Sev's common lineage

Dave Tallman · 01 Jul 2008, 06:51 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:51:07 -0600
Subject: (urth) Sev's common lineage
In-Reply-To: <001b01c8db31$d4c32b60$52cd4a0c at rclackey.stic.net>
References: <001b01c8db31$d4c32b60$52cd4a0c at rclackey.stic.net>
Message-ID: <4869D3DB.3020301 at gmail.com>

Roy C. Lackey wrote:
> In the Play, the Praetorians were only escorting the Countess to her suite
> after Meschia had knocked her down. She reappeared in another scene with the
> torturers, but she was not there to be tortured, and wasn't. That's not a
> very good map from which particulars of Catherine's life can be
> extrapolated.
>
> No one is going to get to have it both ways. Either mapping an Urth Cycle
> character to someone in the Play is valid, or it isn't. You can't pick which
> literal items suit a given theory and dismiss whatever doesn't fit with so
> much hand waving about symbolism.
>   
Actually, I can have it both ways very easily. We know for a fact that 
Sev saw a woman in the loggia near the Path of Air, and certain details 
about her. We also know that the play contains a description of a 
similar scene. The first issue is whether this is coincidence or whether 
Sev carried a description of this event back to the past. I think we are 
forced to the conclusion that he did. A description of a throne-room 
scene with the autarch, the giant Nod (Baldanders), Jahi (Juturna), and 
the prophetess is also uncannily accurate to the point where it cannot 
be coincidence.

At issue is whether Sev told Canog (or someone who told Canog) 
additional details besides the ones in UotNS:
1) Her height. Is she an exultant?
2) Her apparent age. Is she young?
3) Her physical condition. Is she injured?

Details like this were either told by Sev or invented by Talos. I choose 
to accept them as possible new facts. Sev might also have deduced that 
she was his mother from investigations he didn't tell us about, and he 
might have chosen to provide cryptic hints about this to Canog.

Talos used the raw material to weave a consistent back-story for 
purposes of his play. He is more likely to be correct about physical 
details than about the context. We also, with more information, can 
weave a consistent back-story for our theories. We are free to accept 
his physical details and ignore his context. As another example, we can 
accept the giant Nod as Baldanders without believing that Baldanders had 
a character and motivations exactly like the ones given him in the play.

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