Typhon's nature

Andrew Mason · 09 Oct 2011, 21:46 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2011 22:46:29 +0100
Subject: (urth) Typhon's nature
Message-ID: <CAM3O41JN3D5Fv4JaHHq1Ewg6VvHYY8NzVBF2VqL9OCHhBzU=eQ at mail.gmail.com>

Larry Miller wrote:
>
> On first read I imagined Typhon as human native of Urth. ?But Wolfes
> naming strategum points at Typhon being of alien origin.

I don't think it does, really. It's not humans, as such, but
Commonwealth citizens who have saint's names; Ash, for instance, or
Loyal to the Group of Seventeen don't. (Also Baldanders seems to be
human in origin but to have adopted a monstrous name when he became a
monster.)  And this principle is carried on into Long Sun/Short Sun;
people born in the Commonwealth region on Urth (Mamelta, Roger) have
saints' names, though no one else does. Also, here Typhon's daughter
has a saint's name - Cilinia - which seems to imply that she is human.

I don't know if Typhon is an Urthling, or an off-earth human from one
of the planets settled during the first empire; but I don't think he's
totally alien.

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