The Old Autarch and Paeon

Dan Rabin · 28 Aug 2006, 22:56 · from 2006-August.txt.gz

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From: wolfe-lists at danrabin.com (Dan Rabin)
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:56:46 -0700
Subject: (urth) The Old Autarch and Paeon
Message-ID: <p0623090ac1191f894b37@[209.157.132.35]>

I have always interpreted the passage mentioning Paeon the 
honey-steward to be saying that the Old Autarch received instruction 
regarding the succession from someone he knew to be an aquastor of 
Paeon, his trusted teacher from his youth.

In other words, Paeon is to Old Autarch as Malrubius is to Severian.

This has seemed completely obvious to me since my second reading 
(which was the first for catching many internal references).

Independently, I'm one of those who doesn't think that the Old 
Autarch is Appian, precisely for the reason already cited that 
Appian's name is mentioned as a historical autarch, but the Old 
Autarch's name is never mentioned in any scene where he is present or 
even definitely referred to.

I have toyed with the idea that there's some sort of taboo on names 
of Autarchs during their reigns, but Severian wouldn't have to 
abserve such a stricture at the time he's writing.  Perhaps he has 
trouble distinguishing the Old Autarch from himself ever since the 
successional encephelophagy.

In case anyone needs another puzzle to speculate about, it has long 
annoyed me that Severian describes the Autarch on the counterfeit 
chrisos from Vodalus as androgynous, which I have (since second 
reading) always assumed to mean that it's the Old Autarch (the only 
one since Ymar to take the test in Yesod), yet Severian needs 
Thecla's memories to recognize the guy as the Autarch when he 
actually meets him.

   -- Dan Rabin

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