Pike's ghost

Gerry Quinn · 27 Nov 2011, 14:24 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:24:59 -0000
Subject: (urth) Pike's ghost
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From: Sergei SOLOVIEV 

I agree with Sergei ? Typhon may well have come from off-Urth but he is human, or close enough for government work.  

Even if he has psychic powers (I personally think he has near-supernatural charisma and leadership abilities) that doesn?t really disqualify him from being human I think.

It?s true that Severian makes much of his astonishment at Typhon, given that we would probably be less amazed by him than by other things Severian doesn?t make a fuss about,  But he never mentions anything else strange about him, and when you think about it, he does refer to ?the flesh of humankind?.

A possibility occurs to me: do the people of Severian?s time recognise a constellation called Typhon, probably represented as a two-headed man?

- Gerry Quinn   


> Well, if Typhon would be an alien, it would be much more difficult to graft
> his head to Piaton. And why take such risky and complex operation? I think
> that the straightforward explanation is much more convincing.

> Larry Miller wrote:

> > [?] 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."
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