Importance
While the Qax play a pivotal role only in one book (Timelike Infinity) their occupation creates the xenophobic government that led the human conquest of the galaxy, and they are almost certainly the main cause of the loss of most of the human offshoots that survived the last human/Xeelee war. They are not responsible for the loss of the Ring but their attack does ensure that the humans who escape the Xeelee prison are able to leave the universe unmolested by the photino birds.
It could be argued that their aggressive policy of cultural extirpation during their period of enslavement is what ultimately led to Man's subsequent expansion and outright hostility towards other aliens. By adopting and subverting many Qax policies, Man became a collectivist society with little to no individuality left - there was only the goal of domination, to which everyone subscribed from an early age. In that regard, the Qax are in many ways ultimately responsible for the Assimilation (including the extermination of the Silver Ghosts) and the eventual war with the Xeelee.
Read more about this topic: Qax (species)
Famous quotes containing the word importance:
“Any novel of importance has a purpose. If only the “purpose” be large enough, and not at outs with the passional inspiration.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)