Subject: (whorl) Where did Rose's parts come from? Clues to Blood's Parentage

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 1997 13:40:22 +0000

[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Rose's Parts:

The question arose recently of where Maytera Rose's parts came from.
(Xiphias apparently got parts from five different chems to make his
artificial leg).

Well, when Marble is describing how she rebuilt herself from Rose's
parts, she says she "reclaimed" them.  The implication (unless you
assume this is Rose-as-Marble talking) is that some of Rose's parts came
from Marble.

Blood's Father:

Given Wolfe's offhand revelation of Blood's parentage in the response to
our first question train, I was curious to see what clues I could find
in the text. I found nothing but this interesting quote, from
Rose-as-Marble (III, 352pb):

"I won't tell you who Bloody's father was, Patera. I've never told
anybody and I won't tell now. But I will tell you this. He never knew. I
don't think he even suspected."

It certainly raises a lot of interesting questions. Betel apparently
knew that Rose was pregnant, so presumably the father knew as well. How
could he have not suspected? Curiouser and curiouser.

     -vizcacha
     (david_lebling at avid.com)