Merger

Gerry Quinn · 31 Jan 2011, 22:14 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:14:03 -0000
Subject: (urth) Merger
References: <SNT123-W63BF2FBE2C054E3C234A96CFE20 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <719604783FF74786A0BB2CBC3FCB5943@jill>

From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>
>>Gerry Quinn: The point is, there must be a reason why the creature is a 
>>huge
>>carnivore, perfectly suited to prey on unwilling humans and creatures 
>>similar to humans
>
> Far from perfectly suited to hunting humans as the standoff with Severian 
> and its eventual
> death demonstrate. If it had been "smart" it would have stopped with 
> Severa and Becan. I
> get the sense their contribution made the alzabo a bit "stupid".

How so?  It was expecting - very reasonably - to find only easy meat in 
Becan's household.  Casdoe actually opened the door for it!  Had Severian 
not been there, the alzabo would have dined in safety and comfort.

Unfortunately it encountered Severian, an indestructible hero you have 
frequently likened to Hercules.  Still the alzabo faces him off!  One cannot 
doubt that it is well equipped to deal with ordinary men and women, though - 
as I said earlier - regions of high population density would be 
uncomfortable for it.

Its death was I suppose a consequence of the encounter to some extent. 
Severian had already deprived the unfortunate creature of its prey, and when 
it saw the same thing about to happen once again it unwisely rushed the mob 
of zoanthropes.  Still, given its size it must have dined well for years.  I 
do not believe the alzabo should be classified as endangered on the basis of 
this one incident.

>>I agree the alzabo's death was a similar accident - its instincts to 
>>preseve
>>its chosen prey from other predators got the better of it.
>
> While other readers recognize Becan's instincts as a partial cause of the 
> alzabo's death
> I suppose it make no sense to further debate the point. All salient 
> aspects of the
> discussion have been covered.

The original claim was not that Becan's instincts were partly to blame for 
its death, but that Becan's persona was actually fighting the alzabo 
instincts.

- Gerry Quinn

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