The Ship

Lee Berman · 09 Jan 2012, 19:04 · from 2012-January.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 14:04:47 -0500
Subject: (urth) The Ship
Message-ID: <SNT123-W11B332B4A51C4A4C5A153BCF980 at phx.gbl>

>Jeff Wilson: It is likely to be Tzadkiel's Ship because:
>* it is big enough.
>* it is equipped with reflective surfaces to show the off-season constellations.
>* FB&O are known to ride on it.
>* Tzadkiel has a favorable personal relationship with Severian.
>* The event is foreshadowed by Tzadkiel mentioning helping a childhood 
>hero, and by a sailor mentioning the Ship occasionally gets between 
>someone's eyes and some stars. 

Well, there is a significant contingent who think the exclipse was caused
by Tzadkiel's ship and I acknowledge and respect that. My objection are: 

Until that point, when he is disturbed, Severian's powers are naturalistic 
and drawn from heavenly bodies. If Tzadkiel's ship caused the eclipse it
means that Severian and his emotions have nothing to do with it, a departure
from the rest of the story. 

Also, Tzadkiel says he was an acolyte of Severian's in (this?) previous iteration.
Using his/her Ship to provide a "deus ex machina" to provide a fake basis for 
Severian's godhood doesn't seem to fit the acolyte bill for me. I like the idea 
of Apu Punchau really being a sun-controlling god better.
(plus I think Tzadkiel appears in the story as Severian's acolyte in a different 
guise)

The Ship may be big enough and all that but it is an unatural and unnecessary 
addition to the story since a large body to block the sun already exists. When the 
the white fountain arrives, it causes major cataclysms on Urth via "waves of 
gravitation". Adding a moon-sized Ship to Urth's vicinity might cause similar 
problems that locking the existing moon in place for a few extra hours wouldn't. 

Further, Wolfe spends an inordinate amount of time adding a story component in 
which Tzadkiel's ship parks outside the solar system and sends in a small tender
to drop Severian off on Urth. Maybe he/she is just trying to avoid the  ship being 
detected by Typhon but that seems pretty weak to me. As mentioned before, FB&O do 
not appear on Urth at this time. They come later.

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