A new mystery ...

David Stockhoff · 03 Dec 2008, 00:38 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:38:30 -0500
Subject: (urth) A new mystery ...
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1228255728.15950.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.1.1228255728.15950.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <4935D506.7090600 at verizon.net>

Thanks, Roy. Got to ponder that a while ...

The intervention of B+O+F occurs in chapter L; Severian falls and dies in chapter IX.

But I can see how it could be. The text says only

"The old Autarch, who lived in my mind but seldom spoke, muttered through my swollen lips. "Find another... 
A dozen panting breaths had passed before I understood what he had told us: that it was time to surrender this body to death, time for us---time for Severian and Thecla, time for himself and all the rest who stood in his shadow---to take a step toward the shadows ourselves. Time for us to find someone else."

Then Severian has his new body, although it is burned and has broken teeth. He's wearing velvet, which presumably belongs to the Autarch. It's as though he didn't die at all, and didn't inhabit a new body. But an aquastor might behave that way.

At any rate, the aquastor looked different from Severian, and Valeria recognizes him as ... the Conciliator?

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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 14:59:13 -0600
From: "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) A new mystery ...
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <00ca01c954c0$d890ebc0$2acd4a0c at rclackey>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

David Stockhoff wrote:

> > Does anyone know whose body Severian took over after he fell from a
> > great height inside the sailship?
>   

It was a new aquastor body made by the Hierogrammates.

> > And is it this body which writes the first three books? I would assume
> > this must be.
>   

No. The first four books were written by the body that became autarch. The
fifth book was written by the body created by the Hierodules B, F, & O in
Apu's tomb, in the fifth book.

-Roy

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