Agia's Weapons

Lee Berman · 20 Dec 2011, 16:31 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:31:50 -0500
Subject: (urth) Agia's Weapons
Message-ID: <SNT123-W28D3D13D5A01DA959B789CFA40 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff: But intuitively, I agree that if there is a Pelerine blade in a shop (I 
>note it had an "ivy-root handle" if that helps), it came from a Pelerine we know. Do 
>Agilus/Agia ever say where they got the shop from? I recall they do but not what they said.

IIRC, it was bequeathed to A & A by their mother. This tends to implies she is dead. But if
Cyriaca is their mother and just living far away, there is a second meaning to "bequeath" 
which refers to passing on possessions by the living. Thanks for reminding me of the ivy-
root handle. Previously I had no idea what significance that might have. Since the discussions
in here of the past year or two, I am wondering if it is a (very) tangential reference to our
friend Dionysus. Ivy is a sort of vine.

>but what does this explain except to connect some loose threads? it seems incidental---it 
>doesn't explain Agia herself, or Cyriaca.

For me, it does. Because pursuing this line of thought ties both Agia and Cyriaca directly to
Father Inire. And, within my F.I. theory, he (as demiurge) is connected to absolutely everything 
in this story.

>If there had been palace intrigue, wouldn't the body have been dangerous evidence implicating 
>members of a conspiracy? Agia as assassin avoids those questions, since no one would have known 
>she was there.  

Interesting points I hadn't considered. For me, Agia as the replacement for Vodalus and Father
Inire became cliff hangers, when UotNS was added to the story. We see Valeria when Severian
returns to House Absolute on Flood Day but where is Inire? Perhaps right where we last "saw" him 
in CotA: strategizing and intriguing, using his acquired assassin and autarchal enemy, Agia.

>I wonder about her apparent ability to get past locked doors. But then, no one at court would know 
>the words for secret doors in the throne room.

There is one guy who would....

>Does Inire have no control over his own bastard children [and grandchildren]?

Oh, I think he is obsessed with them, following them around, tracking them, manipulating them, playing
them against each other. I think he controls Agia as Hethor through most of the story, as her humble
sex-entranced slave. Inire's letter suggests he has persuasive powers over Agia but doesn't reveal what
they are. Either way, that letter inextricably links Agia to Inire. And I've mentioned that I think 
Cyriaca's uncle is Father Inire, largely due to his apparently exclusive (aside from Malrubius) knowlege
of the cosmic history of humanity.

Rudesind is explicit in admitting that his meetings with Severian were not accidental but staged by Inire.
I suspect the same is true for meetings with Agia, the Old Boatman, Dorcas, Talos and Baldanders, 
The Cumaean, The Old Autarch, the Old Leech, probably even Typhon.

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