Thea's Identity

Lee Berman · 08 Apr 2013, 18:59 · from 2013-April.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2013 14:59:52 -0400
Subject: (urth) Thea's Identity
Message-ID: <BLU175-W2EA55FC0725120212A994CFC50 at phx.gbl>

On the subject of identity, I could trot out my theory regarding clones in this series. I have an intuitive sense that clones are more important in BotNS than they superficially appear. My idea is that if there were a naming convention for clones it might be that they are named from a diminutive portion of their cell donor's name. Thus Thea is derived from Thecla. This might explain their mysterious "half-sister" relationship. A clone could be be considered half-sister, half-self in a certain way of thinking.

Again, perhaps intuitively, I get the sense that sunken cheeks are also a mark of a clone. So much is made of Thecla's triangular face and Thea's heart-shaped face perhaps there is some significance to that. Would a triangular face with sunken cheeks be heart-shaped?

This theory, while admittedly sketchy and easy to poke holes in, has its most significant moment in explaining what is going on on
the raft which rescues four survivors of the Flood from House Absolute. We have Odilo, who is so very much like his father Severian can scarcely distinguish them. We have Pega whose mistress was Pelagia and who is chastised by Odilo for mischaracterizing their relationship. We have the mysterious Thais, who resembles the khaibit of Thea (perhaps Thais is wordplay for "Thea's"). And we have Severian who has sunken cheeks and is of mysterious parentage, but traces his ancestry to a mausoleum with a couple open caskets and a few sealed ones (that number Five is likely significant).

There is something concealed happening on that raft. My best guess is  that it is all the future gods and goddesses of Ushas being clones.

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