Urizen

Urizen the Architect was the name the Eremites gave to the first President of the Great Houses. In Eremite art, they portrayed him as a blind old man using a set of dividers to measure his own dung as spittle hung from his lips. Despite their vows of silence, the Eremites celebrated the "rites of Urizen" by laughing freely. (PROSE: The Book of the War)

Behind the scenes

• The character the Eremites describe as "Urizen" is obviously Rassilon.
• Urizen is the embodiment of reason and law in William Blake's mythology. In Blake's designs, Urizen is usually portrayed as a bearded old man carrying either architects' tools to constrain the universe or nets to ensnare people in webs of law. His opponent is the embodiment of imagination, Los. The description of the Eremites' art is an apparent parody of Blake's The Ancient of Days.