Roy wrote (leading to other interesting musings):
" Let us posit--strictly for the sake of argument--that Blue is Ushas. How does that affect the overall picture Wolfe has drawn in the 12 SUN books? That is, is it consonant with the religious underpinnings Wolfe has given the extended series?"
I would give a firm yes to that question, considering that Wolfe is an orthodox Catholic who (if I may presume) most certainly believes in original sin and the concept of the fallen world. It is not surprising that mankind and it's derivatives would repeat the same mistakes over and over and over. This is our doom until the second coming (for the record I'm agnostic) which has not occured yet in these books. There is no perfecting of the human race, in spite of the machinations of Typhon, the neighbors, the Hierodules, the Hierogrammates (whose motives are suspect), or the good intentions of Silk or Severian. Besides, it is not the Increate (Outsider?) who sends the New Sun to Urth, it is the Hierogrammates. And it is our own fault that we even need a new sun. If the Outsider has sent the Whorl back to Urth/Ushas it is His first direct interference in the mess we've made (the Hierogrammates are our creations, remember?) and in the form of Silk he sends an emmissary of wisdom and goodness and peace, who is revered but rarely heeded.
That said, I would like to add that I never thought to decisively convince everyone that Blue is Ushas. I think that Wolfe is far to clever to allow that to happen (though the "longfather" bit seems almost a slip to me). What I hope I've done is help bring the Blue/Ushas theory to a level of respectable plausibility where we can bring the discussion to thematic differences such as these rather than arguing the theoretical distance of Green from Blue in relation to Lune from Urth. Though that can be fun too.
Don