the assassin

b sharp · 01 Jun 2006, 04:14 · from 2006-May.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:14:15 -0400
Subject: (urth) the assassin
Message-ID: <BAY103-F239DE044C1C0F9982506E8D7900 at phx.gbl>

Dan'l said:
>Actually, I took the mask to suggest that the assassin was a
>disaffected member of the Order of Seekers for Truth and Penitence
>who did not approve of the Autarch Severian's reform of his guild.

So I checked, Roy is right, no mask.  Still, my point remains that only two 
poisoned weapons appear in the 5 books, that I can think of. One with Agia, 
the athame, and one with the assassin (venom-daubed batardeau).  Agia's 
weapons seem to connect her to others. Or maybe not.

I guess that is the question, to connect the dots or not connect the dots.

Exploring for this post reminded me of another weapon she doesn't actually 
have but she mentions owning previously, "A misericorde with an ivy-root 
handle". I find that a misericorde is a thin bladed dagger used on the 
battlefield to put the mortally wounded out of their misery.  Ivy root, 
hm...

I'm not seeing a strong connection of that weapon to anything else in the 
story. Pelerines maybe?  It seems like a rather elaborate weapon description 
for the reference to be just a toss-away.

-bsharp

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