The Cat and significance to BOTNS The Urth list — 5 messages, 2 voices, 03 Feb 2009 https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/5330 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. ============================================================================== O'Donnell, Tim BOSI — 03 Feb 2009, 12:37 Hi all, I was just thinking on the story of The Cat in Endangered Species. Set in the same universe as BOTNS. Specifically, the following occurred to me: The titular moggie is tossed carelessly through Father Inire's mirrors by Sancha and comes back as a phantom cat. The cat cannot be seen by anyone though it does leave evidence of its existence. The cat also has the power to invade the dreams of Leocadia. This provides us with some evidence of at least one mode of return from the mirrors. As some sort of invisible entity that can (to some extent) occupy the thoughts of others. You see where I am going with this...does this tie in with Jonas as Miles? Could Jonas have simply popped out of the mirrors as an invisible entity (with no need for a body). He may have bonded to Severian in much the same way as the cat bonded to Sancha. Then, when Severian re-animated the body of Miles spirit-Jonas saw an opportunity to occupy a new body and possessed Miles. F ************************************************************************************************ Find out more about us at www.bankofscotland.ie The information contained in this message is confidential and is intended for the addressee only. If you have received this message in error or there are any problems please notify the originator immediately. 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Registered office: Bank of Scotland House, 124-127 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2 **************************************************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jeff Wilson — 04 Feb 2009, 04:28 in reply to O'Donnell, Tim BOSI > O'Donnell, Tim (BOSI) wrote: > Hi all, > > I was just thinking on the story of The Cat in Endangered Species. Set > in the same universe as BOTNS. > Specifically, the following occurred to me: > The titular moggie is tossed carelessly through Father Inire's mirrors > by Sancha and comes back as a > phantom cat. The cat cannot be seen by anyone though it does leave > evidence of its existence. The cat > also has the power to invade the dreams of Leocadia. I'm not convinced this is the same cat transformed; IIRC it could more easily be a catlike creature Inire supplied to distract the girl from her loss with novelty. Bonding ensues between the girl and the feline that turns out to have pookalike qualities. -- Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com < http://www.io.com/~jwilson > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ O'Donnell, Tim BOSI — 04 Feb 2009, 10:16 follows, by subject match Jeff Wilson Yeah, well, that is fair, it is not clear what happens, this is Wolfe after all! Whether Inire conjures up some kind of cat or whether Inire summons the cat back through the mirrors is unclear. Me, I favour the theory that Inire summoned the cat back through the mirrors and this has a bearing on Miles/Jonas. I think this story tells us more about the mysterious mirrors and that is (one of) its purpose(s). Also, I wonder if Hethor doesn't just call up his creatures with his mirrors, what if he creates them in this way as well? By putting an innocent slug through the mirrors he could get a snuffling beast that leaves a slimy trail, the salamander could originally have been a newt and so on. All this is wild speculation of course with no textual evidence... :) > Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com wrote: > I'm not convinced this is the same cat transformed; IIRC it could more > easily be a catlike creature Inire supplied to distract the girl from > her loss with novelty. Bonding ensues between the girl and the feline > that turns out to have pookalike qualities... ************************************************************************************************ Find out more about us at www.bankofscotland.ie The information contained in this message is confidential and is intended for the addressee only. If you have received this message in error or there are any problems please notify the originator immediately. The unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. This mail and any attachments have been scanned for viruses prior to leaving Bank of Scotland Ireland's network. Bank of Scotland Ireland will not be liable for direct, special, indirect or consequential damages arising from alteration of the contents of this message by a third party or as a result of any virus being passed on. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) reserves the right to monitor and record e-mail messages sent to and from this address for the purposes of investigating or detecting any unauthorised use of its system and ensuring its effective operation. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited is part of HBOS plc and is regulated by the Financial Regulator. Registered in Ireland Number: 8545. Registered office: Bank of Scotland House, 124-127 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2 **************************************************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jeff Wilson — 04 Feb 2009, 10:29 in reply to O'Donnell, Tim BOSI > O'Donnell, Tim (BOSI) wrote: > Also, I wonder if Hethor doesn't just call up his creatures with his > mirrors, what if he creates them in this way > as well? By putting an innocent slug through the mirrors he could get a > snuffling beast that leaves a slimy trail, > the salamander could originally have been a newt and so on. All this is > wild speculation of course with no textual > evidence... :) Jonas' recognition of the notules from his travels to other planets is textev that the creatures are summoned, rather than conjured or transmogrified. The possibility remains that some kind of exchange of creatures might be necessary or at least facilitate the process; that might explain what happened to Hethor's paracoita as well as the cat thing. -- Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com < http://www.io.com/~jwilson > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ O'Donnell, Tim BOSI — 04 Feb 2009, 11:00 follows, by subject match Jeff Wilson Of course! [Slaps head] Thanks for that Jeff, of course the creatures are summoned. OK, so maybe what happens is that something comes back and whatever it is takes on some of the properties that the person to whom it was summoned expects. Nah, I am heading off into no-man's land here... __________________________ > Jeff Wilson wrote: > Jonas' recognition of the notules from his travels to other planets is textev that the creatures are summoned, rather than conjured or transmogrified. > The possibility remains that some kind of exchange of creatures might be necessary or at least facilitate the process; that might explain what happened to Hethor's paracoita as well as the cat thing. ************************************************************************************************ Find out more about us at www.bankofscotland.ie The information contained in this message is confidential and is intended for the addressee only. If you have received this message in error or there are any problems please notify the originator immediately. The unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. This mail and any attachments have been scanned for viruses prior to leaving Bank of Scotland Ireland's network. Bank of Scotland Ireland will not be liable for direct, special, indirect or consequential damages arising from alteration of the contents of this message by a third party or as a result of any virus being passed on. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) reserves the right to monitor and record e-mail messages sent to and from this address for the purposes of investigating or detecting any unauthorised use of its system and ensuring its effective operation. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited is part of HBOS plc and is regulated by the Financial Regulator. Registered in Ireland Number: 8545. Registered office: Bank of Scotland House, 124-127 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2 **************************************************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------