Urth Net

← back to the conversation

Pike's ghost

Larry Miller · 27 Nov 2011, 06:12 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

This is the message as the crawl holds it, before anything here touched it. What the conversation shows has been through ingest: transfer encodings decoded, attachments dropped, quote markers repaired, and the archiver’s ? resolved into quotation marks and dashes. Those repairs are judgements and some of them are wrong, which is what this page is for. Email addresses are obscured here as they are everywhere else on the site, so it is before our repairs rather than byte for byte.

From: decanus1284 at gmail.com (Larry Miller)
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:12:22 -0500
Subject: (urth) Pike's ghost
In-Reply-To: <9FA919E4E01F4BA1BB7452CC0CE27EF0@Rover>
References: <62964C02647543638EF4E01EA3858BDB@Rover>
	<1322343405.15374.YahooMailClassic at web161802.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
	<CADQR0GqG170iMVJgyFyx0K1gicvQRvo9r-ZuY0DTu0beEaTnOQ at mail.gmail.com>
	<9079DE06F5604F22871B51DFBF33D0C2@Rover>
	<CADQR0GokvUZbbFFPp0h7A7dbg7Zvnxii7Nj9RBcniyNg=63cLQ at mail.gmail.com>
	<9FA919E4E01F4BA1BB7452CC0CE27EF0@Rover>
Message-ID: <CADQR0Gr8MKx9iR7JewW4OxjgHHRuHVFosG=B16pjv3FB63Zi7Q at mail.gmail.com>

Well I dont think that Typhons alien origin was common knowledge among
the people thus his comment in Urth where Severian is told by Typhons
guard not to speak of anything he sees inside Typhons chambers.
Typhon perhaps doesnt want the illusion that he is human shattered.
And there is hints in the Vingtners comments to Severian that the
people wish to overthrow Typhon.  I think hes an alien mainly because
of Wolfes naming strategum and some things that he says to Severian.
When telling him about his grafting to Piaton he mentions the solar
decay and says "I should have left then."  I think maybe hes refering
to escaping back to his homeworld.  His comments about "sending his
thoughts into far places" are a reference to some psychic abilities he
has (and I know there are those on here that disagree).  And theres
Severians initial description of the newly resurrected Monarch.
"...it was as though one of the monstous constellations of the night
sky had fallen to Urth and clothed itself in the flesh of humankind."

On 11/26/11, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Larry Miller
>
>> Thanks Gerry.  My only problem with this theory is that I believe
>> Typhon is an alien.  Silk may be have been a body grown for Pas to use
>> after disembarking, a body for "permanent possession" that he could
>> rule from.  Again I am willing to hear any evidence or opinions
>> regarding this.
>
> Why would humans be loyal to an alien?  Severian sees him as a man with two
> heads, but notices no other non-human characteristics.
> Typhon may well have come from off-Urth, but I think he is human, or
> approximately so.
> What makes you think he is an alien?
> - Gerry Quinn
>

An unofficial mirror of a public mailing list · about & removal requests · download the archive · before the list · original archive at urth.net