Subject: (urth) Demons & Dragons

From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 04:38:00 +0000

Roy,

I can't tell if you read the part of my posting that had to do with
the time Severian tried to heal all the wounded in the tent at once.
So for one last time, I'll try a different example that happens much
later.

On the Ship Severian comes upon a murdered steward (V, ch. 6).  He
tries to resurrect the steward and the entire Ship experiences a
power blackout as a result.  At the very least this is an
illustration of not only the "energy circuit" involved with
Severian's superhuman power, but also the tremendous energies
required for a resurrection (normally supplied by the white
fountain--and where is =that= energy coming from?).

Yet it might be worse than that: if you will allow a little
interpretation of the chapters which follow.  It seems likely that
the mutiny he finds when the lights come on was triggered by the
blackout.  And the mysterious winged being?  It seems quite possible
that it is not a jiber, but the opposite: in Beowulf terms, it is the
Dragon, of course; but in biological terms it is the antibody (the
Ship has been violated by the blackout); and in Original Star Trek
terms it is the mother-of-all-redshirts.

So!  Severian's attempt to heal one man results in a full scale
mutiny and the release of the emergency defense demon which
successfully kills Severian.

Yes, I am asserting that Severian's Narrative is "The Cold Equations"
(that is, the situation is "Periodic Table of Elements" rather than
"Let's bamboozle the lower life forms!") writ very, very large, and
without any of the lame loopholes.  Little Severian is blasted for
running toward the ring; big Severian is killed for trying to
resurrect a dead stranger.  It is all a fool-destroying, deathtrap
maze, and Severian himself dies again and again, yet from time to
time he still tries to help as many strangers as he can (or in
another sense maybe he is just a very slow learner). Personally I
don't think that the denizens of Yesod can do any more than they are
doing to help; and of course the enemies of the New Sun have the best
intentions as well (prevent megadeath and the destruction of Urth by
promoting slavery and the long slow death).

And yes, I agree with you that Severian is an antihero.

But maybe I'm missing your point.

Yes, I must be.

=mantis=

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

---

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 05:57:41 +0000

mantis,

    Yes, I read your earlier post carefully and thought about it; part of
the reason I waited two days before replying. Perhaps in trying to be brief
I didn't make myself clear. Both of the examples you cited (lazaret and
steward), as well as others where Sev tried and failed to revive the dead,
came before his trial and the "birth" of the New Sun. After that he has no
problems raising the dead, even when he's not trying (the dead assassin).
He's a walking miracle machine. He can move through space (from Nessus to
the stone town) and time, heal the sick, raise the dead, tame wild animals,
survive mortal injuries, and breathe under water. If he doesn't do those
things I mentioned earlier (Thecla, his mother) it's because Wolfe doesn't
want him to, not because he can't.

    In the instances where he does raise the dead, both before and after the
New Sun, the outcomes seem to be negative, some more precipitously than
others. Even in the cases that are not almost immediately disastrous (e.g.
Zama and the dead assassin), the apparent successes (e.g. Dorcas,
Miles/Jonas) aren't happy with their revival. Even his dog runs away.

    The final chapters of _Urth_ are devoted largely to tidying up loose
plot ends, most occasioned by the time-travel paradoxes, to fulfill what
otherwise might be termed "prophesies" (Typhon and The Conciliator,
Apu-Punchau). Sev shows up in the future about an hour before the big flood
hits the House Absolute. What timing! Why not some time during the fifty
years that have elapsed since he left on Tzadkiel's ship, when there was no
chance of encountering another version of himself? (In keeping with the
condition that he can't come too close to himself.) He could have prepared
Urth's inhabitants, saved people. Nope. Not because he couldn't but because
Wolfe didn't want him to. It's that simple.

    Hey, it's Wolfe's story; not mine. But the points I have raised fall, I
believe, within the parameters of possibility consistent with Sev's
universe(s) as portrayed in the New Sun books.

    And I'm not even going to mention the most glaring paradox. It takes
time for the white fountain to get to Urth's sun. It was on its way as far
back in time as Apu-Punchau. Therefore it had to have been in the heavens on
the day Sev was born. In fact, it was around for his whole life. Only it
wasn't. But it had to be. That's why I'm not going to mention it. <g>

Roy