Partnership between Clotho and Lachesis

The partnership between Clotho and Lachesis is the central dyad of the Purpose, two ancient, bald, white-smocked beings who serve as the physicians of last resort, cutting the life-cords of those whose time has come. They are the agents of purposeful death, working in perfect tandem to release the suffering and maintain the balance of existence, and they are the ones who recruit Ralph Roberts and Lois Chasse to stop the rogue Atropos from destroying the cosmic order.

Identity and Nature

Clotho and Lachesis are not angels, as they themselves insist, but creatures without sexual dimension who have no names in the way Short-Timers do. They allow Ralph to call them after the Fates in the story he already knows: Clotho, although he spins no thread, and Lachesis, although he shakes no rods. They are Long-Timers, existing on a level of reality above the Short-Time world, and their function is to serve the Purpose by severing the balloon-strings of those whose appointed spans have ended. They describe themselves as "working joes" in the grand scheme of things, far below the boardroom executives who make the ultimate decisions, but they are nonetheless figures of immense power and dignity. Their auras are a brilliant green-gold, filled with deep reddish-orange flecks that look like sparks swirling up from a campfire, and they convey a feeling of power and vitality that their featureless, uninteresting faces do not. Unlike ordinary people, they have no balloon-strings floating up from their hairless heads.

Their Work and Methods

Clotho and Lachesis perform their work with love and respect, approaching each death as a sacred duty. They are called when a Short-Time aura turns black, indicating that the time of finishing has come, and they come exactly as Ralph and Lois witness in Room 315 of Derry Home Hospital. Lachesis places his hands against the dying man's cheeks and moves his head a bit, like a barber getting ready to shave a customer, while Clotho leans closer, opens his scissors, and slides them forward so that the long blades hold the dying man's black balloon-string. As Clotho closes the scissors, Lachesis leans forward and kisses the dying man's forehead, saying, "Go in peace, friend." The scissors make a small, unimportant snick sound, and the segment of the balloon-string above the blades drifts up toward the ceiling and disappears. The deathbag in which the dying man lay turns a momentary bright white, then winks out of existence. They take the old and the sick, but also others, such as a young carpenter who fell from a scaffold and fractured his skull, waiting until his aura turned before sending him on. They are, in their own words, the physicians of last resort.

Partnership and Communication

The two little bald doctors operate as a seamless team, their partnership so deep that they often communicate without words, exchanging glances and sharing thoughts in a telepathic shorthand. When Ralph first sees them on May Locher's stoop, they stand as if they have every right to be there, two old friends indulging in a bit of conversation before going on their way. They move together until their auras overlap, and they walk side by side with their white-clad shoulders almost touching. When they are uncertain or frightened, they look at each other with their big, pupil-less eyes, and one nods slightly to the other before they turn back to the Short-Timers. They are capable of making bad decisions, as when they sent Ralph and Lois to High Ridge out of fear that they would lose if they went head-to-head with Atropos, but even their self-deception serves the Purpose. They are not all-wise or all-knowing, but they are bound together by a shared duty and a deep, ancient friendship.

Their Role in the Cosmic Order

Clotho and Lachesis serve the Purpose, the force that accounts for most events in both individual lives and in life's wider stream. They are agents of death, but also agents of the Purpose, and they exist in a universe governed by four constants: Life, Death, the Purpose, and the Random. They cannot lie, a limitation that Ralph exploits to extract a promise from them. They are terrified of the forces above them, the All-Timers who inhabit the higher levels of the Tower, and they speak of them with awe and fear. When a Voice from above speaks, saying "IT MAY BE SO," Clotho and Lachesis are struck with terror and awe, and Clotho fumbles and almost drops his scissors. They are, in the end, limited beings who live long lives but gray ones, unable to fully comprehend the emotions that drive Short-Timers like Ralph and Lois. Yet they are capable of growth, as shown when they shake hands with Ralph and Lois for the first time, a custom they have observed many times but never performed. Lachesis finds the experience quite wonderful, feeling Ralph's force almost completely unguarded during the ceremony.

The Promise and the Aftermath

When Ralph demands that they save Natalie Deepneau's life in exchange for his own, Clotho and Lachesis are initially reluctant, arguing that the boy's life is different and more important. But Ralph insists that all lives matter or none matters, and they are forced to accept his terms. Clotho cuts Ralph's forearm with his scissors, creating a scar that will serve as the bond of their promise. The scar glows with a fierce red light when the time of the promise comes, and it disappears after Ralph's death. After Ralph sacrifices himself to save Natalie, Clotho and Lachesis appear to Lois, each placing the hand Ralph shook on one side of her face. Their hands glow and blaze with Ralph's aura, and they give her a vision of a dark place split by brilliant seams of light, a representation of a universe where there is dazzling light behind the darkness. They have, in a sense, given Ralph back to her, preserving his essence within their own auras.