Sev's family tree

Son of Witz · 27 Jan 2011, 21:29 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:29:40 -0800
Subject: (urth) Sev's family tree
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On Jan 27, 2011, at 12:08 PM, "Gerry Quinn" <gerryq at indigo.ie> wrote:

> From: Mr Thalassocrat
> Viz: Sev colludes with a repugnant alien beast to facilitate the death of most of Cadoe's family, leaving Little Sev as the only survivor.
>  
> Morally, I think, Sev is a cripple. He waxes lyrical about these people and their lives, yet constructively colludes in their horrible deaths. Later, he does the same thing on a much larger scale.
> The reading seems problematic.  Casdoe chose to leave Severian alone in the dark with the alzabo, when she could with little risk have hung a light for him.  Doubtless she intended that the alzabo would devour Severian and rush off to find his family, leaving her and her own family safe.
>  
> After that, is he morally obliged to stay (at risk not just from the alzabo but from the forces of the archon) and defend her home, or hunt the alzabo?  I think not.  In fact, he does attempt to protect the family as they and he leave the region.
>  
> - Gerry Quinn
> 

This is how I view it.
But I think Thalssocrat's reading is also valid, at least in terms of his "Vis:" statement. I don't know the Magic Genes idea and wasn't speaking to that.
I think Severian is laying it out like ue sees it, as always, and not covering up tracks.

To answer Jeff, I guess I mean that there are two major, er, soothsayer level readings that are opposed but square with the "letter" of the text. Those are, in a nutshell, that the Heirodules are playing God for their own purposes and keeping humanity down, while duping Severian, ie, an absolutely negative result to the events in the book.  The other is that they are messengers of the increate, helping things toward a positive goal.  These two views can usually be spotted by how one views the Deluge of Urth, positive or negative.
Those are what I see as the two predominant POVs after a few years of reading this list.
The text fully supports either.  Again, I'll say that I think the spirit of the text suggests that we get past our attachments to the past and let the regeneration/resurrection stand as a positive, necessary thing for the future of Urth and humanity.

I love the fact that the book is this slippery, and this can all be gleaned from what is actually there on the paper, without external or even complicated internal cross references.
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