The face of Pas

Dave Tallman · 14 Sep 2010, 02:46 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:46:04 -0600
Subject: (urth) The face of Pas
Message-ID: <AANLkTikwWavLokpdh-8mrBHPechkNRsYb9gPHJO9j4v6 at mail.gmail.com>

Roy C. Lackey wrote:

> Could be. But I think it a little odd that no one in seven books ever
> suggests that Silk, even at the age of forty-three, looks anything like the
> Pas of art or theophany, and Mint saw him at that age. In the case of
> Severian, an innkeeper pointed out to him how much he looked like an older
> Ouen.
>
>
> We ought to look at resemblances people really notice in the books and see
what explanations are possible.

1) Silk mistakes his astral-travelling older self for Patera Pike.  This was
in bad light and just a glimpse of the lower part of his face.
2) Severian mistakes the astral-travelling Silk for Master Malrubius. This
is more troubling because Sev got a longer look and he has a
near-photographic memory.

The Severian that Silk meets is probably an early iteration, maybe even
Sev1. He keeps his dog longer, and he has a relationship with Merryn and
probably not with Thecla. It seems like he draws inspiration from the
goodness of Silk, and maybe that "ghost" incident drove him out of the Guild
and to the north to become Autarch for the first time. The aquastor who
helps him in later iterations is probably drawn more from Silk than from the
old Malrubius.

But why does Silk look so much like Malrubius to Sev?
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