Subject: (urth) Silk and Malrubius

From: Peter Sun Rogers <petersunrogers at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:19:18 +0000

Hi all, I just finished reading Return to the Whorl again and it struck me
that Severian refers to Silkhorn's bird as *Malrubius*'s bird. This made me
realize that many of the characteristics that Severian attributes to the
ghost of Malrubius in *Book of the New Sun, *echo the traits we know best
of Silk quite strongly. When Malrubius peaked in to check on Severian, it
reminded me of something that Silk might do if he heard a worrying noise in
a student's room. Also, Malrubius's lecture on the Seven Principles of
Governance:

*"Attachment to the person of the monarch. Attachment to a bloodline or
other sequence of succession.*

*Attachment to the royal state. *

*Attachment to a code legitimizing the governing state. *

*Attachment to the law **only. *

*Attachment to a greater or lesser board of electors, as framers of the
law. *

*Attachment to an **abstraction conceived as including the body of
electors, other bodies giving rise to them, and numerous **other elements,
largely ideal."*

This struck me as the type of revelation Silk might have had after his
Enlightenment at the ball court. So perhaps in the same way that Severian
is both Severian and Thecla, and Silk is both Silk and Horn, perhaps Silk
is both Silk and Malrubius. That is to say, a conceptual soul that inhabits
both Silk and Malrubius simultaneously. In this case, it appears as if Book
of the New Sun *does *set some precedent for the events of Book of the
Short Sun, despite Severian's claim that he would never write about Silk.

Severian claimed that he would never write about his journeys with Silkhorn
because he would be immediately discredited. However, who says that the
only times that Silk visited Severian were the two times that he was
accompanied by his sons? It is likely that he checked up on Severian his
entire life, with Severian barely noticing him several times. In this way,
Silk is both Severian's mentor and protector, watching over the man who
would (one day) become the male and female voices that whispers
enlightenment into his ears at the beginning of the Book of the Long Sun.
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From: Peter Sun Rogers <petersunrogers at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 01:52:49 +0000

This also strengthens the motif of characters being the vehicles of
archetypal roles, rather than individual and discrete personalities.  As
Gene Wolfe puts it in *Shadow and Claw,*:  We say, "I will," and "I will
not," and imagine ourselves (though we obey the orders of some prosaic
person every day) our own masters, when the truth is that our masters are
sleeping. One wakes within us and we are ridden like beasts, though the
rider is but some hitherto unguessed part of ourselves."

So Malrubius is Silk and Silk is Malrubius because they are both controlled
by the same master: the archetypal mentor that raises up Severian to
eventually become the New Sun. But as suggested by others in this
newsletter, transcendent Severian than enlightens Silk in the ball court,
thus closing the loop and connecting the cyclical chain of events that
forms the complete Increate.

On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 7:19 PM, Peter Sun Rogers
<petersunrogers at gmail.com>wrote:

> that Severian refers to Silkhorn's bird as *Malrubius*'s bird. This made
> me realize that many of the characteristics that Severian attributes to the
> electors, other bodies giving rise to them, and numerous **other
> elements, largely ideal."*
>
> Severian claimed that he would never write about his journeys with
> Silkhorn because he would be immediately discredited. However, who says
> that the only times that Silk visited Severian were the two times that he
> was accompanied by his sons? It is likely that he checked up on Severian
> his entire life, with Severian barely noticing him several times. In this
> way, Silk is both Severian's mentor and protector, watching over the man
> who would (one day) become the male and female voices that whispers
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From: Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 09:41:12 +0000

From: Peter Sun Rogers

> Hi all, I just finished reading Return to the Whorl again and it
> struck me that Severian refers to Silkhorn's bird as Malrubius's
>  bird. This made me realize that many of the characteristics that
> Severian attributes to the ghost of Malrubius in Book of the New
>  Sun, echo the traits we know best of Silk quite strongly.

That's interesting, but I think the actual incident where Severian said the 
bird belonged to Malrubius was just a lie Severian told to get rid of the 
heavyset man (Gurloes?).  That said, when Horn put his hand on Gurloes 
shoulder, what did Gurloes see?

- Gerry Quinn