Is Agia a Robot?

Ryan Dunn · 18 Jun 2010, 22:32 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: ryan at liftingfaces.com (Ryan Dunn)
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:32:47 -0400
Subject: (urth) Is Agia a Robot?
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On Jun 18, 2010, at 6:17 PM, Ant?nio Pedro Marques wrote:

> I just find that Agia is the single most important character in the whole story and precious little is known about her. Maybe Wolfe's hints are not in the sense of her being a robot, but something else - though just what I can't guess.
> 
> - She is there almost from the beginning until the end - even as Severian becomes Autarch, she becomes the Autarch's antagonist, seemingly out of nothing - what's she got to do with the Vodelarii??
> 
> - Compare Agia's omnipresence to Thecla's, who Severian is always mentioning, yet barely appears in the story in person - by contrast, Agia has a will of her own to remain relevant.
> 
> - Why the obsession with Severian? He killed her brother/lover, ok, but it's not like it was undeserved, and he did it merely as an instrument of Law - not to mention that A&A went to great lengths to entrap Severian before he did anything - can anyone believe that the twins' usual business was killing unwary travellers in avern duels?
> 
> The fact is that Agia's whole purpose from beginning to end seems to be to work as an antagonist to Severian. To me this suggests that the character is much more important and mysterious that it seems at first sight, and that the oddities about her beg for some grand explanation. Iow, I don't think the odd hints point to her being a robot, but rather to something much more extraordinary (whether part of it is being a robot or not, and bearing in mind that pretty much everything in Wolfe's books is extraordinary, both in etymological and pedestrian sense). Just what, I have absokutely no idea at all. I certainly don't think she's the Devil, she's not that powerful.



You know, Agia does have a knack for bending people to her will, whether that be Severian, Hethor, the Vodalani, etc. The aureole suggests something holy, perhaps a symbolic moment, perhaps some archangelic aspect?

If Ossipago is robot and not cacogen (I believe he is, isn't he), are there common clues connecting him and Agia? Or maybe just observations worthy of comparison (in the way there are between Hethor and Jonas, as star sailors).

We DO agree that Agia is one of the more important characters in the book, no doubt. But try as I may, I can't shake the notion that Hethor's monologue was not just a demonstration by Wolfe to show off his writing chops. Who is the girl in the box?????????

...ryan

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