Vizcacha said:
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In his far future, someone decided that if only he had been a little better, had lived a life that prepared him better for the test, he might have succeeded. So, they came back and gave him that life, and he did."<
Yes, Tzadkiel gave Severian the circumstances to become autarch by unmanning the previous Autarch. That's why I wince when I hear people use the word "punishment." The Autarch's castration wasn't a punishment for his failure to bring the New Sun back to Urth, it was merely a device to insure Severian, who could bring the NS, would get his day.
Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com>
http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html
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"Ignorance, that light of fools steers a wayward path"
-Brendan Perry