# Did Sev1 fail?

*The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 11 Feb 1999*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1367>

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### m.driussi
*11 Feb 1999, 15:03*

Tony Ellis,

Right, there is no proof that Sev1 failed.  But I think there is a
sense of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"--and since Sev2 has been
opitimized, then it stands to reason that Sev1 was flawed.

Then again: the influences on Sev2 come from both camps, New Sun and
Entropy Gang.  So the tampering/tempting isn't one-sided.  Leading us
back to the belief that Sev1 didn't fail; that his success at the
Test is what triggered the Entropy Gang to start messing with his
past; and to counter this the New Sun people began giving little
assists in his past.  All of which escalation produced a new,
improved Severian.

Sev1 is the father of the man; Sev2 is the new son.

(Ooo, which feeds back into that whole "The Tale of the Student and
his Son": we can let the Student be Sev1 and assign the Son to Sev2.)

=mantis=

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