Father Inire-Hethor

Lee Berman · 15 Oct 2011, 04:04 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:04:23 -0400
Subject: (urth) Father Inire-Hethor
Message-ID: <SNT123-W15307501A761D97E22EAE7CFE60 at phx.gbl>

>Jerry Friedman: Severian meets Isangoma, who is naked, in Father Inire's 

>Botanic Gardens.  Same with Severian meeting Dorcas.  She has an attractive 

>slender figure, the female equivalent of Isangoma's "sinewy frame".  Isangoma 

>sees Severian as a tokoloshe, and Dorcas briefly sees him as a vampire.  Isangoma 

>tells a supernatural story that gets interrupted, and Dorcas tells Severian a story 

>of the Conciliator and then can't remember the darker legends.  Isangoma banishes 

>Severian from the hut, and Dorcas banishes him from her life.  Who better to keep an 

>eye on Severian at times and lead him to the right experiences than Dorcas?  And of 

>course, if Severian suspected Dorcas was Inire (or just Isangoma), he'd be reticent 

>about it. I can also do Isangoma as Severian or Agia, if anyone's interested.

It might be tongue-in-cheek but it's not half bad. From my Father Inire theory

perspective we would expect both Severian's grandmother and grandfather to take

a similar view of him as they encounter him in the story

I think you go wrong in thinking Dorcas has been assigned to keep an eye on Severian.

She's been dead a long time and is a pure-hearted trustworthy character. But Agia is not. 

Even after her brother's death she keeps tracking him with the help of a space-faring 

mirror master. 

Her attempts to kill Severian are specious. The power that directs her 

knows he cannot be killed. But I think most of the adventures Severian is herded into 

are designed to test (and perhaps wrest) the one power the pagan gods never seemed to 

have- the power of true resurrection. The encounter with Dorcas, the avern battle, the 

Cumaean seance, the meeting with Typhon, Miles, the Old Leech, etc. etc. are all such 

tests of Severian's Christ-like ability.

In my view the testing of Severian by this pagan god-like power (Father Inire of course) 

makes its earliest appearance in time very late in the story, with the Ceryx encounter.

> I like this interpretation not only because it invokes a God-Lucifer scenario 
> between  Hethor/Inire and Tzadkiel but also because it jibes
...

Jerry Friedman: Pun on "jiber" intended?

Yes. Thanks for catching it! But also I like to use that word as often as possible 

to wage a small battle against a current trend of incorrect use of the word "jive" 

instead of "jibe" to mean "agreement".

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