vanished people = Hieros

Andrew Mason · 06 Nov 2011, 20:58 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2011 20:58:02 +0000
Subject: (urth) vanished people = Hieros
Message-ID: <CAM3O41KqRDwDwFDiOhNuXQKAiuG=w0Uzq=08vdsVndCjiSNqow at mail.gmail.com>

Marc Aramini wrote:

> thanks. ?That seems definitive to me, the vanished people are certainly not heirodules, nor are they cooperating with them. ?Great. ?So ... how was the Green man related to the heirodules? ?and what about the heirogrammates? ?time to re-read the whole sun sequence I guess.

As I read it:

Hieros were super-evolved humans in a former cycle of the universe.
(Malrubius in COTA leaves it uncertain wheter it was this cycle, a
former one or a future one, but Tzadkiel in _Urth_ seems sure it was a
former one.)

Hierogrammates were beings, originally of a non-human origin, shaped
by Hieros: they ultimately transcended their makers and escaped to
Yesod.

Hierodules are beings, also of non-human origin, and indeed of more
than one species, shaped by Hierogrammates, more quickly, in earlier
stages of the  present (Severian's) cycle - and now working under
their command (though not strictly _for_ them, according to Barbatus).

The Green Man is a development of humans in the far future of
Severian's cycle, and so a step between the humans of Sev's time and a
new generation of Hieros. He is not, therefore anything like a
Hierodule or a Hierogrammate.

_If_ the Neighbours belong to the future of Urth, they also fit in
somewhere along this process of evolution, and so are not Hierodules
or Hierogrammates - so Wolfe's statement does not create a problem
there.

Incidentally, the name 'Hieros' - which only occurs twice - is weird.
'Hierodule' means 'holy slave' and  'hierogrammate' means 'holy
scribe'; and both these names are explained in terms of their relation
to the Increate. So why the super-evolved humans, who bear no special
relation the Increate that we know of, should be called Hieros, is
something of a mystery.
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