# Digest urth.v019.n011

*The Urth list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 06 Oct 1998*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1132>

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### Kieran Mullen
*06 Oct 1998, 23:45*

   Is there a FAQ?  I think we need one for some important plot 
points such as "Who is Severian's mother?"  and "Who is Dorcas?"
and "Who is Severian's Father?"


   A completely unrelated point:  Do you believe the wounded soldier in
CotA is really Jonas returned?  Severian thinks so, but that doesn't 
mean that he's right.  I just never found Sev's reasoning very 
persuasive.

                    Kieran Mullen

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### Peter Westlake
*07 Oct 1998, 09:14 · follows Kieran Mullen*

> At 23:45 1998-10-06 -0500, you wrote:
>   Is there a FAQ?  I think we need one for some important plot 
> points such as "Who is Severian's mother?"  and "Who is Dorcas?"
> and "Who is Severian's Father?"
> 
> 
>   A completely unrelated point:  Do you believe the wounded soldier in
> CotA is really Jonas returned?  Severian thinks so, but that doesn't 
> mean that he's right.  I just never found Sev's reasoning very 
> persuasive.

I'm very taken with prion's theory that Severian is recreating people
from memory, rather like the creation of an aquastor. See his post (from
the account "mary whalen") on 1998-08-01. Under this theory Severian would
be "rewriting" the soldier's mind to match his (S's) memory of Jonas, which
would account for it taking such a long time. Read the original mail; it's
very good.

Spectacled Bear.

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