Merryn and Triskele

Roy C. Lackey · 05 Apr 2006, 20:54 · from 2006-April.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 15:54:21 -0500
Subject: (urth) Merryn and Triskele
Message-ID: <000a01c658f3$20deb000$833ec6d8 at rclackey.stic.net>

Andrew wrote:
>But there is one glaring difference which I find very difficult to
>ignore: Merryn. When Sev meets her & the Cumaean in Stone Town,
>they don't recognize each other. But in Long Sun, Sev fetches
>Merryn to meet with Jahlee; after that, at any rate, they *must*
>know each other. Something has definitely changed.

I think what Andrew is getting at is the rather glaring lack of apparent
recognition between Merryn and Severian at the end of CLAW. From Sev's
personal perspective, the meeting in the stone town took place less than two
years after the time he first found Triskele. (I can elaborate on the time
frame with citations from the text, if necessary.) Presumably the interval
was the same for Merryn. During the time he had Triskele was when Silkhorn &
Co. made their astral visit to him. Seeing someone walk through a steel wall
should have impressed Merryn, and it did. I don't think she would be likely
to ever forget her experience in the torturers' tower, or the young
apprentice who caused her to be there.

For the record, Sev had Triskele for only a week. (SHADOW, chapter IV, p-31,
Timescape hb.)

-Roy

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