The Tomb of the Unknown Severian

Tony Ellis · 23 Dec 2007, 19:45 · from 2007-December.txt.gz

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From: tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com (Tony Ellis)
Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:45:47 +0000
Subject: (urth) The Tomb of the Unknown Severian
Message-ID: <9a33123d0712231145n6127e24cmee1542c337e48cc3 at mail.gmail.com>

Roy wrote:
>Sure, it's a reasonable conclusion; it's the time-walking part that bothers
>me. If Sev1 doesn't exist in Sev2's universe, as you put it, what is the
>relevance of his stipulated ability to walk in time?

I think the stuff about Sev1 has to be read in the context in which it
was written, that is, as part of the final words in a tetralogy that
was intended to make sense by itself, without any fifth volume.

The relevance of Sev1's time-travel ability, in this context, is that
it tells us we can expect Sev2 to gain the power to walk in time too,
as he is following in Sev1's footsteps. And *that* has some major
implications.

"I know now the identity of the man called the Head of Day." TCotA, XXXVIII

Paradoxes notwithstanding, the fact that Severian will one day become
a magical man called The Head of Day is a pretty huge hint that he is
going to be successful in bringing the New Sun - something that we
don't actually know at that point (although we've had some other
pretty big hints).

More than that, as I realised on about my third read-through of the
tetralogy, if the power of time travel makes it possible for Severian
to be Apu-Punchau, it also makes it possible for him to be another
long-ago magic man: the Conciliator. Revelation!

All this is confirmed in UotNS, obviously, but UotNS wasn't written then.

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