# Mysteries of the Whorl *The Whorl list — 3 messages, 3 voices, 11 Apr 1997* > 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. --- ### David_Lebling *11 Apr 1997, 10:10* I was thinking it might be interesting to make a list of the major mysteries (or at least controversies) about the _Long Sun_ books. mantis did a nice (if typically oracular) one for the _New Sun_ books in _Lexicon Urthus_. (Perhaps it should be posted to the Urth list, which seems a bit moribund so far.) These suggestions are in no particular order, as you will see. Some are big mysteries, some are little... * Was that Pike's ghost in the manteion, or what? * Who was Blood's father? * Who was Orpine's father? * What are Quetzal's motives? * How long has the Whorl been in the Blue/Green system? * Why did Typhon/Pas send it? * Who was Urus working for? * What were the five very great things Mint gave up? * Did Silk replace Pas in Mainframe? * Should the landers really have gone to Green? * Exactly how much of the book did Horn make up? * Is Pas dead? * What about Blood's driver, was he Willet/Hossaan? * Who was the body in the tunnel? * What was the big fish that swallowed Mamelta? * Was Hyacinth a spy? * Who was the spy in the Calde's household Siyuf boasted of? * What went on between Hyacinth and Chenille that they didn't want to talk about? * Was Silk enlightened by Severian? * Did Silk die in the pit? Why did Quetzal lie to Silk in the pit? * Is Mucor a goddess? How did she do that, anyway? * What was Silk so despondent about on the airship? * What about all that confusion between Marble and Mint in _Exodus_? Feel free to suggest additional mysteries. I'm certain I've missed some good ones. Also, if anyone wants an explanation of any of these (you latecomers have a lot of Archive to wade though), I'll try to provide it. -vizcacha (david_lebling at avid.com) --- ### m.driussi *11 Apr 1997, 16:28 · follows David_Lebling* Reply: Item #0548146 from WHORL at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET00# viscacha, Yay! Mysteries! Lists of things! You are off to a good start, IMHO. I was thinking you might want to re-organize it by "big" and "little" mysteries, but on second thought I realized that our group could probably never reach agreement on which were either , so best skip that taxonomic angle. Instead, maybe divide the mysteries up into rough topics, like "Identities" for issues of disguise, "Lineage" for issues of genetic/familial lines, et cetera? Well, maybe not--already I see some potential overlap with only two categories. Hey, it also looks like a FAQ sheet! (Rather than "frequently asked questions" maybe ours would be "frequently argued quibbles"? ) =mantis= --- ### Doug Eigsti *15 Apr 1997, 13:17 · follows m.driussi* vizcacha, A few (geographical) mysteries for you: *Why is Viron, in the South, colder than Trivaguanti, in the North? (IV, p79.3). *How do mountains cast shadows if the sun is always directly overhead? (I, p91.1) *How does seeing the Lake let Chenille know that she is getting closer? Shouldn't she be able to see it before she sets out because of the curvature? (II, p144.-1) *What is meant by the term "horizon"? (II, p255.-2) =Talon= ---