Dan Rabin <danrabin at a.crl.com> writes:
6 quoted lines · 1–2 deep
Robert Borski writes:
....and one night when my guards were chattering among themselves and I sat crouched over our little fire, I saw the old guide (his bent figure and the impression of an immense head conferred by his mask were unmistakable) approach this palanquin [holding the Old Autarch (DR)] and slip beneath it. Some time passed before he scuttled away. This old man was said to be an
uturuncu, a shaman capable of assuming the form of a tiger.
The bent figure meets descriptions of Father Inire elsewhere. Father Inire is a Hierodule; Hierodules wear masks. Father Inire is in the habit of conferring with the Autarch. [clip]
So, Robert is wrong: we do actually meet Father Inire in the main narrative, and Robert is right, masks have to do with the matter.
Father Inire might even appear twice. In Chapter XXI of "Claw", the old Autarch sends Severian away in the custody of "a bent little man" in a "cowled habit like a cenobite's." Severian takes little notice of this servant, though he is instantly available to the Autarch in the Secret House. No mention of a mask in this episode, however.
raster at highfiber.com