Severian as reverse Christ (or something)

Jordon Flato · 21 Nov 2008, 20:23 · from 2008-November.txt.gz

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From: jordonflato at gmail.com (Jordon Flato)
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:23:31 -0800
Subject: (urth) Severian as reverse Christ (or something)
Message-ID: <273409710811211223v691a1663ua4b1b789c2d46f59 at mail.gmail.com>

Oh, one last thing I think is important (until the next thing):

You said in your post that

>I suppose you're right about Severian being the Conciliator all the time,
just as he is Apu Punchau.

On a semantic level, I think it's actually important to reverse that and say
that the Conciliator is Severian the whole time and Apu Punchau is Severian
the whole time.  Because in a certain sense (outside of the giant singular
hypercube of time  [image: Shocked]) Severian *isn't* the Conciliator or Apu
Pinchau yet, in BothNS.  That is why the manipulation, both by
mundane/infernal forces and the increate, is necessary:  To set up the drama
by which Severian can become the man who will become the Conciliator and the
New Sun.  The reason BotNS is the most important part of all of Sev's time
journeys to focus on is that it is the journey that prepares him to become
the Conciliator (in the past) and the New Sun (in the future).  It is the
ground which sets the stage for the past reconciliation with the Increate,
and the rebirth of the Urth as Ushas. To use terminology you've used before,
it is only THIS PART of Severians Journey (BotNS), in a sense, which
represents the Cross, the Ratio, the conjunction of Time and Eternity, the
Horizontal and the Vertical.

Also, how great is it that Severian acts in a play (Eschatology and Genesis)
about the Cosmological play in which he is the central character.  Super
Duper Meta!
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