Typhon's nature

larry miller · 12 Oct 2011, 02:59 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: biglar1984 at gmail.com (larry miller)
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:59:48 -0400
Subject: (urth) Typhon's nature
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W479939E28BC53DD1871664CFE30 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W479939E28BC53DD1871664CFE30 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAMBsQ=LPKMCbVTybu9aN0gJw8w3Z4Z-zgnSPcTi_+-emfB_CnQ at mail.gmail.com>

As I posted before the Mandragora was likely a proto chem Typhon built
to download into.  Theres a point in Long Sun where Silk having
discovered that the Gods can possess chems and I remember Echidna
mentioning a Prime Calcula in the Citadel.  Im sure this was a
reference to the mandragora.  This would also keep with Wolfes naming
conventions as Calculas is I believe the latin word for stone.

On 10/11/11, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>David Stockhoff: Is it possible that Sev's observation that Typhon grips
>> his mind
>
>>like a vise is simply invalid?...Is Typhon's power merely that he can
>> convince
>>people he has powers?
>
>
>
> I don't think so. Again, I will invoke Typhon's namesake, the Mandragora.
> For me
>
> the connection between these characters is nearly undeniable and I find the
>
> prospect of Severian being delusional about both their mental powers to be a
> very
>
> bleak one in regard to the enjoyment of the story.
>
>
>
> Moreover I get the sense that Wolfe's message in this and other works is
> more that
>
> there is a real component to that we consider magic or mystical or spiritual
>
> rather than the opposite, that being that all mystical and spiritual items
> are merely
>
> tricks to fool the weak-minded.
>
>
>
>>David Stockhoff: Does anyone have any opinion on whether or how Abaia and
>> Erebus rule
>>without resorting to ESP powers?
>
>
>
> I have a nagging feeling the text does make some mention of Abaia
> controlling humanity
>
> purely through the power of his thought, but I can't pin the passage down.
>
>
>
> Anyway, we are explicitly shown another way these guys (and their angelic
> analog,
>
> Tzadkiel) control and influence humanity, which is through the use of
> agents. Some
>
> are human, like Ascians, Purn and Severian. Some are more than human, though
> less than
>
> the great powers- beings like Barbatus and Famulimus and Apheta and (I
> think) Inire and
>
> the Cumaean.  Some agents are human sized and shaped but are produced by
> being
>
> pinched off from the gigantic bodies of the greater being- characters like
> Juturna and
>
> Idas, Tinkerbell and (I think) Seawrack.
>
>
>
> I don't think we are meant to know the origin of Typhon but his name and
> Severian's
>
> description of his powers have always suggested to me that he is more than
> just a
>
> regular human who is simply a good talker. 		 	   		
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