Subject: (urth) More Perils of Agia

From: Charles Dye <raster at highfiber.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 11:17:01 +0000

A few digests back, Robert Borski propounded:

>Because I've
>never believed Agia's involvement; if she's not looking for coins as her
>brother suggests when Sev comes to visit her and Agilus in his cell, I
>believe she's looking for Sev's whetstone, which she knows is in his
>sabertache.

To which I asked:

>What good would the whetstone do Agilus?  His cell door ("merely wood
>bound with iron") locks from the outside!

I've assumed that she's going for the Claw in hopes of rescuing Agilus,
of course.  Either she believes it has some mystic power to free
prisoners ("All the things he is supposed to have done himself") or
else she hopes to use it to bribe any guard she can't seduce.

But it occurs to me that your theory can still be salvaged.  If
Agia isn't trying to filch the Claw, then she must be after the
keys.  We know S. has the door keys; where else would he carry them
but his sabretache?  Agia doubtless assumes that he has the key to
Agilus's chains as well.  (I don't think he *does* -- Severian is
only the executioner, not the jailer.  However, Agia wouldn't make
that distinction even if she weren't frantic.)

raster at highfiber.com

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: Alex David Groce <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 16:14:14 +0000

I too have never doubted Agia's involvement, and it seems fairly clear (to me
at least) that looking for the Claw is The Plausible Explanation for her
digging in Severian's handy sabertache of holding...

On Oct 15, 11:17am, Charles Dye wrote:
> Subject: (urth) More Perils of Agia
>-- End of excerpt from Charles Dye

-- 
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

---

From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 20:17:00 +0000

FWIW, an' that ain't much, my version of Agia (and I really do like
her a lot) has her fully knowing about the Claw.  She plants it on
Severian.  Once they get out of the tent, she becomes giddy with the
knowledge that she has pulled off this opportunistic jewel heist that
outshines the Pink Panther.  Severian asks her why she smiles, she
rattles off some interesting excuse--the truth is, life looks good
all of a sudden.  New house in a new town, plenty of food, no more
petty theft and murder . . . a new life for the twins.

She's thinking something like, "We'll just bump off this foppish
armiger Severian as per the plan to get the sword and then live the
good life we deserve."  But then over the next few chapters a few
things change--Agia realizes that one Claw in the hand is worth
countless Terminus Ests in the Sanguinary Field (the twins should
just cut and run with the fortune that they have rather than risk it
all on a comparatively paltry prize); and that Severian isn't an
armiger but a torturer (which could involve post-mortem scrutiny from
the archon of Nessus or the autarch at best, and/or the death of Agilus
at worst).  I think she wants to drop the original ploy, either by
getting Severian to flee, or (since she can't contact Agilus
beforehand) by warning off Agilus at the last minute.

Having failed that and losing "her" Claw, Agia uses Hethor and his
mirror to pursue a sort of anti-Conciliator path of conquest and
domination.  She succeeds at what Vodalus is only sort of playing at;
she has the drive, the ambition, the determination, the huevos.

Interesting tidbit: the three sacred Japanese (Imperial?) artifacts
are the Mirror, the Sword, and the Jewel.

Of course Herr Dr. Freud has something to say about this--but then,
wasn't he the one who said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
(i.e., when =I'm= puffing on it)? <g>

Re: rumors of a new larva in my nest.  Yes, it is true.  Sleep
deprivation is not a pretty thing!  But then again, let us count my
blessings--she's on a milk diet right now.  It will be three months
before she graduates to eat my brains, or whatever remnants have been
left by her sister.

=mantis=