Appearances of Inire

Roy C. Lackey · 29 Jun 2010, 06:43 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:43:18 -0500
Subject: (urth) Appearances of Inire
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Ryan Dunn wrote:
> Do you disagree then that Inire appears to us in any form during the
course of the books?
>

I think he was the guy in a cowel who led Sev out of the House Absolute and
back to the theater troupe. And of course that he was the shaman in the
jungle who tried to rescue the Old Autarch. And he may have been the ape-dog
thing that looked in on Sev in the lazaret after the avern duel.

> I never thought the boatman was Inire, btw.

But Lee does, and we had this whole monkey battle a few years ago.

> But the boatman seems to be the same man at Gyoll who asks Roche (?)
whether Severian mentioned a woman after his drowning.
>

Many people have thought so, but there are some who don't buy it.

> Rudesind could be Inire, in order to get Severian to Ultan.

Yeah, and Rudesind could have lied about the letter from Inire at the end of
CITADEL. Of course he would have been lying to the new autarch, the autarch
Inire would be vizier to for the next ten years. A rather foolish thing to
do, it seems to me. And Sev may not be as smart as some people like to
think, but how stupid would he have to be not to have found Inire out in
those ten years that went by before he wrote the manuscript that detailed
that meeting?

> Not sure about Fechin (maybe too deep for me).

That old battle. Again. <g> I haven't changed my mind and neither has Lee.

> But why go to the trouble to make a point of a character having
monkey-like qualities, which is clearly how Inire is described (at least
second or third hand)?
>
> Regarding Ossipago, he may/may not be Inire. I do however suspect he and
Palaemon are of the same ilk if not the same being outright.
>

Ossipago is a machine. Palaemon is very, very human, an old man who aged
visibly in the six months between Sev's exile and return to the tower as
autarch. That one scene near the end of CITADEL is enough to show that
clearly. Sev was able to see in the old man's face the youth he had been.
And he eats and drinks wine, sighs, makes facial expressions, etc. He is a
man.

-Roy

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