Tzadkiel's form

Lee · 17 Sep 2014, 13:24 · from 2014-September.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 09:24:29 -0400
Subject: (urth) Tzadkiel's form
Message-ID: <BLU175-W2424A464C5F08545597B50CFB60 at phx.gbl>

Given Hethor's mastery of mirrors and monsters, I don't find it a

stretch that he is associated with the fallen angels/demons who reside on 

Urth. My guess is that, in parallel to the Biblical story, all of the monsters fallen 

to Urth originated as mutineers from Tzadkiel's  Ship. By name alone, this would

include Typhon.

>Jeffrey Wilson: This would explain Typhon's rapid apprehension of the time displaced 
>Conciliator, but other Hellenic names do *not* relate to Ship-sailors, 
>Nessus for one.

I find Wolfe's usage of the name "Nessus" to be multi-layered brilliance. First it is a 

plausible derivation of the name "Buenos Aires", the geographical and literary (Borges) 

model for the city of Nessus.

Next,  Buenos Aires mean "good air" or "fresh breezes" but "Nessus" invokes the concept

of poison. A not-so-subtle commentary on the effects of long history, overpopulation and 

technology.

Finally, Nessus invokes the Greek story of Heracles, whom I find to be a surprisingly apt

model for Severian. Like Heracles, Severian is born of mysterious ancestry who finds

himself endowed with divine power but spends his life being pushed into dangers and 

arduous tasks because of godly politics from above which manipulate him without he

being able to clearly understand why. And, of course, ultimately both Heracles and 

Severian are elevated to godhood themselves. In a sense, Nessus can represent the

poisoned cloak that both Heracles and Severian had to shed before their ultimate

elevation.

(Chicago is a long-time, densely populated, multi-cultural city full of all the positives and

negatives that any large city provides. I often wonder how much living in the proximity 

affected Wolfe and his writing)

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