Pirate Freedom: Is Chris Blackbeard?

Gwern Branwen · 29 Apr 2015, 15:33 · from 2015-April.txt.gz

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From: gwern at gwern.net (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:33:48 -0400
Subject: (urth) Pirate Freedom: Is Chris Blackbeard?
In-Reply-To: <BAY172-W7F0C0487524ED625AE3C1DFE80 at phx.gbl>
References: <BAY172-W7F0C0487524ED625AE3C1DFE80 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAMwO0gxnWKj6VCiejSR_qh3nBdDbS4sv+5u1kYnMtvvGparHjw at mail.gmail.com>

This has been suggested before, but I don't think anyone has offered a
good answer to: why should Chris or Chris's son becoming Blackbeard be
the esoteric meaning of _Pirate Freedom_? What thematic sense does it
make or depth add?

When you realize (or more likely, are told) that Weer is an unquiet
ghost in _Peace_, suddenly all the vague musings and recollections
snap into place as you have been given a skeleton key to Weer's past
sins.
When you learn that the Hierodules and futures have been manipulating
Severian all along to turn him into the Autarch who can renew Urth,
then likewise one begins to understand much of _New Sun_.
With _Long Sun_, we have a good man worshipping false gods who
eventually transcends them in becoming a great man. And so on.
(I would say part of why _An Evil Guest_ and other recent Wolfe novels
are so unsatisfactory is that no one has figured out an esoteric
reading which seems to justify and improve on the exoteric narration
of events, rather than be relatively minor plot events on the order of
'at the end of _Sorcerer's House_ the protagonist kills and replaces
his twin'.)

But with Blackbeard, saying Chris/son become him is fun, certainly,
and a cute link, but it doesn't seem to change the story significantly
like it should. Unless someone can think of a way in which that link
makes things much more profound and meaningful, I think Blackbeard is
a dead end and we're stuck with existing lines of inquiry about the
other captain being Chris molding his younger self (which sounds like
it could be interesting and at least has some Wolfean precedent in
_Three Heads of Cerberus_).

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net

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