The enigma regarding the cause of madness which will ultimately destroy Lagash remains unresolved.
The ending of the narrative is inconclusive and is deliberately so we simply do not know how events unfold once darkness takes over. This ambiguity is further reinforced by the ending. That the world will come to an end in a huge fire is certain, but how this huge fire will happen and what causes it – divine wrath or human madness – is ambiguous. The narrative itself does not lead us to believe one way or the other. The cultists also believe that the divine Stars will cause madness and subsequent destruction. “First the eclipse …which will start in three quarters of an hour …then universal Darkness, and maybe, these mysterious Stars - then madness, and end of the cycle.” (p.7) More than the darkness it is the Stars that the scientists fear, probably because they know what causes the darkness but have no clue about the Stars. Perhaps what Sheerin is referring to is the way in which the human mind works, when it has to contend with something which is inconceivable the shock and the fear of the unknown, will rob it of all rationality and make it irrational and mad. But we also know that the people know how to light fires which can dispel darkness. Sheerin tells us that darkness even for duration of fifteen minutes as in the tunnel ride, would bring on madness due to lack of light and claustrophobia. It is somehow inconceivable for the reader how darkness for such a short period of time would make people mad enough to self-destruct the entire planet, even if one allows for the fact that darkness as a concept and as an experience is unknown to people of Lagash. Lagash would be enveloped in complete darkness only for that duration. The eclipse however is only for half a day.
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