The jeweled Claw, the Story of the Black

Craig Christensen · 20 May 1998, 12:37 · from urth-v0011.mbox · original

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From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Subject: (urth) The jeweled Claw, the Story of the Black
Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 12:37:00
Message-ID: <urth-v0011-0076 at digest.urth.net>
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While reading through the archives I came across this February 1998 post  =20
from Christopher Culver

>In _Shadow_, chapter XXXV, there is the tale of the woman who brings  =20
black
>beans from the stars. This woman threatens to cast them into the sea  =20
unless
>she were obeyed. The lords of the time "a hundred times more complete in
>their dominion than [the] Autarch...had her seized and torn to bits."
>This story seems, in my opinion, to show the planting of the black hole  =20
in
>the Old Sun. I think that the sea mentioned is not Ocean but rather
>Oroborus(sp?), which is outer space. The lords, I think, are the  =20
monarchs, >because they were more powerful and had a larger empire than  =20
those of the
>autarchy. Thus, the black hole was put into the sun because of the  =20
tyranny of
>the monarchs.
>Who is this woman? The idea expressed by some on the list is that the
>Conciliator/New-Sun-himself put the black hole into the sun. But, if  =20
this
>story were true, it was not he, but rather a woman. Could it be  =20
Tzadkiel?
>After all, she is one of great power who could do such a thing, and is  =20
of
>higher authority than men. But, I am not sure that she could be ripped  =20
apart.

This thought made brought to mind Severian's encounter with the small  =20
version of Tzadkiel in Urth, chapter XL, "The Brook Beyond Briah."   She  =20
indicates that she is a fragment of the original Tzadkiel when she says,  =20
"...I'm a part of myself that was banished long ago, long before the  =20
first time you met me."  Can anyone tell me what she was banished for?

On another subject, is the thorn that Severian gave to the chiliarch in  =20
Urth, chapter XXXIX, "The Claw of the Conciliator Again" the Claw that  =20
Agia robbed from the Pelerines?  If so, when did it become encased in  =20
gem-stone?

And if I may ask one more question today, who is the woman being led away  =20
by Praetorians in Urth, chapter XLI, "Severian from his Cenotaph"?  He  =20
observes her, and she him, shortly after Severian restores the dead  =20
assassin.  She is familiar to him, but even with his perfect memory he  =20
can not recall from where or when he knows her.  She is come and gone in  =20
less than a page, but you get the impression that she is an important  =20
character.

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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