Pas's Two Heads

James Jordan · 08 Nov 2002, 20:49 · from urth-v0211.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Pas's Two Heads
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 14:49:14 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0211-2062 at digest.urth.net>
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At 02:18 PM 11/8/2002, you wrote:

>As regards two-heads-being-better-than-one for inspiring or enhancing
>religious awe, as Nutria suggests, I must have been born lacking that gene.
><g> A two-headed man is a freak, like a two-headed calf; the idea of
>worshiping such a thing would never cross my mind. Sev's thoughts on first
>seeing Typhon were:
>
>"A man, larger than I and far broader of shoulder, stepped from between the
>foot of a cataphract, and it was as though one of the monstrous
>constellations of the night sky had fallen to Urth and clothed itself in t=
he
>flesh of humankind. For the man had two heads, like an ogre in some
>forgotten tale in _The Wonders of Urth and Sky_.
>     "Instinctively, I put my hand on the sword hilt at my shoulder."
>
>Sev's gut reaction was not to fall to his knees, but to grab a weapon. And
>the more Sev found out about him, the less he liked him. Sev may have fear=
ed
>the power of the monster, but that didn't stop him from killing it, having
>first refused, specifically and emphatically, to worship it.
>
>-Roy

But then, why would Typhon make himself look like an ogre? My point was=20
that two-headed gods are not unknown, especially in Rome, and Rome is a big=20
deal for Wolfe. In the symbolism of the Whorl novels, the mainframe gods=20
are like the Roman ones, the Whorl like the Roman empire, and Viron like=20
Israel at the time of Jesus. So a two-headed Roman god like Janus makes=20
sense. The Romans did not view Janus as an ogre, however Severian might=20
have looked upon him.

FWIW

JBJordan


--=20

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