The Two Katherines

Dave Tallman · 17 Aug 2010, 19:33 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:33:58 -0600
Subject: (urth) The Two Katherines
Message-ID: <AANLkTikwTHq6OkjFnX64FhdFw9xoS7ns1gZrtyJSgYMy at mail.gmail.com>

Jeff Wilson wrote:

> >* 1. Why would it be desirable to avoid most "time-meddling"? We do have time-
> *>* travel in the story. Why is it to be avoided?
> *
> Minimal hypothesis, plus we have it that Severian was discovered *by*
> time travelers already on the path to the throne, so he presumably had
> an origin without their direct intervention. Other changes might
> subsequently undo that, requiring further measures to bring him back,
> but his parents seem to be already in place and motivated to do what
> comes naturally. It also avoids making the masters lying bastards like
> that shameless Ben Kenobi.
>
> If the mother of Severian comes from his future at all, then considerable
time-meddling may be required. Suppose she originally time-travelled back by
herself, using the Atrium of Time or some such (perhaps to escape an Ascian
invasion). She got pregnant, and her son Sev1 became the Autarch and turned
out to be a promising New Sun candidate. Now the Hierogrammates want to
replicate history with some tweaks. Katherine won't necessarily go back on
her own in the new timeline, and if she does it's not a good idea to leave
her pregnancy to chance. She might not get pregnant, or it might turn out to
be a girl this time. So some things have to be forced. One way is to send
Katherine back themselves. Second is to make sure she gets pregnant with an
exact genetic duplicate of Sev1. The answer is that Sev must be cloned and
implanted in Katherine in embryonic form. The Mandrigore may be a spare
clone that wasn't required, but that's an additional theory.

>* 3. It does not explain why this is called the Path of Air. Nor why a such a small
> *>* blip in Severian's mind is so important that it should end up being expressed in
> *>* Dr. Talos' play, 60 years earlier.
> *
> A loggia is similar to a breezeway, and it's not much of a stretch for a
> path of wind to become a path of air, especially if it is surrounded by
> baffled and baffling architecture that prevents a direct wind, but still
> lets people get some air. As for the blip, could you be more specific?
>
>
The encounter is described in UotNS, and it has a dramatic impact on Sev.
She can't have just gone to the breezeway to get mentioned in Talos' play,
at least not originally. A proper time-loop needs a starter. It can't be
from the first time Sev went back to be the Conciliator, either. He hadn't
yet seen the woman at that point. It must be during his subsequent life on
Ushas that he decided to revisit that time. He told someone about the
encounter, and it got incorporated into source materials that Talos used for
his play.
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