{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4638", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 4638, "subject": "the assassin", "messages": 5, "voices": 3, "first": "2006-05-31T17:09:03+00:00", "last": "2006-06-01T04:14:15+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "b sharp", "address": "bsharporflat at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-31T17:09:03+00:00", "subject": "(urth) the assassin", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I chanced upon a couple posts from last year about the assassin Severian \nencounters in the Secret House on flood day. I have a possible (if not very \nspecific) solution to his identity.\n\nOnce again I think it is tied to a Wolfe deception. I've noted some of his \ndeception techniques, which include putting a clue far out of context in \nthe text, pairing two clues together so you tend to forget the first one, \ncharacters making misleading, though true statements and Severian \nmis-identifying people.\n\nThis is something similar in that Severian, who is constantly making \ncomparisons in the text, fails to make an obvious one. In the sorceror's \njungle saddle, one of them shows Severian his weapon, a set of blades that \nfit between the fingers attached to a bar held in the palm. Later, in the \nziggurat, Agia slaps him in the face and he loses consciousness and awakes \nwith a torn cheek. He then starts talking about her weapon as though it was \nsomething new. He calls it a \"lucivee\" which has blades hidden between the \nfingers and a metal bar in the palm. He also mentions rings to attach the \nthing to two fingers, but surely it is the same weapon as that of the \nsorcerors.\n\nOthers have speculated that Agia is associated with the sorcerors because of \nthe strange symbols she scratches with a coin before Agilus' execution. A \njuripari ,being a local S. American demon, might make sense as a totem for \nthat group. But I haven't seen anyone connect her to the sorcerors using \nthe lucivee before. Wolfe's trick worked? Perhaps weapons are an important \nway of connecting Agia with other characters. It all starts with the avern \nseed.\n\nAgia also uses a crooked dagger in Casdoe's house. And at the Saltus mine \nshe uses the athame (I think) which (I think the appendix tells us) is the \n\"poisoned warlock's sword\".\n\nI think the assassin is just a way to tell us that Agia's malice continued, \nin one form or another, all through the time Severian was on his trip.\n\n-bsharp" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "b sharp", "address": "bsharporflat at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-31T18:01:04+00:00", "subject": "(urth) the assassin", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hm. now that I think about it, the assassin was masked, right? Agia would \nhave been very old and Severian has been known to make mistakes before. Then \nthere is always the Path of Air...\n\n-bsharp" } ] }, { "message_id": "<1f7617370605311148h523aa8dbw162fa760fc33f097@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes", "address": "danldo at gmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-31T18:48:02+00:00", "subject": "(urth) the assassin", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Actually, I took the mask to suggest that the assassin was a\ndisaffected member of the Order of Seekers for Truth and Penitence\nwho did not approve of the Autarch Severian's reform of his guild." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 5/31/06, b sharp wrote:\nHm. now that I think about it, the assassin was masked, right? Agia would\nhave been very old and Severian has been known to make mistakes before. Then\nthere is always the Path of Air...\n\n-bsharp\n\n\n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "<001601c68503$a69645a0$233ec6d8@rclackey.stic.net>", "from": { "name": "Roy C. Lackey", "address": "rclackey at stic.net" }, "date": "2006-05-31T22:43:29+00:00", "subject": "(urth) the assassin", "in_reply_to": "<1f7617370605311148h523aa8dbw162fa760fc33f097@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "bsharp wrote:\nHm. now that I think about it, the assassin was masked, right? Agia would\nhave been very old and Severian has been known to make mistakes before." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Then" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "there is always the Path of Air..." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Uh, no, the assassin didn't have a mask of any kind. And Severian\nspecifically mentions seeing the guy's face as it reanimated. The assassin\nhad a batardeau, which is a large knife. (URTH, 291) I can't see that Agia\nhad anything to do with the assassin.\n\n-Roy" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "b sharp", "address": "bsharporflat at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2006-06-01T04:14:15+00:00", "subject": "(urth) the assassin", "in_reply_to": "<001601c68503$a69645a0$233ec6d8@rclackey.stic.net>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Dan'l said:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Actually, I took the mask to suggest that the assassin was a\ndisaffected member of the Order of Seekers for Truth and Penitence\nwho did not approve of the Autarch Severian's reform of his guild." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "So I checked, Roy is right, no mask. Still, my point remains that only two \npoisoned weapons appear in the 5 books, that I can think of. One with Agia, \nthe athame, and one with the assassin (venom-daubed batardeau). Agia's \nweapons seem to connect her to others. Or maybe not.\n\nI guess that is the question, to connect the dots or not connect the dots.\n\nExploring for this post reminded me of another weapon she doesn't actually \nhave but she mentions owning previously, \"A misericorde with an ivy-root \nhandle\". I find that a misericorde is a thin bladed dagger used on the \nbattlefield to put the mortally wounded out of their misery. Ivy root, \nhm...\n\nI'm not seeing a strong connection of that weapon to anything else in the \nstory. Pelerines maybe? It seems like a rather elaborate weapon description \nfor the reference to be just a toss-away.\n\n-bsharp" } ] } ] }