Mystery of Agia

Lee Berman · 20 Jan 2011, 16:04 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 11:04:56 -0500
Subject: (urth) Mystery of Agia
Message-ID: <SNT123-W9DBEA04427A6FB86773EBCFF90 at phx.gbl>

>Jeff Wilson: And if she really is part of Hethor's sekrit mishun to provoke Severian 
>into revealing his true nature, once it is revealed he has become the 
>new Autarch that's also run its useful course and again it would be an 
>obvious time for them to cease tracking him.

I would say no. Because even at the end of CotA, we know Severian's true fulfillment is not
as autarch but as something higher. As we see in UotNS that fulfillment is found on the Ship
and in Yesod. I don't think Agia is able to follow Severian on the space travel path but 
Hethor is and I think Hethor does (in one guise or another). But I'll focus on Agia for now.

Agia's role remains on Urth as leader of the anti-Autarch group. And I think she fulfills
this role toward the end of UotNS. Son O' Witz asked about my assertion that Severian DOES
actually meet Agia again, in UotNS (as I think Wolfe storytelling requires he must, given 
her promise). 

I now realize one of my previoius posts disappeared into the internet answering Witz, so I'll 
try to rewrite my ideas on that here:

I think Agia appears in UotNS but it requires that we again recognize Severian as an unreliable
narrator who repeatedly misidentifies people on various mistakes; one that is repeated a couple
time is mistaken gender. This becomes plausible especially with older characters. 

IIRC, of the many characters and the many weapons mentioned in BotNS, only two use a poisoned
blade, Agia and the assassin. Because I find mystery solution clues in all Agia's weapons 
(misericorde, athame, crooked dagger and lucivee) it is not a stretch for me to think that this 
weapon similarity suggests a shared identity.

After Severian resurrects the assassin in the catacombs, he(she) seems confused and Severian
just walks on to the throne room. The assassin apparently gains enough sense of purpose to 
follow Severian, find the throne room and stab Valeria through the heart, nicking Severian in
the chest in the process. I find all of this reinforces the idea that the assassin is Agia.
The assassin follows Severian as Agia always did. The assassin kills the Autarch as was Agia's
assigned role. Agia was always the jealous type in regard to Dorcas and Thecla, so killing 
Valeria would make sense.

Perhaps most important is the fact that the poisoned blade piercing Severian's chest explicitly
mirrors his avern wound. The wound he had long ago received from the actions of Agia and Agilus.

Some might ask, "Well, couldn't the assassin just be male and following orders from some unknown 
boss"? The answer is, yes. For me the problem with that becomes auctorial purpose. Valeria was
about to die of drowning within minutes anyway. Why did Wolfe find the assassin necessary? Why 
would he introduce a mystery character, with hidden purpose, who doesn't speak, carrying a poisoned 
blade, to follow Severian, to unecessarily kill Valeria, and to re-open the avern wound. Why throw
7-8 loose ends at us at the very end of this five book story?

In the closed labyrinth which is BotNS, I think it makes better sense if all those loose ends 
are tied up with one age/gender misidentification by Severian. Agia.

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