Patera Inire

Lee Berman · 18 Jul 2010, 05:13 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:13:41 -0400
Subject: (urth) Patera Inire
Message-ID: <SNT123-W10AD946D2DD363CCA6F587CFBE0 at phx.gbl>

>Roy C. Lackey- We are given every reason to believe that Inire's mission
>on Urth was to cause to be delivered a new sun.

I do agree with this conclusion. Most important in my disagreement is the
sense I have that this story was written (and meant to be read) through a
Christian lens.  Severian may be interpreted as a Christ- or Christian figure
but I can't see Father Inire in that light. In UotNS we are told that Inire has
been Severian's friend and warmly bid him farewell on his journey to the stars.
So perhaps he was not antagonistic toward Severian's quest for a New Sun, no more
than Apollo and Mercury were antagonistic toward Jesus. They may have set the 
stage for the coming of Jesus but they didn't purposefully work toward it.

More specific counter-evidence from the text:

1. Inire has built a Byzantine (pagan) society in which religion has little 
importance and is based on elaborate ritual rather than faith. If he was 
highly involved in bringing the New Sun I think we'd see some association of
him with the Pelerinnes but we don't.

2. We do not see Inire openly present in Urth's past, at the end of Typhon's
rule, when he should have been there getting the New Sun cult started. Borski
thinks Ceryx is Father Inire disguised but he hardly seems to be working
toward bringing the New Sun. Quite the opposite.  He competes with Severian, 
creates zombies and tries to kill The Conciliator. Not very Christian/New Sunish.

3. Inire's 1000 year rule behind the throne produced only two attempts to bring
the New Sun before Severian, both failures. Moreover, both Inire's letter and the
words of the Old Autarch make it fairly clear they are maintaining the war with
the Ascians in equilibrium, propping up the enemies of the New Sun such as the
Vodelarii (and perhaps the Jungle Sorcerers), ensuring they remain to keep 
balance/stasis between the contending forces.

4. We do not see any hint of Father Inire when Severian returns to the Flood Day
the last day of Urth (first day of Ushas). Valeria has been ruling without his 
assistance. If Inire's sole purpose was bringing the New SUn, doesn't good story
telling demand some mention of him at the fruition of his life's work? What does 
his absence on this important day suggest?

4. It seems implied that the Old Autarch used a version of Father Inire's mirrors
to travel to Tzadkiel. Inire shares mirror-using with Hethor (along with some
other traits). Using mirrors does not seem to be a good way of impressing Tzadkiel
or bringing the New Sun. Severian notes that Inire's mirror chamber is marked with
a "terratoid" (monsterous) symbol.  

5. Cyriaca gives us this cryptic quote about the mirrors, "...cacogens had landed
somewhere in the north [Baldander's Castle, we learn]... I suppose they must have 
wished to avoid the mirrors at the House Absolute so they could escape the eyes of
the Autarch. I think this suggests B, F and O don't like the mirrors, and Inire, 
either. We certainly never see them working with Inire. The closest they get is
watching Eschatology and Genesis and that is probably to see Severian perform. If 
Inire is the cowled servitor then both he and the hierodules are well wrapped and 
disguised in their closest encounter.

6. During the story of his travels, Severian's foreshadowing makes it clear he does 
not use Inire's or the Old Autarch's mirrors to complete his New Sun quest. He 
travels to the stars on a ship, as UotNS later confirms.

7. Severian has been chosen to bring the New Sun because he has his so-called perfect
memory and/or because he was raised as a torturer and has the capacity for such a 
genocidal act. Either way, I don't see evidence that Father Inire is working to create
or develop or recognize or recruit these talents in Severian before his ascension. (after
his ascension there is an interesting exception, listed below). His interest in Severian
seems only to serve, once again, as vizier, as the power behind the throne.

8. Inire's letter to Severian is all about war and political intrigues but there
actually is one hint of recognition there about Severian's divine role. The letter
addresses Severian, among other things as, "Helios, Hyperion, Surya and Savitar". These
deity names are Greek and Vedic parallels for the male gods of the sun and of light. 
This is surely a recognition of Severian's New Sun role. But this recognition does not
imply to me that Inire is working toward the New Sun goal, especially light of #1-7.
Moreover these are pagan gods and I think Inire (as a pagan god allusion himself)
just doesn't get the Judeo-Christian  role Severian will play.

FWIW- Inire's letter also calls Severian "Messenger of Dawn". In context, this must refer
to the female god of the Dawn, the Greek Eos/Roman Aurora, daughter of Hyperion, sister to
Helios. Is this Inire's acknowledgement of Severian's Thecla side? Perhaps even more 
interesting is that the Vedic cognate to Eos is the Sanskrit for dawn: ????; u?as or 
Ushas.

I think the answer to the question of where Father Inire goes just before and after the New Sun
arrives is the same as the answer for how a flood can destroy large creatures that live
in the ocean. I think the answer is not easily found in the text as in Judeo-Christian allegory.
Abaia and Erebus went to the same place that the Nephilim and lamia and other demons went 
after Noah's Flood. And Father Inire went to the same place Helios and Zeus and Aurora went
after Christianity replaced their religion. 		 	   		  
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