A Comparative Study of The Endless Myth and BLAME! — Mythic Structure and the Infinite City
The novel The Endless Myth and BLAME! both depict “worlds without end.” However, the nature of their infinity is fundamentally different.
One presents a world sustained by myth and belief.
The other portrays a megastructure endlessly expanding due to runaway technology.
This article compares their world-building, protagonists, structural philosophy, and treatment of silence.
World Structure: A World Sustained by Meaning vs. A World of Endless Expansion
In The Endless Myth, the world is stabilised by myth. As long as the story is told and believed, order persists. If myth collapses, the world’s foundation erodes. It is a closed structure upheld by meaning.
In BLAME!, the setting is an endlessly expanding artificial megastructure. Order has long since broken down, and humanity is on the brink of extinction. The world overwhelms not through meaning, but through sheer physical scale.
The Endless Myth: Meaning sustains the world.
BLAME!: Structure itself expands beyond control.
The Protagonists: A Central Symbol vs. A Lone Wanderer
In The Endless Myth, Messiah is a symbolic figure fixed at the centre of a mythic system. He carries a predetermined role that maintains the world’s structure. His existence is inseparable from the narrative framework.
In contrast, Killy in BLAME! is a solitary wanderer searching for humans with the Net Terminal Gene. He is not a symbol but an individual lost within a vast, indifferent environment.
Messiah stands at the centre of meaning.
Killy drifts through a world without a centre.
Myth vs. Technology
In The Endless Myth, God exists through faith and functions as the guarantor of order. Myth provides coherence and structure.
In BLAME!, there is no god—only autonomous AI systems and self-propagating architecture. The “absolute” is not divine but mechanical and impersonal.
Mythic order contrasts with technological runaway expansion.
Each work presents a different form of transcendence.
Language and Silence
The Endless Myth depends on narration. The act of storytelling sustains reality itself. As long as the myth continues, the world survives.
BLAME! is characterised by minimal dialogue and vast stretches of silence. The world is not explained; it simply exists. Meaning is left for the reader to construct.
The Endless Myth: Language creates the world.
BLAME!: Silence envelops the world.
Two Forms of Infinity: Internal vs. Spatial
The infinity in The Endless Myth is internal and philosophical. It arises from the continued reinterpretation and preservation of meaning.
The infinity in BLAME! is spatial and architectural. The city grows without limit, dwarfing humanity within its scale.
One is existential infinity.
The other is structural infinity.
Conclusion: Endless Narrative vs. Endless Structure
Both The Endless Myth and BLAME! depict worlds that do not end. Yet their foundations differ profoundly:
A world that collapses if meaning disappears.
A world that persists and expands regardless of meaning.
The former questions the relationship between humanity and myth.
The latter explores the alienation between humanity and technology.
Through this comparison, we confront a fundamental question:
Is infinity sustained by storytelling—or by mere existence?






