Tzadkiel's form

Marc Aramini · 16 Sep 2014, 13:39 · from 2014-September.txt.gz

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From: marcaramini at gmail.com (Marc Aramini)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 06:39:31 -0700
Subject: (urth) Tzadkiel's form
In-Reply-To: <BLU175-W112818FD1BCD25D73F5918CFC90 at phx.gbl>
References: <BLU175-W112818FD1BCD25D73F5918CFC90 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAF1072zFXwjTtAxsyVr7M2-go4HgsUENsqN==jgAp6gD6MWTqQ at mail.gmail.com>

Hethor the perverted and debased sailor who keeps his little sex doll in
the closet and is manipulated by Agia, always motivated by a terrible need
for revenge, is not a good character fit for being related to the actual
paragon of Urth. (Tzadkiel pretty much serves as proxy for Sev in the
trial).

Characterization in Wolfe is important.  You can't have a stuttering blood
thirsty persecution complex easily manipulated guy actually be the guardian
angel of Urth without really ignoring characterization wholesale.

As far as published work on New Sun, my problem with Borski is he wants to
collapse all the characters into one or two and doesn't really think
logically and my issue with Wright is he thinks every moment of
transcendence is a hard determined lie, that Severian's claim that even
devils serve the increate is a weak excuse, which is a very
misrepresentational view of Wolfe in general.

Wright's reading of The God and His Man as a metafictional criticism of
readers killing the author's intention is ironically about as far off as a
reading can get, too.

On Tuesday, September 16, 2014, Lee <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

> >larry miller: Mind Blown!
> >Is Hethor introduced in the same chapter as Jonah? If Im right this is
> also
> >where Jonah tells the story of the "beans" too.  The idea that Typhon was
> >on the Ship could be huge.  If he originally was a lifeform akin to
> >Tzadkiel, this would certainly line up with Wolfes naming schema that any
> >mythological name indicates an alien origin.
>
>
> Hethor is first introduced, (though not by name) at Agilus' execution. At
>
> first he seems just one of several sadists who deeply enjoy watching
> executions.
>
> Later, in the antechamber and beyond, Hethor makes it clear that he
> worships
>
> Severian, insistently calling  him "Master" and "my Master".
>
>
> But later, when Severian meets Jonah, he notices that Hethor disappears
> and there
>
> is an implication that Hethor doesn't want to be recognized by his fellow-
>
> Shipmate. Moreover, Severian sees characters who resemble both Hethor and
>
> Jonah later on Tzadkiel's Ship.
>
>
> There is the naming convention where mythological names are used for aliens
>
> (or more broadly, Greco-Roman names as for Inire, Cumaean, Barbatus,
>
> Famulimus and Ossipago). Regarding Hethor, we are cryptically told by
>
> Agia that:
>
>
> >"His name isn't really Hethor, by the way.  He says it's a much older
> one, that hardly
>
> >anyone has heard of now."
>
>
> Why does Hethor go on and on about Severian being his Master and seeming to
>
> worship him, but then later try to kill him? Perhaps the worship was all
> an act but
>
> I sometimes think Hethor wasn't really trying to kill Severian. Perhaps,
> being who
>
> he is, Hethor was actually the first to recognize what Severian truly was,
> and his beasts
>
> were more of a series of godhood tests rather than true assassination
> attempts.
>
>
> In UotNS, on Yesod, Tzadkiel mentions that he had been Severian's acolyte
> in a previous
>
> iteration. Does this mean he was hidden among the throngs who follow
> Severian when he
>
> is the Conciliator? Or perhaps is Tzadkiel the ancient name which hardly
> anyone has heard
>
> of?
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