Obake: Do you know why Icarus plunged to his doom?
Hiro: Because he flew too high.
Obake: Because he needed better wings.
Hiro: Because he flew too high.
Obake: Because he needed better wings.
But I've never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitations of humans. I see it as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive.
— Randall Munroe, What If? #30: Interplanetary Cessna
In Greek legend, Icarus flew too close to the Sun, and the heat melted his wings and he fell to his death. But "melting" is a phase change which is the function of temperature, a measure of internal energy, which is the integral of incident power flux over time. His wings didn't melt because he flew too close to the Sun, they melted because he spent too much time there.
Visit briefly, in little hops, and you can go anywhere.
Visit briefly, in little hops, and you can go anywhere.
— Randall Munroe, What If? #115: Into the Sun
You're going to see a lot more of that sort of thing in the picture. I don't want to say too much, don't want to spoil it. I'll just say one word: 'Icarus'. If you get it, great. If you don't, that's fine too. But you should probably read more.
— Tony Wilson, 24-Hour Party People
You're an educated sort, I'm sure you know the story of Daedalus. Trapped in prison by King Minos with his son, builds wings of bees' wax and feathers for his son and himself, flies out the window, the boy Icarus flies too high and crashes harder than an American spy-plane? Right, that Icarus. The Artificers were big on the story of Daedalus. As parables go, it's a good one, giving solid pointers on the danger of hubris on one hand, and on the other reinforcing the idea that if we really try, we can fly.
—Mage: The Ascension - Convention Book: Iteration X
