Seawrack and the Mother

Lee Berman · 18 Sep 2012, 03:32 · from 2012-September.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:32:39 -0400
Subject: (urth) Seawrack and the Mother
Message-ID: <SNT123-W47ADE4CCB1EDA6F237B90BCF940 at phx.gbl>

I'm re-reading Short Sun and I've become fully convinced of something
I previously suspected. When Horn finds fresh blood on his boat he
thinks of the woman he shot on the pirate ship, but dismisses the 
thought of the injured woman being able to swim after him as silly.

But as we later learn, a siren/mermaid, even a one-armed one, would 
be capable of such a feat. So I do think that woman was Seawrack and
that she lost her arm due to Horn's shot. The idea is supported later
when Horn finds a large branched piece of driftwood and he thinks he
sees a pale face beneath it, but again dismisses the idea as silly.

Furthermore, I think the pirate ship, which is colored black in every 
single part of it, is actually the Mother. Seawrack is probably an 
outgrowth of her, similar to the human figure we later see above the 
Mother and similar to the undine-like growths we see much later on Great 
Scylla.

Before Horn actually meets Seawrack, he hears what he identifies
as The Mother's song. He compares it to the sound of an instrument 
called Molpe's Dulcimer. This demonstrates a connection of the Mother
not only to Great Scylla (and Abaia) but also to the gods of the Whorl.
(not to mention earth's siren/mermaid legends)

A hesitation I had on this theory is that Horn tells us that the woman
on the pirate ship was shooting at him. If the black pirate ship is 
really the Mother and the woman an outgrowth, how could it shoot at him?
Then it finally hit me: the story of the Naviscaput. This involves a 
giant sea creature (Abaia and/or Erebus) whose protruding head above 
the waves takes the form of a ship with a turret and gun. There is a nice
web of connections between these giant sea creatures for me.

The fact of Abaia and Erebus being given a male gender does nothing to 
disconnect them from the Mother and Great Scylla. I think we are given 
ample hints by Wolfe to understand that such asexual superhuman beings 
(as for Tzadkiel and for Biblical angels and demons) do not really have 
gender and only get one assigned to them when they are described in human 
legends or when they take human form.

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