for their amusement and engage in a power struggle against one another. The series follows various characters, including two main heroes and two heroines, as they navigate adventures that involve magical gates that transport them unpredictably between worlds.
The narrative begins with Robert Wolff, a professor who inadvertently discovers a gate and enters the World of Tiers, where he encounters Chryseis and Kickaha, both of whom become pivotal in the unfolding drama. Throughout the series, themes of rivalry, betrayal, and the manipulation of mortals by the Lords are explored. As Wolff, later revealed to be one of the Lords himself, battles against enemies while seeking to rescue Chryseis, the storyline develops through a sequence of chase and escape scenarios.
Subsequent books shift focus to Kickaha and introduce new plot lines, including the emergence of monstrous shape-shifters and the exploration of Earth, another realm within this universe created by one of the Lords. The series concludes with a resolution that ties together the various characters and conflicts, ultimately highlighting the interplay of power and the consequences of divine caprice in a richly imagined world.
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Subject Terms
The World of Tiers
First published: 1981 (as two-volume omnibus); originally published as The Maker of Universes (1965), The Gates of Creation (1966), A Private Cosmos (1968), Behind the Walls of Terra (1970), and The Lavalite World (1977)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—closed universe
Time of work: The 1970’s
Locale: The pocket universes of Earth, Tierworld, and Lavalite World
The Plot
In The World of Tiers, the setting gives rise to the plot. Tierworld is only one of four worlds dealt with in the series. It is constructed much like a gigantic wedding cake, with each higher level slightly smaller in diameter than the layer below it. At the top is a large palace where a Lord dwells. All the worlds in the series were created by various members of a family of gods, called Lords, primarily for the Lords’ amusement. The Lords all are envious of one another and extremely untrustworthy, and they all strive among themselves for power. This struggle for power constitutes the plot of the series, insofar as there is a single, unified plot. The series consists of adventure episodes involving two major heroes, two major heroines, and various antagonists.
In The Maker of Universes, Robert Wolff, a sixty-six-year-old professor who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, finds what appears to be a very old hunting horn. When he blows on the horn, a door appears, through which he is transported into another world, the World of Tiers. Such doors, called gates, are a key element in the series. When people or other solid objects go through a gate, they never know to which world they will be gated. The first object going through the gate may be chopped into pieces, or the gate may be no gate at all, merely a shining ring, a trick.
Early in the novel, Wolff encounters the heroine, named Chryseis, and Kickaha, an earthling whose father probably is one of the Lords. The rest of the novel is a series of escape adventures wherein the unknown Lord who currently occupies the castle sends underlings to capture the Horn, which has magical properties. The Lord does not capture the Horn, but he does capture Chryseis; Wolff, then, must recapture her. Readers eventually learn that Wolff is Jadewin, one of the most powerful of the Lords, having created the World of Tiers thousands of years ago. At one time, however, he transported himself to Earth and lost his memory. Ultimately, all the principal characters do battle in the castle. The Lord, who is found to be Arwoor, ultimately is killed, and the book ends.
The Gates of Creation begins as Wolff’s father, the Lord Urizen, kidnaps Chryseis for the sport of making Wolff try to retrieve her. As Wolff searches through the Tierworld and its satellites, he encounters seven other Lords, all of whom have been marooned deliberately by Urizen. They are scarcely fond of one another, but they share an active animosity toward Urizen. They decide to band together in a quest to make their way to the castle (now held by Urizen) and defeat him.
The usual series of chase-escape adventures is complicated by the fact that Wolff’s sister, Vala (one of the band), is a spy in league with Urizen. Urizen finally is killed, along with all the seven Lords except Wolff, Chryseis, and one brother, Luhvah.
In A Private Cosmos, Kickaha is the main character, replacing Wolff, and remains so through the final three books. Wolff’s sister, Anana, emerges as the new heroine and as Kickaha’s love interest. A new theme emerges, that the Lords engage in their perverse experiments with humankind and other life-forms out of sheer boredom. In this book, one of the Lords’ biological experiments has resulted in shape-shifting monstrosities called Black Bellers. Although there are only fifty Black Bellers, their shape-shifting ability offers the threat that they will overcome even the Lords and dominate all life-forms. Kickaha, though not without help, kills all but one of the Bellers. Kickaha and Anana discover at the very end of the novel that one Beller has escaped to Earth.
Behind the Walls of Terra begins on Earth, a separate world from the World of Tiers. Earth was created by the Lord Red Orc as an experiment. Kickaha and Anana transport themselves there in hot pursuit of the last surviving Beller. Unknown antagonists immediately become aware of their presence and attempt to kill or capture them. Anana, as might be expected, is soon captured by the unknown enemy. The plot of Behind the Walls of Terra consists of Kickaha striving to discover who has Anana and to rescue her. It turns out that Red Orc is not the only Lord on Earth. Urthona, Lord of the Lavalite World, also is there, striving for dominion. After the usual chase-escape episodes, the principal characters gather. The last Black Beller is killed shortly before the final scene. This time, however, there is a standoff, with all the major characters simultaneously transported to the Lavalite World.
The Lavalite World is set in Urthona’s world. Nothing in this extremely undesirable world has a fixed location. The only gate leading out is in Urthona’s castle. Even the real estate shifts from place to place, and Urthona has only a general idea as to the castle’s location. The plot is similar to that of The Gates of Creation, except that Urthona approximates Vala’s role in the earlier book. All the characters wind up in the palace, as in previous books. Urthona is killed, and Red Orc is transported to Earth. Kickaha and Anana are transported to the Tierworld, presumably to live happily among Kickaha’s Amerinds. Thus the series ends, albeit lamely.