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Maybe he skidded past the exact point where the light reaches Urth, because he was going so fast.…
04 Aug 2010, 01:24
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That make a lot of sense! He'd naturally be interested in smart, fearless children who might make good autarch or autarch-brain-supplement material, perhaps later in their lives.…
04 Aug 2010, 01:22
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I believe it. Such scams are as American as apple pie.…
03 Aug 2010, 22:43
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That works. Even if it was not a routine practice, some autarchs may have done that for various reasons.…
03 Aug 2010, 11:53
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From what we now know of how memories are stored, yes---we both have 100%. The real question is---how little?…
03 Aug 2010, 01:02
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That's a damn good question. You could pass on the codes without the alzabo, but then what happens to your memories?…
03 Aug 2010, 00:59
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Possibly, the lure of gaining all that information---as well as the access codes that make one the autarch---ensure that anyone who murders the incumbent (if he knows about it) wou…
02 Aug 2010, 20:16
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Sure, I mean---is an exact range important? I don't see the text ("hundreds" of autarchs) as out of line. It suggests long, very bad periods in the Commonwealth's history, when it…
02 Aug 2010, 20:11
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I second John. That's 2.…
02 Aug 2010, 00:57
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You're utterly lost, Josh.…
01 Aug 2010, 23:57
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Quote me.…
01 Aug 2010, 23:57
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Which passage?…
01 Aug 2010, 23:12
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Presumably it was far from where anyone would normally go.…
01 Aug 2010, 23:12
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I don't answer a silly question just because it's asked in a manner that is relatively civil, compared to most of that person's questions. Call it a scruple.…
01 Aug 2010, 22:07
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I could lend you some scruples, but you'd waste them.…
01 Aug 2010, 21:54
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200 autarchs could rule an average of 5 years each over 1000 years. If 20 of these autarchs ruled an average of 20 years, the remaining 180 would each have to rule for about 3+1/…
01 Aug 2010, 21:53
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I didn't mention Severian at all or even TBotNS, so I can't scruple to do one or the other. Why do you scruple to read people's posts?…
01 Aug 2010, 18:38
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Some autarchs may have ruled for only a week.…
01 Aug 2010, 18:36
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Yes and no. The Ottoman system was also the Byzantine system.…
01 Aug 2010, 18:15
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I did no such thing.…
01 Aug 2010, 18:13
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It does make sense. The Byzantine system had no Pope, and therefore no division between Pope and HRE. It could also be argued that the Turkish sultans were truly successors to th…
01 Aug 2010, 18:04
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I'm not sure either. I'm just asking. Vodalus certainly failed in becoming autarch, yes, and yes, his servant gained the throne. This is not a success for Vodalus, but it is far …
01 Aug 2010, 17:59
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I recall another passage in another work, where the narrator says he often thinks he doesn't drink enough water. I enjoy these mundane observations.…
01 Aug 2010, 17:57
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Certainly, he believes that Erebus/Abaia will give him what he wants. That's not always the case.…
01 Aug 2010, 17:41
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Ah, very good.…
01 Aug 2010, 17:40
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Perhaps. "If you believe the Autarchy is divinely ordained" is the key phrase. I don't see him as having Pope status, though maybe some do.…
01 Aug 2010, 12:59
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Vodalus also desired to be autarch (per Thea's remarks). If Vodalus simply wants to put the exultants in charge, is everything else he says bullshit? And how do we know?…
01 Aug 2010, 12:57
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Thecla and Severian, in Severian, experience a rapture that is specifically compared to the local version of "heaven." It is temporary, of course, but it is not presented as fals…
31 Jul 2010, 18:36
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What's the reference to Joseph's dream? And who is the Old Leech everyone is talking about?…
31 Jul 2010, 18:27
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Exactly. In mythological terms, there are visible signs that someone will become a god, because such is the nature of godhood. That's how gods can be born and yet still be gods--…
31 Jul 2010, 18:20
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And that's exactly what I fear from a movie adaptation.…
31 Jul 2010, 18:06
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I'd think the main issue would be substituting yourself for the Increate, not for the Autarch.…
31 Jul 2010, 18:04
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I wonder, given the way Vodalus talks, if his path isn't almost the better one. He speaks of the sun hiding the stars that are our proper heritage, of how his masters wait until …
31 Jul 2010, 18:03
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Eel. Close though.…
29 Jul 2010, 20:12
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Wait, you know the movie?…
29 Jul 2010, 20:12
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Don't forget the "Weird scenes inside the gold mine." But there's no serpent in BotNS.…
29 Jul 2010, 20:00
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It is a poorly understood phenomenon, and I do not pretend to expertise on the subject. I seem to recall there was a bad movie about it once ... perhaps angels trade wings for g…
29 Jul 2010, 19:11
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What serpent?…
29 Jul 2010, 19:09
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That's it!…
29 Jul 2010, 18:48
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I forget where Wolfe discusses it. I thought 2 of them spoke in blank verse. Either way, Wolfe puts much thought into his dialog: diction, vocabulary, rhythm, colloquialisms. Hi…
29 Jul 2010, 18:22
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"It is fulfilled?" "I want some soup?"…
29 Jul 2010, 17:46
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"wide cheekbones, and the elongated brown eyes that often accompany them" is a strong clue. This is an ethnic flag of some kind, not a family one. I'm not sure where I got "sout…
29 Jul 2010, 15:13
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How do you account for the facial appearance of Agia/Agilus? I believe Severian's description pegs them as Southerners, perhaps as related to autochthons (i.e., Indians or what w…
29 Jul 2010, 00:45
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I agree. Furthermore, if Inire remains on Urth "as a human being" he can't time-travel. Or space-travel. He has chosen to remain on Urth. As a human being.…
29 Jul 2010, 00:39
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Only that Wolfe is very careful with his idioms and his voices. Recall, for example, that the cacogens speak in blank verse.…
27 Jul 2010, 11:18
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"Being around it all the time, they don't see it." Thus, perhaps, the Look and See phrase carved in the Atrium of Time. Rudesind's whole speech can be read with three levels of m…
27 Jul 2010, 11:17
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Of course, not knowing is not an argument either way. What we do know is that each of the three JWs has a noticeably different manner as expressed in typed "speech." They are cer…
27 Jul 2010, 03:04
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Of course, head chopping is just about everywhere---Celtic Europe, for example. But yes, it fits neatly. One minor problem with a South American location is that those signs are …
24 Jul 2010, 12:02
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Another reason for the existence of the Wall occurred to me. (Never mind that the fact that the Ascian war used to be farther south is itself sufficient reason, since overwhelmin…
23 Jul 2010, 18:44
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That's a good point.…
22 Jul 2010, 02:57
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