Thea's Identity

Lee Berman · 22 Apr 2013, 11:51 · from 2013-April.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:51:06 -0400
Subject: (urth) Thea's Identity
Message-ID: <BLU175-W244414342AC527ADB86DD5CFCB0 at phx.gbl>

The coin by which Vodalus first swayed Seveverian had the face of Appian on it and 
it was later revealed to be false currency. Symbolism?

>Dan'l Danehy-Oakes: Recall what Severian says about this: We think we rule our symbols, 
>but actually we are ruled by them.

I had always assumed the falseness of the coin symbolized the falseness of Vodalus and 
his rebellion against the Autarcy. I was just wondering if it might also serve as a
symbol of the falseness of the rule of the Autarch, also.  If it is a reflection of
Wolfe's own political leanings, I can imagine him to be both suspicious of the true
motivations of real world political rebels while simultaneously recognizing there are
indeed shadowy powers behind the throne (or presidency).

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