Eschatology and Pain in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion

History and religion are inundated by references about the end of humanity, civilization, or society. Science Fiction reflects these themes and projects them into the future. In eschatological terms, the future of society reflects the biological fate of any person and, thus, is condemned to death. Therefore, many science fiction novels mirror society’s failures in religious and, often, secularized eschatological terms. Another aspect treated extensively in science fiction — also closely related to eschatology — is predestination. In Hyperion, secular eschatology is weaved together through the centrality of pain its characters experience on several planes. Dan Simmons’ Hyperion is a study of the final fate of individuals and humanity in terms of human, scientific, and secular systems under a layer of mysticism and religion. Simmons explores the secular eschatological connection between the seven pilgrims chosen to journey to their deaths on Hyperion and how the manifestation of pain plays a critical role in their Shrike pilgrimage.

Simmons weaves the lives of seven pilgrims in a complicated tapestry of pain. The pilgrimage to the Time Tombs will grant one of the seven pilgrims a wish, and the others will die at the hands of the Shrike, a creature of death and revenge. The supposed religious nature of the pilgrimage sits in contrast to the religious orientation of the…