mystery of the guild

Son of Witz · 11 Feb 2009, 21:41 · from 2009-February.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:41:38 +0000
Subject: (urth) mystery of the guild
Message-ID: <W8824924930245331234388498@webmail25>

>Most people would balk at causing the death of a planet's population, even
>if they had assurances that a greater good would come of it, by and by.
>Severian had no such scruples.
>
>-Roy

when I read Urth, I thought he had a fair amount of reservations and guilt.  When he went back in time he lamented that he had abandoned the survivors.
I agree that he obeyed and wasn't overly troubled, but I think Wolfe made him human enough to point out that he did have reservations. They were overcome, probably, as much by his lifelong hope in a regenerative light, as by his simple need to obey. He's betrayed all such allegiances previously, so he might have done the same if he hadn't yearned for the New Sun since his childhood.

~witz

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