The Writings of the self-described Last One are naturally of the first importance, and not only because they are the oldest primary texts in the archives: whatever the catastrophe that brought the world of the Ancients to an end, their Author's liminal status — as one of the few Ancients who survived it — makes him the Father of the Archives, whose seed-texts comprised not only his personal jottings but also Writings from Before ("sub'sc'ram") that were in his possession at the time.

Of equal importance is the unnamed Boy described in these apparent journal entries, for it must have been he who passed along this seed to the generations that followed. How that transmission was carried out is a subject of near-divination at this point, but one or two plausible hypotheses have gained support in recent scholarship.

One of the most popular of these theories is that this Boy can be identified with Gant, the earliest named figure in the archives — or was his father, or his grandfather, depending upon which reading one consults of the extremely tenuous evidence adduced for this interpretation. Gant in turn is then put forth as the ancestor of Markito, the Last One of the Remnant, who, unknown generations later, served as Egderus' secretary and co-curator of the archives.

Further research may consolidate consensus on the subject; absent fresh discoveries of primary texts, however, the answer to the question will remain rather a matter of belief than of knowledge.

One Writing, {the ghosts}, has drawn particular attention (much of it needlessly unkind, it must be said) on account of its unusual theme, which has led some to ascribe this peculiar text not to an Ancient author, but to the much more recent creator (or creators) of the "Romantic Impulse" Writings — indeed, its peculiarity has prompted more than one accusation that the whole lobe of Writings attributed to the Last One is a fabrication — or, to be more generous, a fabulation.

Need it be said? — *all* of the Writings in the archives are susceptible to that kind of nihilistic joykilling, which serves no other purpose than to [poison the well] for everyone else.