Oreb/Pas

stilskin · 17 Aug 2000, 18:47 · from whorl-v0011.mbox · original

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From: stilskin at sff.net
Subject: (whorl) Oreb/Pas
Date: 17 Aug 2000 18:47:24
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Continuing with my thoughts/questions about Oreb's death and resurrection. =
 Again apologies if this is old hat.

I wondered before whether Oreb, following his death prior to Silk's sacrifi=
ce, might not have been possessed by one of the gods of Mainframe, or perha=
ps even the Outsider.

This from pp. 91-92 of the hardcover Lake of the Long Sun:

   Oreb dropped onto Silk's shoulder, startling him into looking up; as he =
did, Oreb caught a lock of his straying hair and tugged at it.

    "He knows what you're feeling," Chenille said quietly.  "He would like =
to make you laugh, if he can."

     "He's a good bird -- a very good bird.  This isn't the first time he's=
 come to me of his own accord."

     "You would take him with you, wouldn't you?  Even if you were sent to =
that administrative position?  Silk.  It isn't against some rule for augurs=
 to keep pets?"

     "No. They're permitted."

     "So everything wouldn't be lost, even then."

Now Chenille in this passage has been possessed by, and is speaking as, Kyp=
ris.  Kypris, a minor goddess of love, who was, in Severian's Urth, the fav=
orite mistress of Typhon/Pas, and who thus, by his favor, was invited aboar=
d the Whorl as a disembodied goddess.  Chenille/Kypris's final line here is=
 odd.  Why should she care so much if Oreb accompanies Silk?  Because Oreb =
is a good bird and a good friend to Silk?  That's hardly enough.  Recall th=
at the other major gods have banded together to overthrow and destroy Pas. =
 Could it be that a portion of Pas has been preserved and downloaded into O=
reb . . . all the better so that Pas can keep an eye on Silk, who as we kno=
w was genetically augmented and designed to serve as Pas's new body in Blue=
 or Green (such, at least, is my memory of later developments or suppositio=
ns I've read on this list pertaining thereto).

So:  Oreb is a shard of Pas, perhaps not even fully conscious, the better t=
o hide from his patricidal family, his only ally Kypris, his favorite on Ur=
th, and a goddess equally detested by his family on the Whorl.

A final piece of evidence:

Later in that same conversation, Silk says: =20

     "I even like Orchid, and every god" -- He would have stopped, but it w=
as already too late -- "knows I felt sorry for her this afternoon."

     She [Chenille/Kypris] laughed softly.  "All the gods don't know.  Silk=
. . . .  One does.  Two."

Now who are those two gods?  One is surely Kypris herself, who manifested i=
n the window of the manteion during the funeral of Orpine, Orchid's previou=
sly unacknowledged daughter.  But then who is the other?  On first reading =
I simply assumed it was the Outsider.  But now I'm not so sure.  Perhaps af=
ter all it refers to Pas . . . and if Pas is present in some way within Ore=
b, then the statement is literally accurate, for now Oreb/Pas, too, knows w=
hat Silk was feeling.  And of course, Chenille/Kypris began the conversatio=
n by noting that Oreb "knows what you're feeling."

Well, any thoughts/comments appreciated.  This is the third time I've read =
the first 2 books of the Short Sun, and the scales drop off more and more w=
ith each reading, but I've got a long way to go.

Falcon

www.sff.net/people/stilskin
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