I wonder sometimes whether the Steel General in Roger Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness, written almost alongside Che Guevara’s death (published in 1969), had been modelled after Che. Who, truly, was created from equal parts of light and darkness.

He’s a cybernetically uplifted being who dedicated himself to supporting insurrections, revolutions, and all forms of struggle against oppressors across the Middle Realm of universe in the very far future. The General is effectively immortal, as he began his existence in early times of Earth spacefaring civilization and had been since upgraded so often that he no longer remembers what body he was born in.

If you happened not to read this Zelazny’s interesting work of art, I urge you to, though be forewarned: the text is highly experimental and soaked profusely with Egyptian mythopoetic motifs.