Agia's Weapons

Lee Berman · 21 Dec 2011, 16:36 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:36:24 -0500
Subject: (urth) Agia's Weapons
Message-ID: <SNT123-W493665E916D7D55EF777FFCFA50 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff: I resist the idea of Hethor as Inire because of these difficulties, 
>not in spite of them.

I respect that opinion and will only comment further to explain my view, not to change
yours (unless you are making a request for your resistance to be broken down, heh).

>However, I have to admit that the persistent image I have of Inire as a 
>dark figure repeated in an infinity of mirrors is compelling and suggestive.

Yes. And, for me, more specifically, Hethor and Inire are the exclusive purveyors of
mirrors and monsters (hence the "teratoid" symbols in Inire's chamber). The old Autarch
uses a mirror book but I doubt the ex-honey steward created it. Moreover when he uses it,
the result is an angelic appearance, not a monstrous one.

>If Hethor is Inire, not only are two vastly different characters merged, but the "manipulation" 
>you ascribe to Inire disappears: even a master manipulator can't manipulate himself. And the 
>tension between Hethor and Agia (sex vs power) disappears as well.

I see the situation in reverse, I think because I am trying to take Gene Wolfe's point of view.
As a reader, it makes sense to look at Inire and Hethor (and others) as separate characters
which someone is trying to merge. From an author/creator's point of view, it might be the
opposite. 

I am proposing that what WOlfe has done is take one (very large) character and
split it into various sub-characters. The synecdoche of this is Tzadkiel who appears in guises
as varied as hairy blob, monkey, troglodyte, adonis-man, giant serious angel and little laughing 
fairy. Compared to that, are Inire and Hethor (and others) really so different?

Consider also the mythological basis. As Daniel has recently alluded and has previously been
discussed, there is a religious school of thought that considers Dionysus (or some ancient
god/being) to be in a continuous pattern of splitting up into portioned gods then reuniting
into a monotheistic God which explains his part in the origin of Christianity and the Trinity
etc. (of course we see this pattern in Long/Short Sun with Pas and others). Could divine
splitting be how Wolfe views Baptists and Mormons and Christian Scientists, etc.?

Continuing the thought, Dionysus had aspects of himself as diverse as drunken Silenus, serene 
Silvanus and lecherous Inuus. (Another aspect, Aegipan is associated with the body part
reunification of Zeus and thus also associated with the Osiris story).

As has also been discussed in the past, Tzadkiel says he has been an acolyte of Severian's in a
previous iteration. This could mean he was hanging around the Conciliator in Typhon's time I guess
but that is such a dead end. I don't see evidence of him/her (excecpt maybe in Ceryx).  If we take 
that comment by Tzadkiel in conjunction with Hethor's assertion that he considers Severian to be his 
"Master" I think it makes a lot more sense. To me, Hethor seems truly sincere in his obeisance to 
Severian.

If Hethor (and Inire, etc.) knows what Severian really is (much more than Severian himself knows), 
trying to kill him over and over can be viewed in a different light. If Hethor knows Severian can't
be killed, then this series of tests of the "Master" can be seen as a series of lessons for Hethor. 
A view of a divine power which is beyond his own.

(fwiw, the inferior Greek gods were incestuous and also tempted by the forbidden fruit of human sexuality 
as Jesus was not)

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