At risk of getting in over my head . . .

Eric Ortlund · 21 Oct 2008, 13:51 · from 2008-October.txt.gz

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From: eortlund at briercrest.ca (Eric Ortlund)
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:51:45 -0600
Subject: (urth) At risk of getting in over my head . . .
Message-ID: <4E82554550FE5149AD4B30A4FEA2249201C47E34 at xchange.briercrest.ca>

I re-read BLS and BNS last summer and found it deeply satisfying,
especially after trolling this mailing list from its very beginning for
clues.  One thing still bothers me, which I hesitate to raise, because
it's related to the whole idea that Blue and Green are Urth and Lune or
some variety thereof, and I simply don't want to get into that (I don't
buy it, but it's way too complex and has already been discussed a lot).
Namely: how did Patera Quetzal get into the Whorl?  My first thought was
that Quetzal/the inhumi were present on Urth without Severian knowing;
but, in an interview with Wolfe where he fielded questions from readers,
Wolfe said that none of the major characters in BNS were inhumi, and
that Quetzal was a "late arrival" on the Whorl - which I take to mean
(perhaps incorrectly) that he somehow got on board after it was
launched.  But how?  Are there any clues in the books that anyone knows
of?  There's talk in the book about the inhumi barely being able to
survive the crossing from Blue to Green . . . and Quetzal's been on the
Lander for a long time.  And, if I remember correctly, he's not the only
inhumu on the whorl.  Anyone care to clarify things for me? 

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