shapeshifting Hethor

mournings glory · 28 May 2006, 17:05 · from 2006-May.txt.gz

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From: mourningsglory at hotmail.com (mournings glory)
Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 17:05:19 +0000
Subject: (urth) shapeshifting Hethor
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-F3F6FB73E5785B508FD09FD79C0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F742BAD9F4D42B22EBFF3CD89C0 at phx.gbl>

>From: "b sharp" <bsharporflat at hotmail.com>

>There is a BotNS problem posed by Severian:  How could Hethor get a slug 
>the
>size of a horse to follow Severian through pampas, towns, mountains and
>jungles?

>Armed with these tools I think we could suggest that the slug is Hethor, or
>more accurately, Hethor is really a slug.

Except that the slug almost certainly perishes in the burning hut of the 
village of the sorcerors during the duel of magic, whereas Hethor is still 
alive when reencountered in _Citadel_.  I suppose you could argue the slug 
escapes by either natural or artificial means (specular teleportation?), but 
it certainly never appears again -- ditto for the salamander, which has 
plunged to its death back to Thrax.

More likely both disappearances result because neither beast is Hethor, just 
as Father Inire is neither grieving boatman nor curator of paintings, but an 
alien with absolutely no reason to impersonate either Rudesind or 'Cas's 
husband.

em

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